Goat questions - Page 2

[Cheyenne]

We were blessed in that the house we're buying already had an old barn. Well, It's not a *barn*, really, more of a shed. It's about 12x12, but it's a great size for the goats to sleep in or to get out of the rain. We have their pasture connected to the barn with a little opening for them, so it keeps rain out but they can come and go as they please.

We've just had to seperate our goats by breed, since we have two bucks now. The Nigerians are in one pasture and the Mini Nubians are in another. Since we only had one barn, we had to make a shelter for the others until we could get something better. We used one of the chain-link dog runs (a 12x12 one) and connected it to the fence. The fence makes two sides, and one of the panels makes the third side. The fourth side is open, and we used the other two panels to connect to the top of the enclosure. We covered the top with a tarp to provide shelter from rain. Like I said, it's not permanent, but it's working well for now. We have plenty of trees in the pasture for shade.

I'm glad I found this discussion - I love learning more about goat-keeping and talking about it.

~W~

[zoooteacher]

makinlees mom- I've been a lacto-ovo vegetarian since birth, and DH has been one since he started proff. rock climbing way back when in college (being a public interest lawyer keeps him away from climbing these days though I don't have a prob.with the meat market, coming from a farming background, but since we don't eat meat ourselves, he'd rather avoid marketing our animals as such if we can avoid it. He's fine with culling our roosters since we raise laying hens and sell eggs - they go to a local plant and butcher that sells to niche markets - but right now selling the ND's to the 4-H market seems to work. I just would like more milk/doe = larger goats. If we do eventually go that route, we'll probably keep a Nubian or two and sell the boer cross kids for meat. Who know if we'll ever keep our own buck again though - we have in the past - but he was SUCH a pain to house and take care of.... Luckily, there are many goat keepers within driving distance.

[jgale]

farmer,
I don't have anything to add about goats, but I'm curious about what sounds like a major adventure for your family...Does off the grid mean (gasp) no internet access? I assume you're going to be building a home? How did you pick your land? Jessi

[farmer mama]

Originally Posted by jgale

farmer,
I don't have anything to add about goats, but I'm curious about what sounds like a major adventure for your family...Does off the grid mean (gasp) no internet access? I assume you're going to be building a home? How did you pick your land? Jessi

I imagine we will have some sort of access, possibly satellite. We hope to be all solar though. There is some debate on whether "off grid" means no phone, but we will see what works for us. The benefits of having information and connections accessible out-weigh our desire to be purists as far as off grid goes. We will be building a home but have had a hard time finding an environmantally-friendly, easy to build home that will be ideal for the climate we are in. Strawbale is great but I am concerned about how it holds up in a moist climate, we are considering cob or cordwood and figuring how to do permits for these things. We looked all over for land; cheap land with good water and exposure is hard to find, lol. We looked at a lot of steep, North facing slopes. And in the six months we had been looking, prices have rose dramatically. We ended up finding a piece with a gentle south facing slope where we would build our house and our own gardens on the flat acre or two at the top, there is some woods, some cleared, with about 5 acres clear flat land at the base of the slope with great exposure we hope to eventually do a small CSA out of. But first we will work on building the house, growing a garden for our own use, getting our animals set up, planting a permaculture-style orchard "food forest", planting herb gardens and berries, before we will put our energy into a CSA. We can't move out there until the land closes (you know, finaces go through, contigenies are met, county stuff is done) so my fingers are crossed it will all work out.

[jgale]

How fabulous! Sounds like the land that you found is perfect.

As far as environmentally friendly housing--I'm curious what is a sort of 'indigenous' style building to that climate. Like adobe is perfect for hot and dry and has been around forever in that kind of a climate. What did they build with in England way back when? I guess stone, which seems damp and chilly. Now that I think about it--most of the old houses I've visited in England were pretty damp and chilly!

Can't wait to hear how everything goes for you! Jessi

[farmer mama]

In the british isles they did lots of stone or cob. Good thermal mass but not so great for insulation. In my climate the indegenious people made cedar long house type of dwellings.