Getting Ready

We've been getting ready for the babies to come home here on the farm...now that the snow has finally gone. Goats need a shelter that is draft free and that protects them from the rain so I thought I would get the 8 x 10 kidding shed that I used two years ago. It would keep them safe from any predators (it has real doors unlike the other shed which has a hanging door that slides into place--leaving gaps big enough for little kids or worse, coyotes).

I knew that some of the tin had been blown up during a big storm and that the roof would need work one way or the other but what I didn't know is that the wooden floor had rotted and when we pulled it up we found that the braces under the floor were rotten too! The walls are flapping with no sill. This brought the question "do we repair the roof or start over?" It's disappointing beyond words but we decided that we need to start over and build a new kid shed.

Now I will need to make the second shed (20 x 16) ready to house goats. It works well for big goats but it's no good for kids. I've created a plan to make it secure and snug but I still have to leave a large part for the two horses (Belgian draft and welsh pony). At least the floor is dirt. I need to separate the does from the buck and wether...the kid shed had two stalls while the other shed is open to the elements on one side. The horse side.

I am very impatient to have the goats come home. The breeder is putting them on milk replacer this week, so why not? We will figure something out, fix the fence and get a shelter up, even if it's just temporary. The buck won't be able to breed until he's at least two months old so a temporary fix should be safe for now. I will post what we come up with soon!