There be goats in the yard!
Our current age is:
We picked up Nick and Molly from the breeder this morning.They are getting used to their new digs, and I'm getting used to the fact that I'll be getting up in the middle of the night to give them their every 4 hour feeding!
Here's some pics of Nick and Molly right after they were born, and coming home!
Here's the feeding area, showing the salt lick, feed dish and hay feeder.The hay feeder pulls out on tracks from under the roof to fill! (Sparrow built it in his workshop)
Here's the goat's automatic waterer, it's just hooked up with a garden hose.
Here's the entrance to their goat house. It's a cozy size for them to stay out of the rain.
Of course their names are on the fence! Sparrow likes making these signs.
Overview of the goat pen.They'll spend most of the time with a run of the whole yard. The pen is for night time!
Kids are home, but not sure if they want to come out of the car carrier!
Nick and Molly have settled in to their new home and are seen here climbing all over their mommy (Like most kids do!)
Video of their first steps in the Movies area!
Here's a table with neck stantion to hold the goats still while we're working on them. The stantion raises and lowers, and the neck hold device is designed to secure them regardless of their size.
Closeup of the staition with feed pan so they can eat hay or grains while we work on them or milk Molly after she's been bred. Sparrow built it all in his workshop.
Everyone wants a cookie! One of our dogs gets in on the cookie action. They like 'em too!
After some thought, Sparrow redesigned the snack bar with a taller roof. He also stacked up some blocks up for them to climb on. They enjoy them much.
One problem we were having were the goats knocking their food dish on the ground, wasting goatchow...
So Sparrow built up a locking bar that keeps the dish from being knocked off of the support post. It opens with a single wing nut.
Close up of the locking bar. That'll keep the food off the ground! Feel free to copy the design for your own animals! It's just a 1 inch square tube and a couple of slices of 1 1/2 inch angle iron. There is room for two food dishes to be hung up. A couple of holes, a little paint it it was done in 15 minutes!
Picked up 4 broom heads at Harbor Freight, and fastened them to a 2x4 for a scratching rail. Molly took right to it!
Nick and Molly love playing with this bucket. They push it all over the pen.
Sparrow built a simple clamping system so we can clamp an oak branch to the top rail of the fence. They love munching on oak leaves.
Nick is almost 95 pounds now! He's very strong and can easily knock me over if I'm not careful!
Nick mugs for the camera. He's always silly when I point a camera at him!
One of our new chicks found her way into the goat pen. She and the goats got along just fine.
Goats have been doing great this year. Their first birthday was May 8th. Today however, Nick was head butting with his sister, and managed to rip off part of a scur on his head. Made a bloody mess of both him and Molly. I clipped the rest of the scur off at the root, cleaned up the wound and put some antibiotic on it. He'll be fine!