B&B Happy goats
Herd Master
We got a solar 10 mile charger from TS, pretty simple to put up..just get your grounding rods in the ground correctly and before the ground freezes up there. You can do this job Rachel !
rachels.haven's Journal
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We got a solar 10 mile charger from TS, pretty simple to put up..just get your grounding rods in the ground correctly and before the ground freezes up there. You can do this job Rachel !
Mike CHS
Herd Master
Premier1 has some good information sheets and there is a ton of info on youtube. If you have a TSC near you they carry a free DVD put out by one of the charger makers.
Bruce
Herd Master
Electric is pretty easy, though you still need to brace the corners. If you have gates, make your life easier by running wire in conduit underground. That way even if you run a wire across the gate that you have to unhook to open the gate, the rest of the line is still hot.
- Thread starter
- #984
rachels.haven
Herd Master
What gauge wire did you use @B&B Happy goats ? Or did you use one of the rope types?
This might still be a next year project, but I need to start my research binge on it and collect as much info as possible between now and when I chose to start. You'd be surprised at what you learn if you study something for a month or two in as many places as possible.
This might still be a next year project, but I need to start my research binge on it and collect as much info as possible between now and when I chose to start. You'd be surprised at what you learn if you study something for a month or two in as many places as possible.
B&B Happy goats
Herd Master
I belive it was 14 guage wire, we also used three copper clad ground rods 8'each ,4'in the ground... we had the t posts already up and bought the plastic wire insulators / holders for the wire....so easy to do that part. And our solar charger is awesome !
- Thread starter
- #986
rachels.haven
Herd Master
@Bruce ,(or anyone) do you have any experience with these?
Any chance they'd hold t posts pounded deep bearing non-high tensile electric wire that shouldn't be leaned on without delivering a surprise?
Any chance they'd hold t posts pounded deep bearing non-high tensile electric wire that shouldn't be leaned on without delivering a surprise?
Bruce
Herd Master
Yes and I found them to be less than good. @Mike CHS has had better luck though. The brackets are soft aluminum, they bend, angle brace T post falls out. I had to wire my angle braces to the corner post. Fortunately only 1 corner where prior owners buried a lot of stone. Heck of a time getting the T posts in, wood posts would have been impossible. With that experience if I had my current "heavy equipment" back then I'd have dug out the rocks and put in a braced wood corner post. I got my WedgeLocs when TSC was clearing out stock since they weren't going to be carrying them any more, interesting that they are again.
farmerjan
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I know a dairy farmer that uses them and likes them, but another that said they aren't worth spit.....Somewhere I have seen a t-post corner brace system that wasn't the "aluminum" lighter ones but dang if I can remember where. But yeah, go to TSC and see if they have the free dvd to watch. Also try going on the internet and maybe You Tube.? There is Premier and Kencove companies, that really are big in electric fencing, alot of the electric netting stuff. Maybe I saw the t-post corner braces in one of them. I will look at our local co-op when I am in there. Usually you can put up t-posts well into the winter until the ground freezes real deep. A few inches on top won't be too big a deal to pound through. Just getting them started.
- Thread starter
- #989
rachels.haven
Herd Master
Woah, BYH overhaul. Looks like the thing that killed BYC for several months. Not sure it really recovered. We may be fine though. BYH is more balanced and fun.
Fence guy got back to me. He came over this morning for the final plans and stuff and all our kids played with goats. Fencing will start next week on Wednesday or Thursday and take 8 days. We will be $5,000 poorer, but my dogs and kids will have an acre and a quarter fenced in, and apparently that's a very good price for the area. Dh's coworker is also putting up fencing and they talked number (the coworker's numbers are terrible).
So I'll have a fence and gates up when DH drags me to PA for Thanksgiving so the dogs can keep the beasts and animal caretakers safe.
I may or may not have also been advised to not get permits for the rest of the property based on the city I live in and if necessary ask forgiveness and pay fees and not ask permission. Maybe. And to only call it temporary fencing for livestock.
Well, I think I need to go get some more hay today. Rustic Wood's Black Tie Affair (Buggy) is joining our farm. He's the buck that bred Saffron and I was impressed with his temperament, conformation, handleability, and size. His owner needs to move him on because how many does are related to him in her herd now. I also went and took a second look at that lamancha doeling I saw earlier and decided to take a chance on her. I spoke with another lamancha breeder and they thought her rump angle would correct as she grew more and her rump angle has indeed corrected quite a bit between visits. She's not going to grow very big over the winter or eat very much though. She's only 5 months old and still a size I can carry around. I guess lamanchas are slower growers. Nigerians at 5 months are more of a hand full.
Buggy is also being sold with a second doeling that the owner can't afford to keep and grow up with her price of alfalfa going up and she'll be coming up from Maryland with her around Christmas time. Buggy is up in New Hampshire breeding a friend of the owner's does and coming down on Sunday.
I think my lamancha herd may be done then. I would only consider a second, milky background buck if I am allowed to sell some nigerians, or if one becomes available out of a specific breeding or two in the spring I've got my eye on, but I'm in no hurry (and the two breedings will probably be all does, cause luck and all, lol). Mr. Buggy will have plenty of nigerian buck friends. Hope nobody minds that I only feed alfalfa as pellets. There's no baled alfalfa grown here that I know if. You have to pay $40/100 lbs + delivery for the shipped in stuff from out west.
So by Christmas we should be up to 4 lamancha does (2 of breeding size, 2 will be growouts IMO), 1 lamancha buck, maybe another buckling in the spring. We've got 3 nigerian bucks, and 4 nigerian does (Ava and her 3 babies). Lots a goats for our woods, I guess. Then we've got Bailey and Badger the stock and kid dogs, and the chickens (and fish and guinea pigs who are housepets).
I guess if I don't get hay today or next week I can just play it by ear and get the more expensive hay mid winter. It's not like it will just all go away, thank goodness. The horse people in the area would have serious issues if it did.
Fence, fence, fence.
Oh, and fence guy is also happy to take some of our problem trees with him because that's his home's heat source and he's got to keep his 3 little kids warm. Otherwise we'd have to pull a permit and wait for burn season and burn them ourselves...somewhere, and we lack a cleared area that we wouldn't mind destroying the already weak grass on.
This was a good week over all.
Fence guy got back to me. He came over this morning for the final plans and stuff and all our kids played with goats. Fencing will start next week on Wednesday or Thursday and take 8 days. We will be $5,000 poorer, but my dogs and kids will have an acre and a quarter fenced in, and apparently that's a very good price for the area. Dh's coworker is also putting up fencing and they talked number (the coworker's numbers are terrible).
So I'll have a fence and gates up when DH drags me to PA for Thanksgiving so the dogs can keep the beasts and animal caretakers safe.
I may or may not have also been advised to not get permits for the rest of the property based on the city I live in and if necessary ask forgiveness and pay fees and not ask permission. Maybe. And to only call it temporary fencing for livestock.
Well, I think I need to go get some more hay today. Rustic Wood's Black Tie Affair (Buggy) is joining our farm. He's the buck that bred Saffron and I was impressed with his temperament, conformation, handleability, and size. His owner needs to move him on because how many does are related to him in her herd now. I also went and took a second look at that lamancha doeling I saw earlier and decided to take a chance on her. I spoke with another lamancha breeder and they thought her rump angle would correct as she grew more and her rump angle has indeed corrected quite a bit between visits. She's not going to grow very big over the winter or eat very much though. She's only 5 months old and still a size I can carry around. I guess lamanchas are slower growers. Nigerians at 5 months are more of a hand full.
Buggy is also being sold with a second doeling that the owner can't afford to keep and grow up with her price of alfalfa going up and she'll be coming up from Maryland with her around Christmas time. Buggy is up in New Hampshire breeding a friend of the owner's does and coming down on Sunday.
I think my lamancha herd may be done then. I would only consider a second, milky background buck if I am allowed to sell some nigerians, or if one becomes available out of a specific breeding or two in the spring I've got my eye on, but I'm in no hurry (and the two breedings will probably be all does, cause luck and all, lol). Mr. Buggy will have plenty of nigerian buck friends. Hope nobody minds that I only feed alfalfa as pellets. There's no baled alfalfa grown here that I know if. You have to pay $40/100 lbs + delivery for the shipped in stuff from out west.
So by Christmas we should be up to 4 lamancha does (2 of breeding size, 2 will be growouts IMO), 1 lamancha buck, maybe another buckling in the spring. We've got 3 nigerian bucks, and 4 nigerian does (Ava and her 3 babies). Lots a goats for our woods, I guess. Then we've got Bailey and Badger the stock and kid dogs, and the chickens (and fish and guinea pigs who are housepets).
I guess if I don't get hay today or next week I can just play it by ear and get the more expensive hay mid winter. It's not like it will just all go away, thank goodness. The horse people in the area would have serious issues if it did.
Fence, fence, fence.
Oh, and fence guy is also happy to take some of our problem trees with him because that's his home's heat source and he's got to keep his 3 little kids warm. Otherwise we'd have to pull a permit and wait for burn season and burn them ourselves...somewhere, and we lack a cleared area that we wouldn't mind destroying the already weak grass on.
This was a good week over all.
- Thread starter
- #990
rachels.haven
Herd Master
PS: Beginning to realize we're probably just going to do both breeds of goats.
