Goat Shelter/Dougie Guest House

Here it is. We cut the (Pabst Blue) ribbon tonight in celebration of the goat shelter's completion. A palatial, 3-compartment, bachelor goat pad.

The branches in the outer "rooms" are freshly cut privet from over the fence. I'm hoping they, as well as the case full of Bermuda hay, are the only house warming gifts the goats need to get the hint.

Yeah, there's probably a better method of dispensing hay to goats. But I'd like to think my goats would be PBR drinkers if, you know, goats drank beer. Plus, the case was free. And at hand when the need for a feeding trough hit me.

I'm sure improvements will be made to the goat inn as the weeks go by. Current ideas include stacking leftover firewood along one or more sides to shield the interior from cool breezes. And, if there's room, it might be possible to squeeze one more palette under there. No rush though.

Rain's in the forecast for tomorrow, so we'll see how this thing stands up to the weather. And if the goats prefer it to under the deck. They better.

There's plenty more to write about, but Scott just called and said Dusty's head is being shaved. I'm sure you'll understand.

Mark Powers' Goat Photography

View the start of Mark's career as a goat photographer

These steps seem to be the goats newest favorite hangout. If they're not eating, odds are they're stacked up on these steps taking a power nap.

"You gotta date next Wednesday instead!"

Future Site of LEED Certified Platinum Goat La Quinta

I ran out of daylight/motivation this evening after choosing this particular spot for the new goat shelter's future site. But before throwing in the towel, I rolled four 30" logs into place and relocated the old shelter's cinder blocks. I'll recruit Scott to help out with some grunt work, so it should be hospitable by tomorrow. And look something like this.

To the immediate right and left of the pictures borders are two huge magnolias. It's obvious that their combined canopies keep the ground relatively dry. And those leaves should last through winter. There'll be a palette under there as well to keep the sleeping quarters above ground.

Also, because we here at the Dougie House are forward thinking folk, I'm interested in locating and designing the temporary shelter with the idea in mind to turn it into a compost pile on down the road. The goats are certainly doing their part in spreading some fresh fertilizer all over the yard, but if we ever wanted to use the free Miracle Grow Goat Manure for next year's peppers and tomatoes, we'd be out of luck. So, if there's a way to concentrate the goat turds in an area, I figured it'd make things easier. Wouldn't take a second to remove the roof and roll a few more logs around to make the framework of an easy compost pile.

Some Serious Goat Merchandise

I had no idea there was such a market for goat apparel and gifts. My favorite was the "My kid is cuter than your kid" bumper sticker. Not because it's particularly clever, but because from a distance it would just look like you're calling every other driver's kid ugly. Which is funny. Otherwise, these goat people have gone off the deep end with shirts like this. Or this.

"That's just the stress talkin', man."

Digby started climbing this tree right up against the neighbor's property. He scuttled up there like he had an escape route in mind, but ended up only nibbling on a few magnolia leaves and Dora's camellia.

The end of that log ends directly over the fence, about 5 feet off the ground. So, the jump is doable, but Digby would have to really be invested in something on the other side to attempt that sort of leap.

If we had to, we could saw off about 2 feet or so of log to further discourage any daredevil goats. But, I'm interested in seeing if he'll make the jump. (And not about to spend a half hour sawing a log.) So the log stays.

"I will not abide another toe."

Our less than perfect history with fences led me and Scott to go ahead and tackle the creek channel issue as well. Previously, we had 5 or 6 pieces of the salvaged frat lumber crossing the channel at several angles, making a pretty half ass goat barrier. And an eye sore.

This new solution drops a strip of black fencing down from the existing wire fencing. Stakes and zip ties were used to keep the fence taught from top to bottom.

Where high water and debris come rushing down, we made two vertical cuts so that a section can swing downstream and allow the junk to pass under. To keep it weighed down in place and deter goats from testing its strength, we fastened a heavy stick to the bottom. It looks nice, but that doesn't mean squat to a goat. We'll see how long until we have to go chasing again...

"Saturday, Donny, is the Jewish day of rest."

I've been admittedly misleading in my reporting of goat escapes. Here's the truth, and nothing but the truth:

For a solid 5 days there, I sighed every time I saw Dusty, Taylor, Willy, or Scott's name light up my cell phone. It's safe to say we've all had our chances to get over the learning curve on how to catch and transport escaped small livestock by hand. Poor Taylor had a daily cardio session trying to keep them out of "Slam" Duncan and Dora's yard. With midterms all week and an empty wallet, I had to make do for as long as possible with what was available. There, that was the disclaimer. Don't judge.

First the good news. The herd has successfully removed all privet from the back yard. Only their bare, leafless stalks remain. Like the Elephant Graveyard of invasive exotics. With my goats replacing the three spooky hyenas. I'll get pictures of skeletal plants uploaded soon.

For whatever reason, all three have honed in on the privet plants throughout the backyard. They're so efficient, in fact, that the only remaining privet is overhanging the fence from over the fence. Even that is sheared off at head level.

Unfortunately, one privet branch was located directly above the section of fence made of the material salvaged from beneath the deck. Whether he knew what he was doing or not, Digby's weight was enough to tear/bend the fencing material. Along with the fact that the fencing was old and brittle, the real problem lies in the diameter of the individual fence openings. The holes were small enough to allow a goat's hoof to place pressure on it. The hog wire fencing around the rest of the yard had holes big enough to render a goat's hoof useless. No traction, no leverage, no jumping, no escaping. Pretty simple.

As I noted earlier, the goats had no idea they were doing something wrong by walking through a hole in some porous black object. Their idea of making a break for it seems to consist of wandering about 15 feet, head to the ground the entire time, nibbling on whatever their mouth touches.

I admit it wasn't pretty, but our "solution" did the job relatively well. The picture at the top of this post depicts our efforts to discourage goats from reaching for the problematic privet. It's basic structure consisted of two rows of black fencing zip tied to stakes. All covered in whatever was at hand (wood palette, old picket fence section, branches, etc.). After two missed lectures spent goat wrangling, I finally called the Goat NooB Hotline.

Miss Charlie was happy to hear an update on the goats, and, when presented with our problem, offered to donate a roll of hog wire to the cause. About 3o linear feet of it - the exact amount needed to patch up both previous fencing solutions. Muchos gracias, Farmer Chuck. It's becoming quite obvious these goat herders are a generous people.

Now, with Scott's help, the back fence is looking nice and goat proof. So far, we don't have any post repair escapes. And my phone's been much quieter. No news is good news.

Lesson learned. Have a sturdy fence at least 36" high without holes small enough to allow goats to lean on it. Unless their hooves slide through, they'll eventually get enough leverage to hurdle anything you can put in front of them. Now you know.