Keeping Goats from getting their heads caught in the Fence

The little red head goat is named Godzilla(kids named her).  She know the grass is always greener on the other side so she sticks her head through the fence to get it. The problem with that is her horns are just the wrong size. she can't get her head back through so she stands and hollers until I find her and free her.  This gets old every twenty minutes day and night.










So here is my solution to fix it. I took a 1 1/2 inch pipe and cut it about 12 inches long. just long enough that it will not go through the part of the fence she keeps getting caught in. Then I measured the distance between her horns on top and drill two holes the width of her horns at the proper distance in the center of the pipe. I didn't drill all the way through . Then came the fun part. I put the pipe on the top of her horns and had someone hold her while I duct taped the pipe securely on her horns. She hated this part. I think the sound of the tape coming off the roll scared her.

Well it took a little getting use to and she certainly didn't like me for a while but it has been on her 3 weeks now and I haven't had to get her head out of the fence since.

Nancy and Yoda

Nancy had a little billy on Thursday. The kids named him Yoda because of his small head and large ears. They were taken and penned in the barn because of our little coyote problems. I watched them extra carefully since Maisey let her baby die. Nancy seems to be a real good momma. Yoda is growing real good and is always busy jumping around and exploring.

Other news, our little bantam hen just hatched out 10 biddies. One died ,I think it hatched before the others and for some reason she kicked it out the nest. If my hens will hatch their eggs I let them. I prefer they take care of the biddies and not me. I do still have some in the incubator from the big hens. They haven't tried to sit on their eggs yet. Yesterday I had one quail hatch out, about 3 days early. Nothing else has hatched I'm not sure why this one did. I have him in the house in a box with a light waiting on the others.

Two of our beagles are missing.  They went hunting rabbits on Wednesday and haven't been home. Not sure if they just got lost, caught by coyotes, or shot. We miss them very much.

 Got some seed started indoors. I actually find that it doesn't save me much time as far as getting things to harvest faster. Seeds that I sow directly in the garden will usually be ready about the same time as the plants I started in the house but I just have to start planting, I just cannot wait so I start them in the house. This year I did buy a grow light and hung in under my kitchen cabinets so we will see if the plants grow better. I usually just put them in a sunny window and turn them once a day. The plants are usually tall and week and when I put them in the garden they just kinda stay that way for a while before they finally decide to grow.  I have great hopes for this year. I hope I didn't just waste $24.99 on a light.
  My oldest daughter wanted in on the action. She saved all the cantaloupe seeds from last year. I didn't actually plant them last year but some how the seeds got to the garden (I'm not naming names Abigail). Casey loved the cantaloupe so much that she wanted to plant some this year. I let her plant her seeds, I don't know if any will come up but she has planted them. I told her with that many plants she will be able to sell her cantaloupe. I hope her plants do well.

 Got my husband to disc the garden under. I planted winter wheat for the first time at the end of last season as a cover crop and for organic matter in the soil. Of course my hens went to work right away ridding the garden of any grub worm. Whatever my husband didn't get turned under my hens certainly will.

 My new pregnant nanny Maisey wasn't happy in the field with the others.  She is very far along so I put her in the  pen with the pig we decided to fatten out. All his brothers and sister were just sold and he was lonely and scared. They seem to really enjoy each other. The nanny will not let anything close to the little pig and the pig lays with the goat and they eat hay together.


UPDATE: Maisey had one nanny on Friday while still in the pen with the pig. She would nurse the pig but not her baby so I pen them separte in the barn. While I was out there she would nurse the baby but if I wasn't there she would not. I didn't realize she wasn't taking care of it until to late and she died on sunday night after I stayed up most the night trying to bottle feed it and keep it warm.  Maisey was turned back out to the feild where she sits by the hog pen with the baby pig.

Coming soon...March 10, 2012

Got the incubator full of eggs, Chicken and Quail. I don't hatch any during the winter because winters here can sometimes be harsh and I am not going to take care of biddies all winter long.  I am also excited that I have a new broody hen. She is sitting on ten. We haven't had a broody hen since the first year we moved here.  We had always had free range hens at the other place so I didn't have them in a pen and when they went to sit something would get them. So we built the pens for their protection but I had already lost my good broody hens.

Mother's day weekend

Friday started off nice. I mowed the part of the garden that is not planted with anything yet. It has some wild strawberries that we are finding a few strawberries from. We eat these as soon as we find them so I could tell you how many. My green peppers have blooms. I have never had much luck with green peppers at the other house. We always had ducks and ducks love to eat green peppers.

After mowing I got the loppers and started down the side field. My plan was to burn brush piles after I picked up the kids from school. By the time I got the kids and got back home it was to windy to burn anything. After my husband got home we continued clearing the field and piling the brush. He brought me a new camera home for mother's day. It takes really nice pictures. I am proud to have it.

Saturday my husband and his daddy went to Race bros and bought a sprayer that runs off of the four wheeler. They hooked the whole thing up and started filling it. It started leaking, so they boxed it back up and took it back. I am not sure how the store fixed it but they did. Said they had had that same problem before.After he got home they sprayed 2 sprayers full on the bottom field. He left the field on the right for wild blackberries this year and the side field for me and the goats to clear.

We missed the court of honor for the Boy Scouts. We thought it was that evening but it was at 11am. That is when they were returning a sprayer. That evening we when out and started weeding the corn. My husband trying to get all the Bermuda grass ended up digging up the corn we just planted. I said something and I think it made him mad because he left. But then he came back with the camera and started taking pictures of the kids and me working in the garden. I think he likes the camera as much as I do. We got in late but had turkey, that I had in the oven because the house was cool, mac'n'cheese, stuffing, cranberry sauce and poke salat for supper.

Sunday we went to church, to Shoney's for mother day dinner, and then grocery shopping. We got home, put up the groceries, and went down to his daddy's. I gave Angela the corsage I got for mother's day and we ate ice cream crunch bars. I lead song service at church the had his daddy and Angela over for left over turkey sandwiches for supper.

Here is the new biddy and rooster fattening pen we just finished. It is a lot more convenient than the one we had. And here is our cow hop-a-long. He decided to check out the throw blanket I put on the fence so I could take a picture of it.

Bean Tepees and Barbeque

I have strawberries that are close to being ready. A friend of mine already has 3 ripe strawberries but she already has an established bed. If I can keeep the goats out of them I will have some in a couple of days. All the peas and Lima beans are up. I am going to try growing them on hog panels this year. Two years ago I made bean tepees. The worked great at first. My back didn't hurt from bending over. Then I realized that I built them to high and we were having to stand on ladders to pick the peas. That was a problem in its own. I am going to build more tepees to plant peas on when the potatoes are pulled out, but the will not be very high.

I finally got Hosta to grow. They say it is one of the easiest things to grow but my free range chickens always ate it. The goats were loose yesterday so it has got some damage but i think it will recover nicely as long as I water it today. This is my broccoli. I have never grown it before never had any luck. Maybe this year will be better. I will let you know.

Finally got the rest of the corn planted. The lawn is almost mowed. The weed eater is fixed. The laundry is washed. So I decided to take the kids swimming at the creek. Right as we were leaving I realized my second daughter was running a fever. I gave her some medicine and thought she would be cooler by the creek so we went for just a little while. It wasn't long before she started throwing up so that ended that trip. We decided to grill outside so the kids that were not sick could stay out and play. We had BBQ chicken, grill corn on the cob, and potato packs. The Chinese cabbage recipe of the day was stir fried cabbage.

I don't know if it is a well known recipe or something I made up. I start by frying a little bacon for seasoning and grease. Then I throw in a chopped onion and stir until the onion is translucent. Then I put in chopped cabbage about half Chinese cabbage and half regular cabbage. I cook it down until not much grease left in the pan. Then I add a little Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce to taste. Just cook until tender crisp. I really like this, don't know if my husband cares that much for it, but he eats it.

Today I need to water the potatoes and things on the other side of the garden that the sprinkler didn't get last night. It is not suppose to rain here until Sunday and that is to long without water up here. Since this is a first year garden in this location the soil is kinda poor and don't hold moisture well. Weeding is never done. There is a lot of Bermuda grass in the corn and my husband's solution is to spray it. Who wants to eat anything out of a garden with all that poison sprayed in it.

Chinese Cabbage

This is the first year I planted Chinese cabbage. I picked up a couple of plants at the feed store. I planted them about 1 foot apart. At first they were not doing will. I think they were drying out to fast in the harsh wind . I mulched them with leaves and immediately noticed a difference. A couple of weeks later I fertilized with fish emulsion and they took off. Yesterday I noticed two of them were starting to bolt. I wasn't ready to pick them but I cut those two off at the ground. Together they were about 4 lbs. On Facebook I asked if anyone had a good recipe for Chinese cabbage and boy at the response. I decided on a Ham and Cabbage Soup.

Ham and Chinese Cabbage Soup

1 tbsp butter

2 stalks celery, chopped (I left this out we do not like celery)

1 sm. onion, chopped

1 tbsp flour

2 c chicken bouillon or broth

1 1/2 c cooked ham, diced(i used left over ham bone i had in my freezer)

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 c shredded Chinese cabbage

Saute celery and onion in butter. Stir in flour. Add bouillon and cook, stirring until bubbly, Add ham, bay leaf, and cabbage cook until ham is heated and cabbage is limp.

I cooked it in a crock pot while I went out and mowed the lawn. It was good for a change. Kinda reminded us of mustard greens. I will have to try a different recipe tonight. I had intended to go out and plant corn after supper but by the time I got the grilled cheese cooked and kids fed it was getting late so I decided to just go out and watch the sun set.

First I had to put up goats. The chain was off the gate. So I got my kids to fetch the hammer and staples while I held the gate shut. Both me and my oldest son tried to hammer that staple in the gate and couldn't. Finally I sent for my husband. He got it hammered but it took him 10 minutes. Is old wood harder to nail? By this time I missed the sun set and just went in and got the kids in bed.

Improvements

When we first moved out here last year my husband built a pole shed to keep tools, chemicals, hay and his for wheeler. All winter we had hay in it and animals. It was hard to find anything in it. About the time of the last Bon -fire my husband got that bee in his bonnet and cleaned out the shed. Here is one of my hens a little confused over the change.

Then he really surprised me. He and his daddy went and built shelves and places to put all the tools. I am really proud of him. I think it looks really nice. Now if i can get them to put the things back after using them I think I will be about the happiest woman on earth.

Here is another improvement. I removed the chicken wire on the side of the goat pen. It was built for the chickens. We tired to keep the chickens in it instead of letting them be free range. We even clipped wings and nothing stopped them from getting out. I guess they were to use to being free range. We are in the process of clearing this land but it is still pretty wild so we lost most of our chickens to predators. Although it didn't work for chickens it seems to do nicely for the pony and goats. My big goat was able to get out so even in the pen she was kept chained. The the little goat tore holes in the side of the chicken wire and became a escape artist.

I knew that I would not be able to get the fence back up in the same day so my plan was to keep the goats chained out until the next day. Surprise, my husband got the fence up that night. Now the goats can roam freely in the pen at night and be tied out to eat during the day. They love it.

goat pens gardens and other happenings

I took the quilt to the winner yesterday. She has a very nice garden. She gave me some plants for my garden which I doubt I remember all of them. Oregano, parsley, fennel, chives, sage, mint, two tomato plants, broccoli, mustard greens, and a bleeding heart and lamb's ears.

She also gave me advice on asparagus. Everything I have read said to pull out the little volunteers. She just lets hers go wild and always has lots of asparagus. This is my first year with it and I was going to let it go wild anyway but if that is all there is to it than I will just let it grow and eat it when I can.

Another lady was giving away some sweet potatoes, seed potatoes and cabbage plants. I went there to get some and she lives in a bottom close to a year round creek. She has a big really nice house that they are remodeling and a huge garden. She saves her own seed so she has to buy very little. The cabbage was two year old seed and she didn't think it would all come up but did. So she had plenty to give away. I planted all of them besides what i gave to my boys. They have decided to make there own garden this year. Good luck to them.

This lady also use to have goats and gave me the name of someone who might have a billy I could borrow. I redid the goat pen the day before. Chicken wire will not hold a goat for long. I was repairing holes almost daily. So I tore down that section and because of the amount of rigging and repairs that was hard work. The kids enjoyed raking up and helping fertilize the garden. While my husband and i rebuilt the fence using red top field wire.

Today I need to build something to grow sweet potato slips in and plant more regular potatoes. There is always weeding, mowing, housework, and other things to do. But at the end of the day i sure sleep well.

Animals

Here are a few of the chickens and a rooster that help keep the insects under control on the farm. They aren't caged at all, they are allowed to range free all over the farm except in the garden.

The smaller ones are kept pinned for their own protection. In these cages are three chickens and one rooster. The roosters name is Sunday. when they get larger the chickens will be turned out with the other chickens but the Rooster will be kept caged to fatten him out for the dinner that bears his name. Sunday Dinner.

This pony is one of the three organic lawn mowers. Her name is Ginger and she does a nice Job of keeping the lawn mowed.

This little lawn mower has horns and keeps getting her head caught in the fence. Sometimes she needs assistance in getting out.