# Feeders & Stands, or" How I Spent My Summer Holidays"



## creaturesall

Hi from Canada!

I've been away from the Goat Spot for a good while and thought I should stop by and fill y'all in on the happenings of this past summer. All 3 'Fainters", Dolly, Daisy and Petunia are in good health and enjoying life. We're very lucky to have an extremely knowledgeable vet who specializes in goats living just a couple of miles from our acreage and she has been a God send whenever she's been called upon. The result... 3 healthy, happy goats and one very happy 'goatherd"!

Below are a couple of the projects I have been working on to keep the girls happy and me occupied.

#1: This is the indoor feeder I built them last winter.









#2: I built this movable outdoor feeder (if you look closely, you can see the far end is actually on wheels)
in order to keep hay from being tromped upon due to the less than refined eating habits exhibited by the girls. 
Not much hay is lost and left on the ground. The wide oversize roof has given them shelter from the sun 
during hot summer days and an outdoor escape from the rain. All 3 often spend the night sleeping underneath.

















#3: After wrestling on the ground with each of the 3 ladies in order to give vaccinations and trim
their hooves, I decided I needed something to make my and the vet's job easier. What I came up 
with is this portable, foldable goat stand which has proved hugely successful. It's a breeze to use and 
stores away with almost no trouble. I just hang it on the wall on the inside of their shed and take 'er
down whenever needed. I used 1" x 4" planks almost exclusively throughout in order to keep the 
weight down. It probably would benefit from a good paint job, but I just never could get the hang
of doing a 'good' paint job.

























The vet loves it!









and friends love it (I think the goats do too)









Summer is drawing to a close here. Just this morning I noticed that the birdbath was 
frozen over for the first time since last spring. days like this...








are coming to and end.

That's about it. Sorry for being away for so long. I'm working hard on creaturesall magazine and that does take up a lot of my time. Anyone interested can go to creaturesall.com and click on the link asking for a free issue to be sent and I'll see to it that it happens. I've just sent issue #18 to press which climaxes the end of our 3rd year publishing it. BTW: issue #17, has a wonderful goat watercolor on the cover.

See y'all... nice to be back


----------



## Cinder

I love the things you've made for your goats. I'm assuming you load the hay from the top of the indoor feeder, is it an issue ro you to get the hay into it with it being so high?

The outside feeder is great!

Your goats are adorable.


----------



## creaturesall

The feeder's not really so high as it may appear in the pix. My goats are just little girls, maybe 24" high at the shoulder. I need only toss the hay in with a pitchfork I keep handy for the purpose. I also reach over the top and stir things up with the pitchfork. Truth be told, I am finding I use the outdoor feeder the most as the goats tend to like to be outside. Only when the temps drop o -30 degrees or more do I keep them inside and feed them there as well.

Thanks for your comments. I do like those goats.

When I was trying to photograph all that stuff, Dolly got very curious about what I was doing. 
I think I will make me a T-shirt using this pix.


----------



## liz

Welcome back!!! Very nice way to spend your time away from us too...that outdoor feeder is absolutely great......now to see if my DH can make me one!

The pic of Dolly IS priceless, love your embellishment, yup I'd be makin' a shirt!


----------



## nancy d

Creaturesall you are good!! Love that feeder & stand! Way to go!! :thumb:


----------



## AlaskaBoers

what a feeder! very nice, cute goats too.


----------



## StaceyRosado

Bob every time I get my magazine I kept meaning to e-mail you to check in. So glad you did so yourself.

What great creations you have made there. :hi5: I am very jealous


----------



## creaturesall

Thanks again. Now the problem is I have run out of things to build for them.









Dolly seems to have put on a lot of summer poundage. Maybe I'll build her a treadmill.


----------



## StaceyRosado

oh you crack me up! nice to have you back :slapfloor:


----------



## ArcticGoats

WOW - love your folding stand! Do you have any plans or instructions? How does it fold - hinges/bolts/???? That looks great for my set up at I don't have a very big barn. Very NICE! :clap:


----------



## creaturesall

I don't actually have any plans... I sorta made it up as I went along. I'd be glad to take some detailed pix and post 'em here. May take me a couple of days to get it done, but I promise to try. 
Should I forget, ( :ZZZ: ) please don't hesitate to badger me.


----------



## enjoytheride

Wow- I'm not that easily impressed but I think you could build anything- I love the outdoor cover- it would be prefect for me in our rain climate. 

Now how can I get you down here...............Hmmmm...................


----------



## sweetgoats

WOW, Bob. I want one of those feeders. :sigh: It is beautiful. i have made some but by no means are they that nice. 

I will have to really look at that feeder when I finish up the barn addition that i am doing. :hair: This is the 5th addition I have had to do for these guys. My DH said "you would not have to do this if you would get rid of some of those goats". RIGHT, not happening. People are surprised when they hear and see that I have done 90% of the barn myself.

Glad to hear that all is well with you.

I just love your beautiful green pastures they are in.


----------



## creaturesall

enjoytheride said:


> Now how can I get you down here...............Hmmmm...................


Let's see... what possible incentive could there be for a fella to visit California when a drop dead cold Canadian winter is set to convert his lush green pastures into deep white drifts which show up in mid October and hang on until late May? :shrug:



enjoytheride said:


> it would be prefect for me in our rainy climate.


The thing about rain is, you don't hafta shovel it :GAAH:


----------



## ArcticGoats

Shucks - I guess Fairbanks at 40 below isn't going to entice you up my way!

:shades:


----------



## AlaskaBoers

arcticgoats- that made me laugh! well actually , how cold does it get in alberta? its mild where im at , and bone chilling where your at. :scratch:


----------



## kelebek

So Bob, 
When are you coming to Idaho for a couple weeks to MY ranch??? LOL! :ROFL:


----------



## ArcticGoats

We're supposed to get our first snow tonight - but the weather guys are wrong - its snowing here at my house right now - :sigh: Hope my goaties like winter - cause we get a lot of it!!!

Time to get that heated water bucket set up (i've had one on the chickens all week)! I'm hoping it will work (the feed store folks seemed to think it would - they sell a lot of them even though its only rated to -25oF (not ENOUGH for us!!!)

Anyway back to the topic at hand - my dh feels suffieciently challenged and thinks he can build be a stand (he's soooo great) - it looks like the rear legs swivel on a carriage bolt? but we aren't sure how the front legs of this beautiful stand fold - hinges? no hurry - as you can see from the above paragraghs we will be frantically finishing our fall chores this weekend - (gotta put those snow tires on....)

Thanks again for any advice!

:sun: 
:snow:


----------



## AlaskaBoers

> We're supposed to get our first snow tonight - but the weather guys are wrong - its snowing here at my house right now - Hope my goaties like winter - cause we get a lot of it!!!


Really? two days ago we got our first frosting, and freezing, but no snow yet, still on its way down the mountains, about 3/4 of the way. But if it snows like it rained on us this summer, we'll have to tunnel!


----------



## creaturesall

I am headed out the door to attend a book launch in a few minutes. However, as tomorrow is supposed to be a nice warm and sunny day, I will get out the ol' Kodak and take some detailed shots of the folding stand and post 'em. I'll pay special attention to the pivot points. You're right that the back hinges on carriage bolts. The front end uses hinges, but if I were to start over, I'd use carriage bolts there too. Hinges just don't stand up, as I needed to use shorter 5/8" screws to accommodate for the fact it's only built from 1" x 4".

I'll try to post updates tomorrow.


----------



## ArcticGoats

Thanks! 

(and it did snow last night and this a.m. all is white!)


:snow:


----------



## enjoytheride

If you get the urge to come on down, just let me know- our weather usually holds til the end of October but doesn't dry up til May. Otherwise bring rain gear. lol

PS It's 85 here today- makes it sound better than it is though- highly unusual weather for heat this year.


----------



## creaturesall

ArcticGoats said:


> Anyway back to the topic at hand - my dh feels suffieciently challenged and thinks he can build be a stand (he's soooo great) - it looks like the rear legs swivel on a carriage bolt? but we aren't sure how the front legs of this beautiful stand fold - hinges? Thanks again for any advice!


Well, true to my word, I took a few photos this morning. I hope they help clarify things for your DH. Let me know if there is any detail you'd like clarification on.
FRONT VIEW









NECK SQUEEZE









LOCKING MECHANISM









HINGE DETAIL









SIDE VIEW









HOW IT FOLDS









ANOTHER FOLDING VIEW









Hope that helps. You have to promise to post pix of your completed stand. :hammer:


----------



## ArcticGoats

WOW! Super - thanks for so much detail - that will help tons!!!!! I hope you didn't spend tooooo much time - but I can't thank you enough!! 

:stars: :stars: :stars: 

will definitely post some pics (but, don't hold your breath - the next few weeks are busy+out of town for us) I think I'll have to trim hooves before we get this made - but we'll just appreciate it all the more once we get it!

Thanks again - you went way above and beyond! :leap: :clap: 

:snow:

ps - its 20oF this am - i don't think we saw 85 all summer and we sure don't stand a chance now!


----------



## creaturesall

Nope... it wasn't a lot of work at all putting those plans up. I spend the greater part of my life working in Photoshop, Illustrator etc. If anyone requests it, I'd be glad to do something similar for the outdoor feeder. Just let me know and I'll take pix and measurements and post the results..


----------



## enjoytheride

Yes please- outdoor feeder..............Thank you
Re: the folding stand, do you think that using 1x4's but doubling them on the outside leg parts would make it stronger for boer does?


----------



## creaturesall

I think you'll find that using the 1 x4's will be more than strong enough. They are all used so the stresses are across the 4" dimension or along the length. The one weakness is in the pivot points that I used hinges for. It's OK for my little girls (fainters, :help: one and all) but I'd really recommend using carriage bolts.They'll stand the test of time (and Boer goats)

I'll try to take some pix of that feeder and post in the next coupla days.


----------



## creaturesall

Here are the feeder plans I promised. If you have any questions, just let me know.

END PROFILE









SIDE PROFILE









HOPPER FLOOR DETAIL
I had an old piece of plastic that worked well as the hopper floor for the feeder.
Chances are you'll need to build something similar from wood. Hopper shape
helps to block view from one side to the other so Daisy, my bossy goat, doesn't
get to intimidate Petunia. Hopper shape also helps hay to flow evenly to both sides.









HOPPER DETAIL #2









RAFTER DETAIL









RAFTER DETAIL #2









MESH DETAIL









DOOR OPEN









DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM









WHEEL & STEP DETAIL









DAISY DETAIL









That's about it. If there are any measurements I have neglected to include, just let me know and I'll be glad to fill in the blanks.

I just picked up the newest issue of *creaturesall* from the printers today. :leap: (_It includes a great goat poem_) :leap: 
Just visit http://www.creaturesall.com and click on the home page link asking that a complimentary copy be sent to you, and I'll see you get one pronto.


----------



## Sundancer

*bump*

Just so everyone can see


----------



## PiccoloGoat

I love love love that folding stand :shocked:
I wonder if I could convince my step dad to make something similar :chin:


----------

