Maine

[Chambertin]

Congrats on the job.
Always good news to get a stable income source and free up your worries for what to do on the farm.
Good luck with everything and if I end up near you I'll be happy to lend a hand.

 

[lazy gardener]

IT'S 14 DEGREES THIS MORNING AND THE CHICKADEES ARE SINGING THEIR SPRING SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dita Von Cluck]

IT'S 14 DEGREES THIS MORNING AND THE CHICKADEES ARE SINGING THEIR SPRING SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome sound! That reminds me that I need to fill the bird feeder. The little cuties were protesting on Monday that it was empty but I forgot to go out and take care of it. Oops!

 

[jerseychix]

You guys are going to make me reveal my plans for this place, but since this is the forever house, it can take some time.

We've got 4 wooded acres. And I mean wooded. They really didn't clear enough land when they built the house. We need to clear some big trees out. My husband and I can handle the small ones, but, there are some giants that we are getting the MOFGA low impact loggers in to help with.

I have a place marked out for the chickens. It is a treefall area that I am going to fence in (I've done free range chickens, no more). I also need to build a coop. We are going to do layers and meat chickens. But I have to get the husband on board for the meat chickens.

Then, I want to get a goat to start clearing the underbrush on about a half acre. BUT, I don't know how I am going to contain it, and I have to get some sort of shelter.

After the goat, we are going to get a piglet, put the piglet on the same half acre as the goat, and then move the goat to the next half acre. Again, housing is an issue.

If I can clear a reasonable amount of land (over the course of time) and build a good pasture using this method, and I can get a run in shed built, THEN we are going to get a horse. My husband says no horse till my school loan is paid off though!

I want to build all these shelters for as cheap as possible, but, I am not quite sure how. But, I've got time and imagination, so I'll get there.

 

[lazy gardener]

You guys are going to make me reveal my plans for this place, but since this is the forever house, it can take some time.

We've got 4 wooded acres. And I mean wooded. They really didn't clear enough land when they built the house. We need to clear some big trees out. My husband and I can handle the small ones, but, there are some giants that we are getting the MOFGA low impact loggers in to help with.

I have a place marked out for the chickens. It is a treefall area that I am going to fence in (I've done free range chickens, no more). I also need to build a coop. We are going to do layers and meat chickens. But I have to get the husband on board for the meat chickens.

Then, I want to get a goat to start clearing the underbrush on about a half acre. BUT, I don't know how I am going to contain it, and I have to get some sort of shelter.

After the goat, we are going to get a piglet, put the piglet on the same half acre as the goat, and then move the goat to the next half acre. Again, housing is an issue.

If I can clear a reasonable amount of land (over the course of time) and build a good pasture using this method, and I can get a run in shed built, THEN we are going to get a horse. My husband says no horse till my school loan is paid off though!

I want to build all these shelters for as cheap as possible, but, I am not quite sure how. But, I've got time and imagination, so I'll get there.

Cattle panel with a 2 x 4 ridge may be a good cheap way for you to go. Simple enough to put up that you can build it yourself with very basic carpentry skills. Though you will need help getting those panels flexed into the arc shape. How bout an electric fence with a battery charger to enclose your "pasture space".

 

[echosrevenge]

First, and only because I've said this to SO MANY people over the years of having goats...you CAN NOT get just one goat. Two is the minimum number, they are herd animals and a lonely goat is not only a LOUD goat (and until you've had goats, you would not believe how loud they can be), but is also a stressed-out and soon to be sick goat. You can pick up weaned kids in the spring cheap here, I got a pair of Nigerian Dwarf mix kids last year for $25 off of Craigslist - less than the cost of the collars they came with. Lots of people around here have dairy goats, and like chickens 50% of the babies come out male when only about 5% need to be, so male kids are cheap as dirt here a couple months after kidding time.

We used meat wethers (neutered male goats) for our lawnmowers at the house we rented this last year. We waited until the cheapie cattle panels went on sale at TSC for around $20 each, then got a bunch of them and cut them in half to make each 16-foot panel into two 5'x8' sections. We tied the sections back together with paracord and carribeaners, and voila! Instant mobile goat pen - not a full half-acre in size, but I could move it by myself in a few minutes of not-hugely-difficult-but-physical labor (I'm 5'1" and have never been more than 100lbs)...that's not to say it wasn't a lot easier to move with my husband or sister to lend a hand, but it was entirely possible on my own. I used an extra-large plastic dog crate as their shelter for most of the summer, until they got too big to cram into it together. Then they went to the barn at night with the dairy does, but out in the morning to keep eating the brush! We've gotten rid of the dairy does, and the meaties are off to the butcher in a week, but for now they are living in basically a 3-sided shed (4' by 8' and about 4.5' tall) with the front half-covered by a spare chunk of plywood to keep some of the wind out and deep bedding hay on the floor, fenced in against the lee side of the house with more of those cattle panels. Goats are remarkably hardy, and will grow out a winter coat as needed (depending on how soft it is, that's cashmere). The one big concern with them is getting soaked to the skin and then chilled, as it can lead to other health problems. As long as they have a dry place to get out of the rain, they're pretty well OK. I've seen many pictures of goats in 3-sided shelters through Montana winters, poking their noses out through 4' snow drifts.

The 3-sided shack they're in now, my husband knocked together in about an hour - it's nothing special, but it keeps them warm and dry, which is all they ask for. Hope some of those ideas help! I'd be happy to take photos of our mobile pen before we take it down and repurpose it into hoop coops and high tunnels, if you'd like to see how we had it set up.

 

[Mainechick168]

First, and only because I've said this to SO MANY people over the years of having goats...you CAN NOT get just one goat. Two is the minimum number, they are herd animals and a lonely goat is not only a LOUD goat (and until you've had goats, you would not believe how loud they can be), but is also a stressed-out and soon to be sick goat. You can pick up weaned kids in the spring cheap here, I got a pair of Nigerian Dwarf mix kids last year for $25 off of Craigslist - less than the cost of the collars they came with. Lots of people around here have dairy goats, and like chickens 50% of the babies come out male when only about 5% need to be, so male kids are cheap as dirt here a couple months after kidding time.

We used meat wethers (neutered male goats) for our lawnmowers at the house we rented this last year. We waited until the cheapie cattle panels went on sale at TSC for around $20 each, then got a bunch of them and cut them in half to make each 16-foot panel into two 5'x8' sections. We tied the sections back together with paracord and carribeaners, and voila! Instant mobile goat pen - not a full half-acre in size, but I could move it by myself in a few minutes of not-hugely-difficult-but-physical labor (I'm 5'1" and have never been more than 100lbs)...that's not to say it wasn't a lot easier to move with my husband or sister to lend a hand, but it was entirely possible on my own. I used an extra-large plastic dog crate as their shelter for most of the summer, until they got too big to cram into it together. Then they went to the barn at night with the dairy does, but out in the morning to keep eating the brush! We've gotten rid of the dairy does, and the meaties are off to the butcher in a week, but for now they are living in basically a 3-sided shed (4' by 8' and about 4.5' tall) with the front half-covered by a spare chunk of plywood to keep some of the wind out and deep bedding hay on the floor, fenced in against the lee side of the house with more of those cattle panels. Goats are remarkably hardy, and will grow out a winter coat as needed (depending on how soft it is, that's cashmere). The one big concern with them is getting soaked to the skin and then chilled, as it can lead to other health problems. As long as they have a dry place to get out of the rain, they're pretty well OK. I've seen many pictures of goats in 3-sided shelters through Montana winters, poking their noses out through 4' snow drifts.

The 3-sided shack they're in now, my husband knocked together in about an hour - it's nothing special, but it keeps them warm and dry, which is all they ask for. Hope some of those ideas help! I'd be happy to take photos of our mobile pen before we take it down and repurpose it into hoop coops and high tunnels, if you'd like to see how we had it set up.

Echosrevenge, it looks like you have some good goat experience. I want Nigerian dwarfs BAD! I understand I need more than one, so ideally, I'd like to start with 3. Only problem is the husband. He is sure that they will take A TON more work than chickens....I understand they are larger animals..mammals, and will have some different needs, I guess what I am saying here, is how much work are they really? Any advice? I wouldn't mind doing the dairy thing?

I think I should just send you a pm....I've got too many questions

 

[Widget]

Echosrevenge, it looks like you have some good goat experience. I want Nigerian dwarfs BAD! I understand I need more than one, so ideally, I'd like to start with 3. Only problem is the husband. He is sure that they will take A TON more work than chickens....I understand they are larger animals..mammals, and will have some different needs, I guess what I am saying here, is how much work are they really? Any advice? I wouldn't mind doing the dairy thing?

I think I should just send you a pm....I've got too many questions

I have two goats. One is a Nubian and the other is a Nigerian Dwarf. Care wise they are relatively simple. Fresh water daily. I give a flake of hay in the morning and offer some sweet goat grain in the afternoon. Hoof trims as needed (easy to do on your own). They have a nice shed for a shelter that they hang out in when the weather is bad or when they just want to relax and chew their cud. Bedding is a bale of shavings that I try and clean out as needed. Summer more so than winter. This time of year I just add more shavings to keep it fluffy. I use sheep/goat panels for fencing and it is about 25 ft in diameter. Other than rabies which is vet only any vaccine that you choose to use is available from TSC. Again you can do these yourself. With just two I don't find them that time consuming. If you go the milking route that would change since you would have to add the time to milk them into the equation.

 

[echosrevenge]

Nigies are sweet, and somewhat easier to manage than the larger breeds like Saanen, La Mancha, etc (mostly because they're 1/3 the size!).

The amount of work goats take is VASTLY dependent on whether you milk them or not. Our two wethers are hardly any work at all at this time of year - take them a pail of hot water when I bring out the chickens' water in the morning, throw a bale of hay into the feeder every 2-3 days. In the summer, they're even less work - keep the water full and move the pen regularly so they have fresh forage to eat. The transition between can be finicky, as too much fresh green stuff when they've been on hay all winter can cause some really serious problems, but just like horses you limit their access to fresh pasture at first and gradually increase it until their systems can cope.

Dairying is a WHOLE DIFFERENT ANIMAL. I'll assume that you'll be doing something much like I did, milking by hand for just one or two does, rather than opening a full-blown multi-goat mechanical milking parlor with auto-filtering, cooling tanks, and high-powered industrial dishwashers. We had La Manchas, and while I've been told that dairying with Nigies is a bit easier as you can leave them for a weekend without quite as much risk of serious mastitis, their teats are smaller and unless you pay well for stock specifically bred for hand-milking (I can put you in touch with a couple of breeders I know, that do breed for hand milking in their Nigies) they can be really difficult to milk by hand, especially if you have large hands. My daily routine with our two La Manchas looked like this:

6:30 up and get dressed, make tea
7:00 assemble milking crate - stainless pail, 1/2 gallon jar for pouring off into, filter, udder cream, basic first aid kit for daily health check
7:15 feed & water, fill hay feeders
7:30 take first goat to stanchion, milk
7:45 (once I got it down, at first milking out the first doe took more like 30-45 minutes) return first goat to pen, take out second goat to milk
8:05-8:10 done milking, second doe back to pen. back to the house to filter milk, and wash dairying dishes.
8:30 finish dishes, dairying dishes MUST air-dry for sanitation's sake so they're ALWAYS out in the dish rack. Once a week they must be scrubbed thoroughly with special acid-based dairy soap to remove calcium deposits that can harbor bacteria and cause the milk to spoil rapidly.

Start the whole thing again at 7:00pm, 365 days a year - you can fudge a bit on whether it's an exactly-12-hour window, but skipping a milking with the larger breeds is just begging for problems with mastitis - which means you have to milk 4-8 times per day, can't drink the milk, and often need to apply antibiotics (which is not easy to do, since they must be injected through the teat orifice into the mammary gland) for up to 3 weeks before you can drink milk again. Mastitis, left untreated, can go gangrenous and kill a dairy doe surprisingly quickly. It doesn't matter if you're sick, or it's cold, or whatever, the goats have to be milked - I milked goats twice on my wedding day.

Two La Mancha does, one "first freshener" (i.e. her first year lactating, when they produce 1/2 what they will the second year) and one second-year doe, provided so much milk for our family of 5 that we couldn't keep up with it, even making cheese every other day and having a toddler. Aside from milking, you have to DO SOMETHING with the milk - and while a gallon a day doesn't sound like much, unpasteurized goats' milk starts to develop a "goaty" taste after 4-5 days in the fridge, and can only be used for cheese, pudding, or other applications where heat is applied for the first 48 hours, after that the proteins start to break down and if you heat it, the two proteins that aren't present in cow's milk (capra-somethings, can't remember exactly) will denature and the taste is LIKE WHOA GROSS. That's why so many people hate store-bought goat's milk - it's been cooked AND stored for weeks on the shelf, neither of which are friendly to it tasting like anything other than the south end of a northbound buck in rut. We kept the goats for several months, mostly to have the raw milk for the baby, but eventually my husband developed the ability to "taste the goat" in ANY dish that had goat milk or goat cheese in it. It got to the point where I was trying SO HARD to use up all the milk that I was putting milk, yogurt, or ricotta into just about everything, and he was scared to eat anything I cooked for fear it would taste like goat butt.

There are tons and tons of people out there who love their dairy goats, love dairying (the milking, I actually didn't mind at all - it was quiet, and the does were well-trained and friendly, quite personable animals really - it was all the associated work of milking I grew to detest), and love the milk and cheese. For us, it turned out that buying raw goats' milk from the farm down the way for the baby was a lot less work, and our time is better spent on other projects (chickens! solar panels! greenhouses!) than on goats.

I'd be happy to point you in the direction of some local breeders I know whose dairy animals and practices I'm personally acquainted with, or answer any other questions you may have. I loved my goats, but the amount of work vs. the amount of food just wasn't economical for our family, especially once my husband put his foot down about eating goat products!

 

[Carrie54452002]

welcome to you and dita von cluck
we are a pretty chatty group and it's great when we get together at the swaps in the warmer months.
nice to put names with faces.

Thanks so much! I am excited to find an engaging group, others seem to fade quickly. I will def attend a few swaps. My coop (4x8) won't house too many more but definitely looking to add a couple girls and maybe a roo. I was wondering though, what happens if a banty roo mates with a standard size hen or visca versa? Would that be an issue ever? I am very new at this, got my first 6 back in June, lost a few added a few etc so I am now at one cochin batam sweetie and 4 Americauna hens that I rescued. I will be adding a pair of salmon favs in March that I am SO excited for and trying to figure out what breeds I want when I add 2 or 4 more pullets this Summer. I had a couple wyandottes that I fell in love with and some silkies so I am partial to them but what does everyone else think? What breeds do you think would mix nicely with favs, a cochin and my Americaunas? I am thinking I will stick to batams due to space and I find they are sooo much less messy. My Americauna hens make a mess!! Hahaha!