# Update, I do still exist, believe it or not!



## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

Ok guys. Sorry to have been quite for sometime now. The last two weeks have been very busy and we have had ups and downs around the farm. As most people know lambing can be very difficult and does not always go as planned. I had a ewe (actually two ewes but spaced about a week apart thank goodness) have issues lambing. On a good side note I did have one ewe have a successful lambing of a single ewe lamb that has made everything worth it after all. So I have been a little on the sleep deprived side and with being outside in the fields late at night (yes my two trouble markers were the ewes that refuse to lamb in the barn) one night in the snow and the other night was in a light rain but above freezing. So of course I started feeling a little under the weather, but knock on wood I have not gotten sick just yet (fingers crossed).

Well I am still waiting on two does that are due soon to kid but I am beginning to think they are going to make me wait forever!!! Oh and another side note as the wind has been very windy the last two days. . . Well one of my run in shed is just a temporary wood shed with tin roof. . . We noticed last night that hummm 3 of the 2x6's have came out of the metal brackets!!!  So yes in the dark I climbed up there and put a racket strap across it since I can not lift the roof up to put them back in place on my own. lol What a couple of weeks it has been!

But timing may be just right!!! We have been continuing with the farm search and I think we may have found the right place after all! It's not perfect but for our price range and limited location it is the best bet we have. Fair amount of land, house, garage, but no barn. So if you have any good barn ideas on size let me know. We are trying to get quotes and decide if we want a big single multiple animal barn or individual species barns. I figured if it works out and we get it we could do a big central big with sub-barns or run in's out in the fields as it would take some time to fence everything in. The house is closer to the road then what I want and what I am use to but it has pasture and wood land and even a creek!

I am so nervous as this would truly be the first place we have actually bought. Before now it has been either family places or rental farms that we have lived. So please share any barn set-up ideas that you would like to share and moral support is always welcome around here!!!

OK I have a lesson plan to work on for tomorrow but I really needed to vent some of my stress factors before I could focus! 

Thanks for listening!


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## Axykatt (Feb 1, 2013)

Good luck with the does and the new place! Hope spring and summer give you a bit of a breather from all the animal worries.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

Ive always dreamed of a barn that has a center isle and I can have goats on one side and stuff on the other or bucks on one side and does on the other etc. But you could do sheep one side and goats on the other. I like one barn idea so you dont have to go out into the weather to feed all the individual animals. 

We are waiting for my husband to find a steady job and then we will be looking for a house and land. I cant wait! Could be a couple years yet but I hope not! im tired of apartment living!!! 

congrats on the find - hopefully the sale goes smooth


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

Thank you! We haven't put a bid in yet as we are trying to iron out some details, but fingers are crossed. There is a place I would rather have but it is pending right now and I would hate to wait to see what it is going to do only to lose this place. Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too, other times you end up with no cake at all after window shopping for too long 

I would just love to be able to sit back and watch the critters play and get to ride my horses again!


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

StaceyRosado said:


> Ive always dreamed of a barn that has a center isle and I can have goats on one side and stuff on the other or bucks on one side and does on the other etc. But you could do sheep one side and goats on the other. I like one barn idea so you dont have to go out into the weather to feed all the individual animals.
> 
> We are waiting for my husband to find a steady job and then we will be looking for a house and land. I cant wait! Could be a couple years yet but I hope not! im tired of apartment living!!!
> 
> congrats on the find - hopefully the sale goes smooth


Thank you Stacey!

We were thinking having two horse stalls and maybe a sheep and goat side to start. Just not sure how to do it. Thinking maybe a metal prefab thingy to start with, but we want to be able to drive all the way through it. Close to the house in order to keep cost down for running water and a gravel drive but not too close.

What dimensions would everyone think is good for the center isle? I would really like to have 2 horse stalls 12 by 16 like my old barn but don't want to go over board.

Oh I can understand about waiting. We have been renting this place for about 3 to 4 years and before that we have my old family place with a nice 2 story basic barn but not much land. Here with have land but no real barn just run in's and sheds. There is a real barn but they never cleaned it out like promised (it has old tractors in there). So the new place would have a lot of potential for a real barn again.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I hope it all works out for you. Good luck with kidding and sorry the lambing was so rough.

I would also say to do a big barn. It really is much easier to care for everyone in one place. Especially on those snowy or rainy days with filling up water buckets. Also, if you can, have a hay loft with stairs. One of the best thing we did in our barn was the hay loft. We have hay loft on both sides of our big barn door. So a hay wagon can pul right in and throw hay up into the loft on either side. Both sides have normal stairs so it is very easy to get to.


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

Thanks! That is a great idea. I originally was thinking a separate hay barn and just carry over what I need when I need it but a loft may work out better in the long run. I really want a wash rack outside the barn with drainage and a crosstie area inside for the farrier. Here was have to wait on the weather since the run in's aren't a good place to shoe on a rainy day. My guys are actually over due right now due to all this rain and my farrier is on high demands so getting worked back in after a rain date can be hard when your rain date gets rained out again!!! 

Oh and I like the real stair idea. . . 

What are your guys feeling about being close to the road? I am a little worried especially since I have one goat that loves to jump the fence but it's mainly to be with us so I am not sure. I am just so nervous.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

How close is close to the road?


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

Wow lots going on. Glad to hear you're back on, and close to getting a new place. I'd love to but it's not in our future any time soon. As Karen said how close to the road? You may need to run a strand of hotwire- at least on the road side to persuade her it's not her best friend. I'm RIGHT on a hwy and had one doe climb my 4' horse non climb- so that is what I had to do.


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

It's pretty close, but for the last 4 years I have been living at the end of a dead-end road that is off of a closed road so what I think is close is probably not want most people think is close. I don't have the measurements but will attach some pictures. One I was standing near the end of the drive way (about 10 ft from end of driveway) looking toward the house and the other is going to be a picture from where we would put the barn. Well here she jumps our 4 ft fence that has a hot wire ran at the top and she clears both, but she only gets out to be with us so I am not sure she would get in the road. I just worry as she is going to be a great milker and handles very well. We had talked about doing 5 ft chain link for the front portion or even the whole outside front portion as when we get the woods fenced I don't think it would be a problem. Oh and we also wonder if she will stop jumping when she gets a bit bigger as she is prego now but not showing yet or when she matures (she is a junior doe).


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Oh wow I hope and pray all goes well! How many acres does the house come with? Looks really nice!
Looks like you'd want your barn on a bit of a slope? I am no pro, but I'm guessing if that is the case you'll want to look into ideas on keeping water from draining into the barn.

If you can't get your barn built exactly the way you want it at first, you could build temporary shelters, perhaps out of pallets and tarps, or permanent run in shed with pallets, OSB and a decent roof. 
I'd think a multi species barn would be good with run in shelters in the pens. 
You could build a decent barn for all your needs, and later add on as you need it?

We built our barn out of pallets and it's very sturdy, and yet to have any problems<knock on wood>. Saved us a TON of $$ vs. building one with other supplies or hiring someone to do it.
Here's a link with some of the things we've done recently, and in the first post there is a link to when we first got started. 
http://www.thegoatspot.net/forum/f203/goat-barn-updates-138075/

Might give you a few ideas. Also if you google images 'pallet barn' 'pallet shed' etc, it can give you ideas too which is what helped us too.
We end up adding on a little each year as we need it.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

Looks very nice. Refresh me are your mini size? You mention having a strand of hot wire at the top- are you using the insulators that are the short ones -right up against the posts? I use the longer extended ones (so they sit out about 6" from the fence), with one strand about nose height and you could add one to the top. It seems having them outward a little means they'd have to get a better 'run' to scale and still not get popped. At least that's what worked for my climber/jumper.


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

HoosierShadow said:


> Oh wow I hope and pray all goes well! How many acres does the house come with? Looks really nice!
> Looks like you'd want your barn on a bit of a slope? I am no pro, but I'm guessing if that is the case you'll want to look into ideas on keeping water from draining into the barn.
> 
> If you can't get your barn built exactly the way you want it at first, you could build temporary shelters, perhaps out of pallets and tarps, or permanent run in shed with pallets, OSB and a decent roof.
> ...


Thank you Candice! I love your pallet barn. Too bad around here right now it is so hard to find pallets as everyone rushes to get the free ones and then they turn around and sale them. We have temp shelters now that can come down and move but that would take a fair amount of time. I really do like the pallet barn idea.

It's hard to tell from the pics but that spot is the level'ish spot before it slopes down towards the creek and woods. It does have a little bit of a slope from the back yard but everything else is down hill from that point. I will try to post better pics of the area. It is 21.5 acres so the goats would still have a lot of room, but with our price range we can't get any more then that with the type of loan we are doing. It would take a good while to fence everything in with time and cost but I figure we could make some smaller rotation lots until we can get the woods fenced. I am getting ready to call and check on the local crime rates in that area. I feel kind of weird doing it.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

yeesh I would be excited to get anything over an acre here! so 21+ acres is like WOW to me!!!


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

clearwtrbeach said:


> Looks very nice. Refresh me are your mini size? You mention having a strand of hot wire at the top- are you using the insulators that are the short ones -right up against the posts? I use the longer extended ones (so they sit out about 6" from the fence), with one strand about nose height and you could add one to the top. It seems having them outward a little means they'd have to get a better 'run' to scale and still not get popped. At least that's what worked for my climber/jumper.


She is actually a Nubian (no mini's here other then the mini horse). She jumps better then my friends show jumper horse 

We actually have those longer insulators on the inside and outside around the top of the main lot she jumps out of (since its the kidding lot we try to keep them in and wild life out). She doesn't clear it as easy as before since she is gaining prego weight now, but she jumps and tucks and is then right by your side. We had talked about doing 5 ft chain link around the road side of the land but I haven't got a quote yet. Have a feeling it will cost too much as all of our money is going to be going into getting the place and we won't have a ton to get fancy fencing unless a family member decides to hep us out. Fingers Crossed.


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## DDFN (Jul 31, 2011)

StaceyRosado said:


> yeesh I would be excited to get anything over an acre here! so 21+ acres is like WOW to me!!!


Thanks. I guess I have been a little spoiled since we have been renting 80 acres but things have changed here. Long story!

I am excited but found it odd when I called the local sheriff's office they do not give out crime information without you paying $100 for the information. Which I think that is silly as the information should be provided for free. I may try to local police department later.


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