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| Morena and Luz (Spanish for dark and light) |
Three weeks ago, Jeff and I purchased 2 Spanish does, thus beginning an adventure with meat goats. They are currently in one of the old goat pastures at The Haven until we finish building a goat shelter across the street and train the goats to electric fencing. Spanish meat goats are reputedly very hardy goats, which should work well with the limited management system we plan to establish. Both does are pregnant and due to kid this month, so we should have a respectable herd in no time. :-) We're excited about having goats again and eagerly anticipate the arrival of cute baby goats. Keep your fingers crossed for more girls! We will hopefully get a buck this Spring from a farm in Chatsworth in northwest GA, which has a very cool meat goat operation.
Jeff's Dad, Fred, and his friend, Shane, have been a big help in developing our new goat infrastructure. Using Fred's tractor, they have bush hogged future fence lines around the Haven and across the street (Jeff and I have not settled on a name for our independent farming operation yet) in addition to building the goat shelter. We hope to completely enclose our 10 acre lot with wrapped wire fencing, and then use electric fencing to control what the goats clear inside that. The trees and brush have grown up quite a bit since the last time the land was clear cut, which makes the bush hogging a very intense job. The tractor has needed a number of repairs, including a new grill which was made out of an old hay feeder and chicken wire. Fred's big red tractor has been an object of fascination for Raine.
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| Raine on "Pawpaw's tractor" |
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| Alexander, the Great Pyrenees |
Since the plan for the goats is to have them clear the land across the street, where we won't be able to have as close of an eye on them, we decided to acquire a livestock guardian. We considered donkeys and llamas, but we went with a Great Pyrenees dog, which is commonly used around here for this purpose and has a good reputation as a guardian. Great Pyrenees will also guard a flock of chickens! So we purchased a puppy from the Chatsworth farm, and he is currently in the pasture with both our goats and chickens. He is cute, although he is already a good sized dog even at 13 weeks old. He is still a bit timid with us, but he typically stays with the goats, keeping a small distance from them as well. However, as he has started to settle in more and get more lively, he has started giving playful chase to the chickens occasionally, which we need to try to put the kibosh on. We named him Alexander and call him Xander. We're considering getting a female in order to breed them. I am a novice dog owner, but Jeff's family use to have hunting dogs, and Jeff is very happy to have this dog.
-Annie
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