Devonviolet Acres

Please give Deo and Violet an extra pat from me!!!

How're you and all yours doing @Devonviolet?

Just finished the thread. Very nice journey! Seems you have reached your "home" place at last

Devonviolet: You have done a lot! I just saw your site and have read it through. Are you planning on getting more livestock than the 4 wethers and chickens? I think you told Southern that the wethers were a learning project until you get a herd of meat goats for breeding and selling. When you do that you will be wanting to breed and kid over a longer season so you will have meat and breeding stock sales year round. If you can extend your kidding season you will have meat for sale when others don't and the prices will be higher.

Instead of multiple small sheds have you investigated what it would cost to build a large pole barn? After the open barn is build you could put siding on it yourselves bit by bit. It would mean that you could run electric and water to it and partition sections off for your different livestock and poultry. You will need kidding pens and jugs which can be portable homemade panels to bolt together when needed and take apart and store during the off season. They also make good emergency pens. You can also use straw bales during the winter as wind blocks in a pole barn until it is enclosed. We have a 24x36 small pole barn we originally built for our rabbitry and then gradually enclosed 2 sides of it as the kids grew older and went into larger stock. We are on a steep hillside and there is a 10 x 25 block wall building on the lower side of the pole barn so it can have a wind tunnel effect during storms from certain directions. We can block that off with plywood or straw bales when needed for kidding or lambing, and we used tarps tied to hooks in the fascia one year when we had tropical storms and high winds.

With an open pole barn you can configure the inside anyway you want with portable kennel panels or build in a more permanent set of stalls. We found bunch of old chain link gates abandoned on our prooperty when we moved here that we utilized to make portable pens for kidding. You can tie them together with hay rope - we call it 4-H fencing! LOL. The inside pens can be taken down and moved around any way you want. We have pipe corral panels in our barn now with plywood on the sides and wire for the sheep. We out up the plywood and took out the center divider when our mare foaled to give her a 12x24 foaling stall. Then we put the center back in and covered it with plastic wire to give ourselves 2 12x12 sheeop stalls. We have used 6x12 dog kennels in there for dairy goat kids and for kidding pens. One end of the barn has a small loft. At one time it had 100 cages for our rabbitry. You can use hanging orstacking cages at one end for meat rabbits too.

The larger covered space makes it nice to be able to hang heat lamps in the winter without the possibility of water blown in against the bulb to shatter it. It also gives you a larger covered area to move in with feeding chores etc. when the weather is bad. We are in southern CA and only have to worry about the tropical storms that come up from Mexico etc. but where you are I would definitely check out the cost of building a large pole barn instead of so many small sheds. We have a bunch of small sheds too, but our weather isn't so severe. You always need more covered barn space on a farm no matter how small a homestead you have. If you locate it centrally your pastures can radiate out from it and eventually you can put covered run in sheds just in the back pastures as you fence them for rotational grazing.

It might be cheaper in the long run than building or buying many small sheds. Just a suggestion and you might already have plans for a barn when you finish fencing your property. Since you are in Texas yoiu might find someone who can build a fence like we have - old oil pipeline welded together on site and covered with no climb livestock wire. Expensive but worth it since large livestock (horses and cattle) can't push it over. We had chain link on a portion and the goats and horses bent it out of shape and pushed over the posts.

Another suggestion would be look for used portable corral fencing being sold off cheap. Welded pipe corral is 5' high and comes in sections of 12 to 24 foot long. Gate sections are 12' wide with a 4' gate. Our small tractor can get in the corral, but you can build your own gates wider. We got an entire rodeo arena for less than $1000. String wire on it for your dogs and small goats. Sink your fence posts and attach the corral panels to them and you have a quick sturdy fence. You will need reinforcement at the corners like Southern's pix post.

Hope this helps - I love east Texas but looking at your weather pix, I may have to reevaluate LOL. besides our 2 married kids and 5 grandkids livewithin a mile from us and each other. The grandkids go to the same preschool and school so I doubt we will ever get to move. My grandchildren are 4th gen in the San Fernando Valley. Not many of us around.

Here's a bumper sticker I saw in Texas you will like "American by birth - Texan by the grace of God"! Good luck.

BlessedWithGoats said:

Please give Deo and Violet an extra pat from me!!!

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Oh my! How they LOVE their attention!

Violet cuddles and goes on her way. Deo is my cuddle bug! I sit on one of the tree stumps we have for the goats, and he comes and puts his head on my knee so I can pet him. He turns his big head, gazes in my eyes and my heart melts. I can't help but wrap my arms around him and kiss the top of his head.

BlessedWithGoats said:

How're you and all yours doing @Devonviolet?

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Life has been a muddy whirlwind lately. It has been weeks since we had a day without rain - the 1st few days of last week, walking across our yard was like walking in a swamp! And the animal pen was a squishy, muddy mess! We put straw down, but It didn't help much. This afternoon we got 3/4" of rain in a half hour.

Although we have had it easy compared to the Southern and South western areas of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. They have really gotten slammed with rain and tornados this Spring. The 4 year drought is officially over in Northeast Texas. I think ALL of the lakes are at or above capacity. One lake is actually 21 feet over normal.

Anyway, all the rain has made it hard to get the chicken run finished so We can get the chicks and Guinea Keets out of the house. the Guineas have full range of their warning calls and use it often! Just the other the one cockerel has figured out he can crow, but all that comes out is a hideous squawk!



We finally finished the chicken run yesterday! What a challenge! We are happy with how it came out and glad it's done!

We do need to finish the 4X8' (4' high in the back & 5' high in the front, for easier cleaning.) we have the framework done and moved it into the chicken run before we put the 6' welded wire on the sides, as It wouldn't fit through the door.

We are going to hang 5 gallon water buckets with waterer nipples on the bottom, and found cool plans for a feeder using inverted 2" PVC pipes into the feed, to minimize kicking feed onto the ground. So we are going to make one of those.

Once th the shelter is built (maybe Tues. Or Wed. if the rain lets up), we can get the birds into the run. We are planning to keep them separate from the other birds for at least a couple weeks, to give the smaller birds a chance to get a bit bigger so they can fend for themselves against the rooster and three hens. I don't think our turkey will be a problem. Once we are fairly sure the birds can all play nice together we will cut a door between the coop and chicken run.

I've been trying to post some photos, but slow internet is making it frustrating. So, gonna quit for now.

Latestarter said:

Just finished the thread. Very nice journey! Seems you have reached your "home" place at last

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Thanks Latestarter! Yes, it HAS been a journey, and we are finally home! Its been fun adding our animals, and I'm starting to think about getting more. Although DH isn't so keen on that right now. I guess I should let the mud settle/dry and the chicks get settled in before talking about it.

Hi @Ridgetop. Nice to meet y'all. I used to live out your way. Went to Whittier College many, many, many moons ago! Also lived in Glendale, Burbank, and N. Hollywood. I used to visit my Aunt Grace in El Monte.

Love, love, LOVE your bumper sticker! I would love to have one of those to put on the back of our pickup truck!

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Yes, the wethers and chickens were a starting point. I have fallen in love with my little Nigerian Dwarf goats! The plan was originally to buy meat goats. But, a good friend has convinced me that in this area I will have a better market for Lambs, so DH and I are planning to do that now. However, we are still thinking about getting a couple dairy goats.

I would like to put in a nice pole barn. However, money - or the lack thereof, is a major factor. Also, finding a large enough open space, to put one in, isn't easy with the way the previous owner placed his buildings - I would have done it differently. The lot is only 150' wide (and 1485' long - I call it a "Spaghetti Farm" ), so that is a limiting factor too. As is marshy ground that needs filling and leveling, which also costs $$$. We are praying that it is a temporary situation with this record breaking wet Spring, that We have been having.

Our land has quite a few nice straight, tall Texas Cedars. So, we are planning to eventually cut them down and use them as corner and support posts, to build the structure of a modest barn. We learned how to build rafters and do 2X4 framing when we built the chicken coop. So, I know we will be able to build an open structure with moveable interior walls. We have a lumber mill, and would like to cut Cedar planks to do the siding on the barn, as well as wood for the framing. But, that all takes time and we aren't Spring chicks any more.

We've seen the welded pipe fence. Its nice, but is way too much for our budget. Around here, the best fence is "woven wire", with "H-post" corners, like Southern has, and "T-posts" in between. We already put some in and really like it! We bought a 6" gas powered auger, to dig the fence posts, and will probably pay the teens, from church, to help us put the fence in. We have budgeted funds to do least a couple of the 4 remaining acres.

Sounds like a plan has been made and is being followed, with minor adjustments as required Man, can I identify with NOT being a spring chicken anymore... as well as the $$$ concerns! Haven't won the lottery (yet)! Seems like my plans have all been slowed down substantially because of those 2 tiny issues/concerns. Ah well... guess that just means we get to enjoy the "fun" longer, right? Glad your drought is over, been raining a lot here on the front range of Colorado as well. They haven't called our drought over, but I'm seriously ready for a few days without rain!

Lookin' great so far! Happy for you folks!

Devonviolet: We are actually in Shadow Hills, about 15 minutes from Burbank near Sunland, in the hills. Yes, we are also in our "golden years". my huisband says it's called that because it takes all your gold to live in those years! We built our pole barn from power pole cross arms about 25 years younger. My husband worked for thepower company and they were moving their training center and disposing of hundreds of them. This was before they were classified "toxic waste" because of the creosote. He was off on disability on crutches but I drove the truck to the yard and loaded all those 12 and 14 foot 4x5's myself! I can't believe now that I did it. We brought home about 10 truck loads before we started on the pole butts 10' pieces of power poles). I would help my husbband into the pole cat and he would use it to pick them up and load them in the truck. At home my husband would tie a rope around the end of a pole, tie it to a tree and I would pull forward "unloading" the pole butt. When the 4 kids got home we would roll them into one spot. We brought home a lot of them too and used them to build retaining walls. We had to use a jack hammer to dig the holes for the barn and the walls!

Good times! And send some of your rain this way! El Nino never showed up and we are still in our drought.