Hey everyone, sorry we’ve been away from the site. It’s been a rough couple of weeks at Goatroper. Joshua started a new shift at work, the temps keep fluctuating giving runny noses all around, a stomach bug hit the humans, and someone poisoned one of our goats. More information about that horribleness can be found here

But we’ve scraped together the money and purchased security cameras and signs, and until they get here the goats and dogs are safe and sound (and driving us crazy) in the front yard. 

We are five weeks from our first kiddings, the ladies Kardashian and Speechless. Although everyone is starting to really waddle. Poor girls. 

The milking room has cabinets! Kinda! Gotta put the doors and drawers and appliances in but the cabinets are in place!

   
 
Joshua has the electricity run to the barn so next step is start running the lines and adding the outlets. 

  

 
Had our ultrasounds done today (with Dora’s complete supervision as you can see) and everyone is pregnant, and while the Nubians aren’t far enough along to number babies, at least 17 will be hitting the ground! Bring on March!
….after the barn is done.

Really it’s the only time of year the goats tolerate doggy snuggles-when it’s cold and those walking carpets give off heat 

  

Progress is being made, even with stomach bugs and sliced fingers.  

 Finally got a second hay manger built. I watched one of the Nubians get pulled away from the other one BY THE EAR by an oberhasli, and I don’t want them to be missing out on hay, especially being pregnant. 

  
So of course they all wanted at the new manger. But I got a proper mineral feeder set up to, so bonus?

  
Phoenix, chiana, and Ariel are the only ones to remember “oh yeah there is hay here too”. Toddlers I tell you. Toddlers. 

Joshua has reused the old stalls from the first barn to create the base walls for the milk room, and we also got the stall doors in place. We’ve decided to use a cattle panel to divide them. It allows the kidding does to see each other, and will eventually allow for one large baby pen for feeding time.  

    

 

So Big Tim (Kate’s daddy) came over to help with laying the final part of the floor and move the appliances in. Everything fits great! Except the oven range. Anyone need a perfectly working retro whirlpool range?  

Laying down that second layer of plywood because we overbuild at Goatroper

 (ok Joshua overbuilds. I use cable ties and duck tape whenever possible)
  
Ready for laminate!  

Lots of spraying with the super sticky stuff, thanks to Philip and Kate’s momma   

BOOM! Look at that pretty floor. Probably the cleanest it will ever be  

Then the appliances, and fences to protect from overly curious goats. We have a second milk stand to put in there, but the range takes up too much space. Plans change, and that’s ok!

We are also brainstorming ideas for kid warming stations. I like all the ones below, especially the white water crate ones.  But we already have the parts for the blue water barrel one, so I know that one will be made. 

   

The concrete is dry and cured!   

So we immediately put stuff on it to start building the floor for the milking parlor. 

  

Joshua using some of the freecycle lumber to frame out the floor. He’s so handsome, it makes my heart flutter.   

I was in charge of the chop saw….

  
…and kept all my fingers, in addition to properly cutting (most) of the wood. 

 

And the base for the floor is laid! Tomorrow is plywood, and then we start on walls. We wanna give a shout out to a GRF friend and customer Deb, who helped us out with a generous Home Depot gift of all the new wood for the floor. She rocks!

Also, I discovered the oberhasli girls weren’t allowing anyone else to eat at the hay feeder except Dora, so I quickly made one from a dog kennel. That they all fought over and ignored the actual feeder. 

   
 Apparently this is what having a room full of toddlers with toys is like. But look at all those bellies starting to show! Poor Phoenix, the blonde with horns, I don’t know how she’s going to walk with another 86 days to go. 

Some days owning a goat farm is not unlike an episode of “The Walking Dead”. Someone leaves the gate unsecured, suddenly they’re everywhere they’re not supposed to be, you have to use food to put them back where they’re supposed to be, and all the while you’re freaking out about them getting in the geraniums

So we decided at this new barn we wanted a concrete base with drains in the stall areas for easy cleanup Inbetween kiddings. Today we poured the cement! It should be set up around July or so… 

  Nice dry flat base of lime treated clay and gravel, plus wire for good grippage   

Thank goodness for rented cement mixers

  And so it begins!  

    

Lots of spreading, raking, and cussing from Joshua and Daddy later…
 

Beautiful cement floors with goat kid safe drains. 30 bags of quikcrete total. It will probably take a week or so to completely cure in these cold temps. Which is fine, because next we start on the milking room itself!

Well, it’s raining. Again. Which kinda limits the projects we can get done around the place since our ground is this lovely combination of clay and sponge. 

However progress was made! Can’t hold a little Goatroper down. 

Joshua got the double stall area prepped for concrete to be poured tomorrow. He spread lime and left it work on the water, then smoothed the now not-mush flat. He also got the breaker box hung and ready for a sunny day to start wiring up (also not safe to wire things in a thunderstorm). 

I cleaned up bedding and put down fresh, checked eyelids to see if anyone needed deworming, and discovered two new cases of the sore mouth had sprung up. Now in the girl paddock, yaaaaay. 

Ariel and Kardashian were a little paler than I liked, so I hit them with a Dose of quest plus to treat any barberpole worms plus tapes. I’ll do a follow up in a week. No one enjoyed this but I would rather have cranky healthy mommas than sick ones. Ariel is our old girl so I pay extra attention to how she is doing. 

And I built a hay feeder! Made completely from found and freecycle materials. It’s less wasteful and allows for more girls to eat at one time.  

  

A partial pallet with a piece of thin plywood and chicken wire on the open side make up the back of the feeder. 
 The front is simply the cattle panel as a structural support for the chain link that was their old feeder stretched across it. 

  

NONOMNOM. And look at those big momma bellies. Love them ❤

the boys got a new feeder too, not as complicated but it allows for all the different heights to have access without shoving. It’s essentially a giant chain link hammock, wit a tub below it to catch dropped hay. 

  
It’s also where I stick ruperts feed bucket because he can eat without harassment. It’s good to be the king. And enormous. 

First real cold morning here. The pond surface is frozen for about a yard out, and the Pyrenees are in heaven. The goats just want breakfast.