Today we decided to open up the west door of the barn and let the goats out into the pasture. Our barn has three doors. A sliding door on the south end that is about 4' wide, a car sized sliding door on the east side of the south end of the barn , tractor sized double doors on the north end and a tractor sized sliding door on the west side just a bit south of middle. (tractor sized =Ford 8n) The pastrue is still dead and brown but the weather is getting sunnier and warmer here in north Iowa. We threw out some hay for the girls to eat and lounge on and they loved it! After some jousting, head butting and general bouncing around they settled down for a good sunny cud chew and nap. Of course the chickens and ducks had to join them.(Jewel one of our Saanens is camara shy)
This pic was taken late this afternoon after they had decided to lay in a sunny spot in the barn.
Before we could let the girls out we had to rearrange the barn. We had it set up for winter with the hay and grain in front of the west door. With only one outbuilding, it is a organizational challange to add or move anything in there. Plus we added 3 Holland Lop bunnies and their hutches a month or so ago. (we had babies this week which I will go into more tomorrow) One of our goals for this spring and summer is to add on a storage/dog room to the house and build a good sized chicken coup. We had 36 hens,3 roosters, 4 goats, 2 geese 1 $50 turkey and 5 ducks in the barn this winter... more space is needed!!! My husband knows "guys that know guys" so we get 48x40 pallets free. We use them for fencing and plan to use them for building too. We are avid readers of countryside magazine and we found this wonderful web site for insperation.
http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletShed/
I hope to blog the progress..Well my tired self is saying it is time for bed:) Blessings
Comments
Monday, March 27, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by peggy
I have plans to put my chickens and goats together. My stepson is coming down wednesday to put up my fence and I will get my goats next week!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Emily
Hi Patti......thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog! I\'ve been reading through some of your posts and see that you are already doing some of the things I would like to do, so when I have a little more time, I have lots of questions! :) I notice that you have a border collie. I\'m not really a dog person but that is a breed I have always admired and we have discussed getting a dog. How would you say they get along with children?
Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - border collies
Posted by gardengate2
Emily, We raised our B-colie with our children and the only thing he did was herd one of our grandsons. The dog didnt' hurt him just anoyed him. B-colies are very smart but need alot of socialization(sp) and generaly don't like their hair pulled. You are their pack so they bond to you!! You can read about them online to get a better idea of their personality. I love my Tucker , I 've had him since he was 8 wks old and he is now 8.
Thursday, March 30, 2006 - re-freedom
Posted by Anonymous
what a cute pic!!! Your goats and chickens look like they are best buds. They look like they are all going to roll into a big livestock ball and fall asleep. :-) (by the way, those are really cute earings) Carnationkay