In which we build a "semi-permeable membrane": a fence for goats
There are lots of reasons to get goats:
Goats are useful.
They eat blackberry vines.
They will keep Hana company when Fiddle and I have other places to go.
They eat blackberry vines. They also eat blackberry vines.
Goats are cute.
Really, really cute. They look cute. They do cute stuff. They make cute noises.
Also, they eat blackberry vines.
Our friend Ryan, who works at the Toppenish Livestock Auction yard, has promised to find us a pair of nice little wether goats. The price for goats here in the Swampland is outrageous right now: a nice little wether goat costs about $100 or more!
On the dry side of our mountains, especially at an auction yard, we will pay about $100 for a pair of nice little wether goats. Not fancy or pedigreed goats, of course. Nice goats, though. The kind of goats that eat blackberry vines.
Before the goats arrive, it's important to enhance our pasture fences. Three strands of electric wire might as well be three strands of air in regards to containing goats. So (once the stupid weather cooled down a bit) Jim and I got busy and started building goat fencing.
Jim used the circular saw to cut chunks from the corner posts, and then we added reinforcements.
We have been warned that goats are like water, and fencing them in can be a frustrating experience.
These warnings quite remind me of BRCs, which we used in Alaska to slow bears down in their pursuit of our food, toiletries, and rum. A BRC is a Bear Resistant Container....there is no such thing as a Bear Proof Container. Bears can get through anything...and they do.
So, we are told, it is also with goats. Thus we are building a GRC, and hoping that the goats find the pasture grass and brambles (and blackberry vines) entertaining enough that they do not feel obligated to penetrate our Goat Resistant Container.
We use the come-along to stretch the mesh fencing tight.
Then, we use fencing staples to nail the mesh fencing to the railroad timbers.
We've also got the three strands of electric fence offset from the mesh to discourage climbing, eating, and other kinds of goatish fence-molestation. Well, it might slow them down, at least.
My neighbor Kathy is hoping that the goats will escape and come eat the blackberry vines in her yard.
Hmmm.
In other news, I climbed up on the roof of the house the other day and snapped some photos of the yard and the pasture. I figure that it will be interesting to shoot photos like this every summer, so I can keep track of the changes (hopefully improvements) we make to the farm. (you can click the photo to make it bigger).
Right now I see brown grass (because I will not waste perfectly good well-water on the lawn!) healthy blueberries that have been rescued from the clutches of blackberry vines, grapevines spreading out and producing fruit, and an embarassingly sparse vegetable garden. The paddock fence is visible in this photo, and also the horse trailer and the obligitory pirate flag.
In this photo is the roof of the camper, the solar laundry drying device, the chicken tractor, two shiny horses, and a pasture that isn't quite dried up and blown away in the recent heat wave. None of that stuff, (except the pasture without the fence) was here in March when we moved in.
You can't see the baby trees in this photo, but there are about 40 survivers in the left far corner of the pasture...hopefully in a few years, they will be visible from the roof of the house!
There's always a billion tasks that need to be done on a farm, and a limited number of hours in each day. However, the joy of farm life is that the work is good, useful, tangible stuff; I will be able to climb up on the roof next summer and then see the work we've done in the in the pictures I take. That's a pretty cool thing, I think.
Life is good!
Goats are useful.
They eat blackberry vines.
They will keep Hana company when Fiddle and I have other places to go.
They eat blackberry vines. They also eat blackberry vines.
Goats are cute.
Really, really cute. They look cute. They do cute stuff. They make cute noises.
Also, they eat blackberry vines.
Our friend Ryan, who works at the Toppenish Livestock Auction yard, has promised to find us a pair of nice little wether goats. The price for goats here in the Swampland is outrageous right now: a nice little wether goat costs about $100 or more!
On the dry side of our mountains, especially at an auction yard, we will pay about $100 for a pair of nice little wether goats. Not fancy or pedigreed goats, of course. Nice goats, though. The kind of goats that eat blackberry vines.
Before the goats arrive, it's important to enhance our pasture fences. Three strands of electric wire might as well be three strands of air in regards to containing goats. So (once the stupid weather cooled down a bit) Jim and I got busy and started building goat fencing.Jim used the circular saw to cut chunks from the corner posts, and then we added reinforcements.
We have been warned that goats are like water, and fencing them in can be a frustrating experience.
These warnings quite remind me of BRCs, which we used in Alaska to slow bears down in their pursuit of our food, toiletries, and rum. A BRC is a Bear Resistant Container....there is no such thing as a Bear Proof Container. Bears can get through anything...and they do.
So, we are told, it is also with goats. Thus we are building a GRC, and hoping that the goats find the pasture grass and brambles (and blackberry vines) entertaining enough that they do not feel obligated to penetrate our Goat Resistant Container.
We use the come-along to stretch the mesh fencing tight.
Then, we use fencing staples to nail the mesh fencing to the railroad timbers.
We've also got the three strands of electric fence offset from the mesh to discourage climbing, eating, and other kinds of goatish fence-molestation. Well, it might slow them down, at least.
My neighbor Kathy is hoping that the goats will escape and come eat the blackberry vines in her yard.
Hmmm.
In other news, I climbed up on the roof of the house the other day and snapped some photos of the yard and the pasture. I figure that it will be interesting to shoot photos like this every summer, so I can keep track of the changes (hopefully improvements) we make to the farm. (you can click the photo to make it bigger).
Right now I see brown grass (because I will not waste perfectly good well-water on the lawn!) healthy blueberries that have been rescued from the clutches of blackberry vines, grapevines spreading out and producing fruit, and an embarassingly sparse vegetable garden. The paddock fence is visible in this photo, and also the horse trailer and the obligitory pirate flag.
In this photo is the roof of the camper, the solar laundry drying device, the chicken tractor, two shiny horses, and a pasture that isn't quite dried up and blown away in the recent heat wave. None of that stuff, (except the pasture without the fence) was here in March when we moved in.
You can't see the baby trees in this photo, but there are about 40 survivers in the left far corner of the pasture...hopefully in a few years, they will be visible from the roof of the house!
There's always a billion tasks that need to be done on a farm, and a limited number of hours in each day. However, the joy of farm life is that the work is good, useful, tangible stuff; I will be able to climb up on the roof next summer and then see the work we've done in the in the pictures I take. That's a pretty cool thing, I think.
Life is good!
Ah! Goat fencing! Boy do I know what that is like! We actually have been very lucky and have put up a very containing goat fence. It keeps them in. They have never tried to escape. Actually we have only had one escape ever, when we were given 2 pretty much untamed goats, my other half went to catch one and he jumped the fence! Now they are completely tamed and we do not have that problem anymore!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, goats eat about everything. Be careful if you have trees around that you do want to keep alive. They will skin the tree, literally. I think every tree in our pasture has been de-barked. We used to put chicken wire around the trees to keep them off of them in another pasture, but never got around to it in the pasture they are in now.
Have fun with your goats! They are characters!
Got a blackberry vine problem, do you?
ReplyDeleteYou're more ambitious than I've been in this heat! I can work about two hours first thing in the morning, then I'm done in, and done for the day.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the goats! We inherited three back in Montana, when we took over care-taking a dude ranch. They used to climb all over the guests' cars--invariably the newest, shiniest, most expensive one!
EH! Goats!! lol...sorry, I have issues with goats (and sheep) but they can be handly little buggers:) I actually boarded off a lady who said that every horse barn should have a goat because if a new horse comes in sick the goat will get the virus first... I have no idea if that is true or not... but it (might be) another thing goats are useful for!
ReplyDeleteGoats! Gah! :-)