Several weeks ago we implemented a plan to help keep hay costs down as well as clear off the garden that we let go once we saw that the plants weren't going to produce due to the drought. We used cattle panels to make a small goat pen and let them eat the weeds! This necessitated the building of a small shelter for them, since the herd queen takes the little dog house and refuses to share with anyone else. :-) (Not that they could have all fit in the dog house any way.)
Wayne was able to gather shipping crates and pallets from his work that we disassembled and used for the framing, and the sheathing is made from my old brooder boxes. I hope that I will never have 100 cockerels again!!! That was an experience I never care to repeat.
Here is another view showing the inside. We are not quite finished yet. We will completely close off one end, and the other will be mostly enclosed with a door that is just big enough that I can get inside in case I need to care for them in it.
On Wednesday, we got our first snow of the season! It was a shock to us all. On Tuesday evening it was 70 degrees. By Wednesday night we were supposed to have a low of 24 degrees, but there was no precipitation in the forecast. However, we got quite a good little snowfall for a couple of hours. The ground was so warm that it instantly began to melt, but it was frozen on all the high spots when I got up for chores on Wednesday. We were all very thankful for the little goat shed!
5 comments:
Excellent idea and excellent little goat shelter! Too funny about your herd queen, but they do tend to be quirky, don't they. LOL
Ha! Yeah, quirky, rotten, whatever you want to call it... :-)
It's been interesting. We took her to be bred on Saturday. She will be boarding there several days since we've had a hard time getting her to settle. I didn't anticipate the disruption in the status of all the others! Perle and Sassy, her daughter, have been vying for top position. I would have thought the mother would be queen without question, but what do I know? Goats... gotta love 'em! :-P
What a neat little shed and it sounds like you built in just in time.
What a great idea to let them do the clean up in your garden! We had a goat at my parents' farm for a long time and we would move her house and stake around so that she could eat down all the weeds on banks where it was difficult to mow or weed-whack.
Michelle. We really, really, really, really do need an update from you!
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