goatboy1973
True BYH Addict
I have had a few out of town customers, friends, and out of town family ask that I post a few pics of our goat handling facility (as simple and partially homemade as it is). It is nothing but a simple pole barn constructed by my 2 brothers and a nephew, a goat headgate/ squeeze chute, and loading ramp along with a corral system made out of cattle panel, T-Posts, and repurposed white vinyl lattice. Every bit of it could have been made out of wood (head gate/ squeeze chute and the loading ramp). We just happened to sell off most of our Boers a few years back and decided to buy the headgate/ chute and loading ramp which was a scratch n dent discount from a local farm supply wholesaler. The rest of the supplies minus the pole barn we already had and repurposed for our goat handling needs. The most questions I have had from visitors to the farm are, "What is the white lattice for?" I used the white vinyl lattice to keep the goats from sticking their heads through the 4''x4'' squares and getting their horns stuck. I used the cattle panel because it was what we already had available on the farm. I could have bought the goat panel which has much smaller squares but then I would have spent needless dollars when I didn't have to. I had the bright idea after literally having to fight over 20 goats' heads back through the new corral I had just constructed. I was spending more time/ energy dislodging heads from the panel than I was vaccinating goats and remembered seeing the 12 ft. sections in the rafters of the storage barn stored away for lord knows how long so I got it down, measured and decided how much I needed. The next dilemma was how to attach it to the panel. I went to our local Harbor Freight Store and found industrial strength zip ties and this is what I used to affix the lattice to the panels at top, middle and bottom of the panel every 3 ft. As you might see from some of the pictures, I am still working on the lattice installation. Anyhoo, this works for me and for the most part, this is a one man operation with a rope/ pulley system attached to the swing gates at the back of the loading ramp and the back of the squeeze chute. I look forward to everyone's critiques and comments.
