New Feeders

We really wanted to feed inside the stalls because the hay is easier to clean up inside (there are mats on the stall floors) and the goats tend to eat more of the hay that falls down if it doesn't fall into the dirt.

The walls between the stalls are removable, and one was falling down because the wooden rails that hold the boards in place had come loose.

So while the boards were down, we decided to tie a piece of wire fencing, we call it cattle panel, to the boards.

A farmer's best friend--bailing twine!
Okay, maybe a farmer's best friend is still his dog.

You can see how we tied the fencing to the wall. We tied it in  four places along each side and twice along the bottom. The twine at the top is tied longer than the twine at the bottom. 

We only put in a flake of hay in each feeder in the summer as a treat. But I'm pretty sure we can fit 4-6 flakes in each feeder depending on the height of the feeder.

Since we used scrap fencing, some of the feeders turned out taller than others.

This feeder is taller than the first one. It's the second one we put up.

We didn't want to take down the wall to put this feeder up so I bought some eye-bolts and some wire strapping. There are 3 eye-bolts along each side and two pieces of wire strapping along the bottom to hold the fencing on the wall along the bottom.

A closer look at they eye-bolts in the wooden wall. We drilled pilot holes so we wouldn't split the 2x6 boards.

Here's a photo of one of the metal straps along the bottom.

Some of the fencing had sharp edges so Vet2Be filed them off smooth.

The only thing we would do differently is to put the smaller holes on the bottom instead of on the top. I think less hay would have fallen through. (The fencing has a row of shorter holes along one edge, you can see it in photo 3 along the top edge.)

We've had the feeders up for about two months now without anyone getting caught in them. I would worry if they hung out from the wall a little farther, one of the kids might be able to climb or jump in the side.

They seem to eat more of the hay even when it falls on the straw bedding or shavings, which means we waste less. We can easily feed 4 goats at each feeder. We usually have 5 goats on one feeder and the 2 llamas and 3 sheep on the other. I'm sure if the feeder was longer we could fit a few more around the table!

Fencing Idea

Hubby hates to use the tiller near fencing.

But we want to keep the chickens out of the garden.

And we want them to be able to get around the barnyard and up the access drive to eat the grasshoppers.

So here is the new fence idea, which seems to be working so far.

Wire panels hung on hooks that are welded to the drill pipe fence.
(now if the idiots who installed the fencing had listened, the wire fence would be pig wire, not cattle wire!)

You could do this with wood fencing, too. 4" x 4" wooden posts would be strong enough to hold up the wire fencing, especially if you put cement in the hole (which the idiots 'forgot' to do on 1/3 of the posts, sheesh!)

We're going to have to cap the drill pipe to keep wasps from building nests. Since we had a few old solar pathway lights around, I decided they might be handy to have in the drill pipe to light the access drive in the dark. We like the idea so well we'll find some more solar lights on sale at the end of the season and figure out a way to glue them into the pipe.

The crazy way we have to have the hoses set up so we can water in the desert!

So far the wire panels have worked to keep all but the smartest chickens out (who jump through the bottom holes). And the panels are easy to lift off so that Hubby or Son1 can till the garden. There are no gates (that would have been another $400 for 2 gates) so we just pick a panel up and move it to the side so we can get in and out. Moving the panel to get in and out of the garden is easier than it sounds.

All in all the idea has worked very well so far. Vet2Be has been adding some wire fencing to the bottom of the panels to keep the chickens out. We don't want to go out and buy all new panels with 4" x4" holes (pig panel) right now.

New Fence

Just a photo of the new fence. It has been up for a few weeks and has done a great job. I love looking out my window and seeing this beautiful fence!

Another Project.... got bigger!

Projects seem to increase in size no matter what we do!

We needed to repaint the backyard fence this year. We also needed to move some of the rails because the people who put up the fence before didn't make all the rails even. The rails on the west side of the fence were about 4" higher than the rails on the east side of the fence.

 

 Here is what the old fence looks like. This isn't the part we took down, it's on the other side of the yard. But this is what we started with.

So Son1 and his friend used the pressure washer to peel the paint off and get it ready for new paint. Then they went to move the rails and realized that not only had the screws rusted through making it difficult to remove some of the rails, the boards had rotted and needed replaced.

Okay, so we went from a $50 repaint job, to a replace the fencing. We decided to replace the rail fence with pickets because it would keep the dogs in better and look nicer than what we had up before.

Since the posts were taller than we needed them to be for the pickets, Hubby cut the posts off. Unfortunately he had forgotten that the ground sloped and he cut some of the posts too short.

Now we had to replace some of the posts, too!

Vet2Be using the jackhammer. He's 6' 1/2" now! Big enough to do some big jobs. Son1 did most of the jackhammering, and I did a little, too.

It turned out to be a good thing that the posts got chopped too short. As Son1 and Vet2Be were using the jackhammer to take out the posts, they realized that the posts were rotted, too.

Sheesh!!

Last night Son1 and Hubby were out in the dark getting the rest of the posts in place. It has to be dark to use the laser level. It's cooler in the evening, too!

What the fence looks like this morning. The posts are up, three are in cement. Today's project is to finish cementing them in.

So, we have gone from a $50 paint job to an $800 replace the fence job. I'm sure it will be a beautiful fence when it is done! I am very grateful for hard working sons and a wonderful husband who can do both chemistry and physical labor!