Ever since I applied to work here, C has been very excited about my "carpentry background," despite my efforts to lower her expectations. One project that she kept mentioning was a new hay feeder. The old one was too small, and the goats knocked wooden slats off of it on a daily basis. C had downloaded very clear and detailed plans for a new feeder, so I agreed that this was something that I could tackle. It actually went together very nicely--the most difficult part was finding extension cords around the farm. Here it is, with the babies trying it out:
It takes the goats longer to get the hay out through the wire mesh, which is a good thing, because any hay that gets spilled on the ground is wasted. Despite their reputation for eating anything and everything, goats are actually pretty picky--they definitely won't eat anything that is near their own poop. Pretty smart, I guess.
I worked on another quick project with J earlier this week. When we feed grain to the goats during milking, we add sunflower seeds and kelp, but there are lots of other amendments that we just don't have time to mix in with the grain. Luckily, most of them can be offered "free choice," meaning there's no risk of the goats eating too much of them. The problem is how to offer them in a way that won't make a huge mess. C visited another farm with a cool PVC pipe solution, which we copied. It contains things like sodium bicarbonate, lime, and salt with some vitamins added:
One of the great things about doing an apprenticeship is that I get to learn from the mistakes of others. For example, C says, "don't build your goats a nice barn. They'll just eat it." See Figure A below. Those walls used to extend down to the ground.
And finally, here are some happy goat ladies playing their favorite game, king of the mountain (or, queen of the spool).
It takes the goats longer to get the hay out through the wire mesh, which is a good thing, because any hay that gets spilled on the ground is wasted. Despite their reputation for eating anything and everything, goats are actually pretty picky--they definitely won't eat anything that is near their own poop. Pretty smart, I guess.
I worked on another quick project with J earlier this week. When we feed grain to the goats during milking, we add sunflower seeds and kelp, but there are lots of other amendments that we just don't have time to mix in with the grain. Luckily, most of them can be offered "free choice," meaning there's no risk of the goats eating too much of them. The problem is how to offer them in a way that won't make a huge mess. C visited another farm with a cool PVC pipe solution, which we copied. It contains things like sodium bicarbonate, lime, and salt with some vitamins added:
One of the great things about doing an apprenticeship is that I get to learn from the mistakes of others. For example, C says, "don't build your goats a nice barn. They'll just eat it." See Figure A below. Those walls used to extend down to the ground.
And finally, here are some happy goat ladies playing their favorite game, king of the mountain (or, queen of the spool).
Comments
What naming scheme does Josephine come from?
The used to do the alphabet at VT Morgan Horse Farm - could tell how old they were from the names. Of course, this could leave to some really stupid names in hard years...