Making Lemonaide out of Lemons
February 13th, 2010OK. With two feet of snow on the ground, and the possibility of 3 - 6 inches more on Monday, it’s quite apparent that building a goat barn isn’t going to happen as quickly as I’d hoped. I’d be fibbing if I said that doesn’t bother me. I think about Mirrie, Hope, and Chance every single day and I do wish they were here.
Even though we can’t work on building the goat barn, I’ve been looking into the best feed/water configurations. So, for those of you who have goats, would you please do me a favor and tell me your thoughts on some of this? I’m mainly concerned about the water, feed, and hay I provide inside the goat barn. The barn will be 20 feet long, and 8 feet wide, divided like this - 5X8 stall, 8X8 main portion for goats, and an 7X8 area for milking/doctoring and hay/feed storage.
For the hay, Bernie planned to build a manger. But I found some wall mounted hay racks that look as though they help reduce waste, and that won’t take up as much space. With three goats, I figure a corner mount and wall mount may be sufficient? What do you think? This is what the wall mount looks like. Would two (corner and wall) be adequate for daily hay inside the goat barn? Or do you think we should just go with a large manger that Bernie builds? The goat barn isn’t going to be extremely large, so I’m hoping to save space where I can - but if those wall/corner mangers aren’t adequate, we’ll figure out something else.
How do you secure water inside so the goats can’t knock it over? I found these wall mounts that look great, but there are several different types. These are also used for feed. What do you do for securing feed and water? This page shows several - do you use any of these, or do you recommend another method?
Kendra, from New Life on a Homestead provided a link to the Fias Co Farm website, where I found detailed plans for building a milk stand. Milking may be quite a while in our future, but I can see that using a milk stand to secure a goat while caring for her may be a necessity long before then. And this is something I may be able to work on in the coming days to make me feel like I’m at least moving a little bit forward!
If any of you goat parents can offer some advice here, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
Tags: goat barn
February 13th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
I aint envious, nope, not one bit……….. bloody cow LMFAO
x
February 14th, 2010 at 1:01 am
So… for Pete and Reggie’s water, I use a screw eye (http://www.horsetackinternational.com/screw-eye.html?zenid=4d89bd3cb1cf5faee2fa2d37a95bc09d) in the barn wall with a double end bolt snap (http://www.horsetackinternational.com/double-end-snap.html) and attach it to the handle of a flat back bucket (http://www.enasco.com/product/C08258N). Works well and they’ve never tipped their water. This is what I use in the llama and donkey stalls as well.
The feeder I use is a wall mounted hay feeder with a trough (this is a catch pan at the bottom that reduces hay waste) similar to this one: http://www.mpic.net/Store/index.php?productID=1191
It’s fun to plan for the little cuties, isn’t it?
(I don’t shop at any of these places - these are just what came up when I queried in Google)
February 14th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
It is tough when the weather keeps you from doing those things that we are so eager to get done. I guess spring will come soon enough and we will be wishing for just one lazy winter day to rest :). I have goats but we have never really had anything fancy for them. I just have various containers usually ones that are lower to the ground. They don’t really knock them over. I would say a manger would work just fine for hay. But I am one to save any where I can and just use what I have. That is just my 2 cents :). I thought I remember reading on here that you were wanting to put in raised beds and cold frames so I thought you might enjoy my latest post talking about us turning on of our garden boxes into a cold frame. I hope you get to bring those babies home soon!
February 14th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Mel - Wait till you see those babies here… you’ll be buying that ticket to America for sure!
Amy - the link to your website does not work! What is the url?
February 16th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Hey Farmgirl_DK - you’re using a new email addy and your post got dumped in the moderator bucket! Sorry for the delay in approving it. And thank you for your suggestions! I joined a goat forum, and several people said they used the same idea to just hang those flat back buckets. Our local feed store and the TSC both carry those buckets and all sort of supplies, so I should be able to easily find them. Do you also put their grain in those buckets? Or do you use other type dishes? It is SO much fun planning for these babies! I just can not wait until they get here. I am *hoping* we can go a couple weeks with no snow so Bernie can get started on the goat barn.
February 16th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Have been following you for a little while now and want to say thank you for your beautiful photos and your wonderful thoughts. I am in a huge transition in my life right now and it is just one day at a time and I enjoy all the inspiration that others have to share. I use my blog as somewhat of a gratitude journal and as my eye on the prize so to speak and I love women who inspire which in turn empowers others. Many do not realize the impact that they have and I just wanted to share your little impact on me. Thank You and keep sharing those beautiful pics.
Always, Shelly
http://featherednestfarm.blogspot.com/
February 16th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Wow, Shelly. Thank you. You’re comment has really made my day. And your blog is just beautiful. Sometimes you have to go away to know what you left behind. How wonderful that you know you are where you need to be. It’s beautiful there. I’ll be visiting your blog often!
February 18th, 2010 at 9:15 am
hi!
while you are at TSC head back to the horse product area and check out the “s” shaped bucket holders for their flat sided buckets. these can be put over a door, divider, or even a hog panel. and they are portable and can be moved around - there are long and short versions. we also have the permanent holders for the flat sided buckets and love them.
we made a corner feeder from part of a hog panel - this way the goaties only pull the hay from one side..we seem to think there is less waste. the hay stays in and they eat thru the open squares.
we built the milkstand from the fiascofarm site and it works like a dream. we have a sanaan, a petite lamancha, and a mini mancha and it fits them all. we feed bagged food on the stand during the milking season - all they can eat. during the winter we use the S bucket holders to feed our gals.
the best designed goat barn i’ve ever seen had the waterers on the outside of the pens so the goaties had to stick their heads thru the fence to drink.. voila! nobody poops in the water. wish i could do that for ours but we dont have the space.
good luck!
ps love the site