Newest construction, on the farm

Recently the goats moved into a fenced in area and stopped their roaming.  The week they moved in the pen from the back porch of the chicken coop, we had rain forecasted later in the week.  Here is a “bus stop” I built for them to get in out of the weather. 

The 4x4 posts are cemented in the ground because a goat will butt any object, 2x4s around the top, the top and sides are covered with the same tin as the roof of our other farm structures.  This is green tin that was given to me by a friend, the roofs of everything are green.  It has a roof and walls about 3-1/2 feet high this will keep wind and rain off them directly.  They have two bales of straw loose on the ground to lay on (and eat).  I did not want it to be completely enclosed because our summers are really hot and our winters are not all that bad. 
The next thing they needed was a place to play, before they could go into the woods and play on fallen tree.  They also liked to play on things like feed containers, the back porch and of course the picnic table.  These were the areas, where they played that were not approved by upper management Jen.  Here is what I came up with hint: it was mentioned in the last post as an idea but here are pictures.



That’s right, a wood pile.  They love it, you have never seen kids play king of the hill, like Kids (young goats do), they are so fun to watch. 
Their other toy is the feeder I purchased for them, but they have now figured out it can also be a place to wrestle over food; at the time of this picture Romeo was in control.  When I walk in the pen if one of them is in the feeder, I will spin it like a merry-go-round!

Thanks for stopping by and comments are always appreciated. 

The title of the post will be at the end…you have to read the story first.

Have you every wondered why I named my little farm Rosebriar Farm? 

Could it be my love for roses? 

  

Well you see, I have 31 rose bushes (but who’s counting), I have even managed to start one of my own.  That was a milestone for me, it was like a kid getting a new bike for Christmas when I realized I had started my own bush from a root of one I had transplanted months before.  This is no easy task mind you, EVERYONE has to go buy their bushes either as really small plants or in larger pots from a nursery. 

Jen and I also have a few plants that mean a lot to us.   She has a small Lemon tree,  still in a pot on the back porch that was kind enough to bear its first lemon this year.  I have a plumeria, that was purchased for $6 in Hawaii in 2006, when we went to Wil and Holly’s Wedding.  I often joke of this being a $10,000 plant that came with an 8 day Hawaiian vacation.  Many of the family member bought back similar sticks (plumeria cuttings); we work so hard at keeping this tropical plant alive it now has 9 braches that produce flowers.  Each year it produces more we now get about 100 blooms from June until just before the first frost, when it is relocated to our bathroom to live for the winter, where the steam of the shower provides a green house effect for it.  By the way NO ONE else in the family has every had theirs bloom; I’m not bragging (well maybe just a little) just stating facts.  Thanks to Laura “Ninnie” Bevel, she is where I acquired my green thumb.

We have a cute little fruit garden which consist of the following: blackberries, blue berries, raspberries, strawberries, plum trees, peach trees, and some roses, of course.  This is all contained in a fence to keep the chickens from eating the berries.  The cute little goats Romeo and Maestro have been free roaming since they were kids (pun intended) , they sleep on feed storage boxes on the back porch of the chicken coop.  Well we all know what kids grow up to be DAMN DEMENTED GOATS teenagers. 

The other day, I had walked outside to check on something, when I walked back into the house and slammed the back boor where everyone in the house came running to see what the problem was, as I scream at Jen to post of craigslist I have two Damn goats to give away or find me a fondue recipe and I really didn’t care which.  As she looks at me, she see me holding a green lemon (mind you lemons are not ripe until they turn yellow.) She says “I take it YOUR goats broke my lemon off the tree?”  Well no joke I sure as heck would not pick a green lemon,  I told her it was not that they broke the lemon off the tree but the way they did it.  They climbed onto  the plumeria pot (2-1/2’ diameter) to eat the leaves, it turned over and broke a limb and the lemon.  This all happened on a Sunday afternoon……fast forward to Monday.

After work Brad and I moved everything: 5 trees, 3 roses, and about 20 fruit bushes (all with thorns mind you) out of the fenced fruit garden since the chickens will have no interest until spring when the berries begin to bloom.  You can come help me build a fence this winter, if you would like.   We finished under the headlights of vehicles, as this took about 4 hard hours of work. 

Guess what we moved into the fence? Yep that’s right the GOATS!

Since then I have had to build them a climbing toy (a HUGE pile of firewood) and a shelter similar to a bus stop kids use in the north while waiting for the school bus. 

Why?

All because Jen did not want to try Goat Fondue!  (the title)

Boys Don’t Play With Your Food

A “hobby farm” is defined as going broke playing with animals therefore you have to learn to cut costs where you can.  Last week I stopped by tractor supply to pick up a couple of things and found a mineral feeder marked down from $150 to $100.  Now you ask what is a mineral feeder; well it is a cattle feeder for minerals to be left in the pasture.  So what is so neat about a mineral feeder it is designed to turn in the wind where the rain will not fill it with water and destroy the minerals. 

Now I know you are wanting to know why a guy with no cattle needs a mineral feeder.  Because goats need to eat and they don’t mind playing with their food.  Because they are short they can’t stand and eat out of it like a cow could.  They have to stand on their back legs and place their front legs feet in it.  This causes it to spin and watching them learn to use it while it was turning was quiet comical but they quickly figured it out.  The last picture shows Romeo head butting the top after it hit him when it turned.  Today I was out with no camera around and Romeo was standing and eating while Maestro was standing in it to eat.

 

It was a good deal and their feed stays dry. 

My how quickly they grow up…..

Here are a few then and now pictures of the animals around the farm.


Hamlet at one week; old (Christmas 2009)...


Hamlet in the Spring...




These were the pics of the goats e-mailed to me when I asked about each of the fellows before purchase.


THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW:

Hamlet and Romeo having a shoving match.

Look at those horns (Romeo)! Maestro has no horns, he was disbudded (the horns were stopped from growing at just weeks old).



Hamlet now weighs about 75 pounds and can lift that or more with his nose.


 

Maestro and Romeo working climbing on the bush hog.
While they are growing up, they are more funny to watch now.

This goat came with a name…

Brad had asked for his own goat; I found this little fellow from an inquiry I put on www.backyardherds.com. I would like for you to meet Maestro, he is a registered Nigerian Dwarf, wether (neutered male). Romeo was not wanting to stay in his pen; he kept getting out and hanging out with the chickens. He also slept in the chicken coop at night. After Maestro moved in Romeo has not gotten out again. Both goats and Hamlet (my pot-belly pig) all live in the same pen.

If you would also like to have your own registered Nigerian Dwarf check out www.lilhillfarm.com when I’m ready for another they will be the first place I look.

When Maestro arrived at the house I turned him loose and just let he and Romeo find each other. There was a little head butting nothing major, but it was really cute. They are the same age (2 months).

Here is me showing Brad his new goat.

Since goats like to climb, and I live in an old auto parts junk yard, I put to good use a couple of wheels and tires, they are stacked for the goats to play on. You can see Maestro is trying to be king of the mountain, with Romeo on the lower level while Hamlet is desperately searching for something else to eat.

Much thought must be put into naming a goat!

Jen and I picked up my goat (previously mentioned in You have to love technology…) and began to discuss a name.

She mentioned Shakespeare or Romeo since we have a Hamlet already.

Because goats are notorious for getting out I had to go along with the name of Romeo.

That way when we go to his pen and he is not there we can say

“Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?”