Whew! We'll all sleep good tonight! Ben and I started cleaning out the old tack room (they kept a horse in there for a while...) while Eric opened up 2 more doors! Yea! Less climbing over fences. We found some things that we can use for the chickens, or clean up and see if we can use them elsewhere. It was like a treasure hunt. While hunting for some wire in the machine shed, Eric found a round rubber dish. We think this will work a little better than the huge tub (although it was pretty cute, watching them lean on one leg to reach in) for the water. It wasn't practical, since we have to haul it, to have a 30 gallon container for our 3 young goats.
Ben and I tried to win their affections with an apple--they licked it quite enthusiastically, but they did not eat it while we were there. They are still pretty nervous around us. Hopefully this won't last. It is teaching all of us patience, though, and that's a good thing!
We were in and out of the barn all day today. Gunner got in, through the door Eric was fixing, but left the goats alone--he just wanted to be near us, and out of the sun. Gunner is our English Setter. Our other dog is Kodiak, and she is a red Doberman Pincher. We have recently been introduced to a dog that was dumped on us. It is a male Collie? Sheltie? Australian Shepard? I am not sure of the differences between these breeds. We are on again/off again about keeping him. We're doing everything necessary to find him a home. I am against keeping him, as it's a big, fluffy dog, and we live right here in cockle burr valley, with sticky weed lane going straight through it. If you'd like a beautiful dog, that is very well mannered, post a comment, then come get him!
Eric went around and replaced the fencing he'd wanted to before we got the goats, and the gates that were pretty much useless. Ben helped. They cut down the saplings that were in the way, and put them in for the goats. Whoo-whee, do they LOVE saplings! We've been debating about staking them out in the pasture... and about getting an electric fence. There's so much information, but which one to choose? We'll let you know the whys and the hows of what we choose to do (and how it worked!).
Fun fact: Goats (on a pasture) get almost all the moisture they need from plants. (on a good day-but always have it available for them!) (the amount per goat varies as much as the places you can get information from! One said you need 1 gallon per goat. We were told a 10 gallon bucket was more than enough for 30, so watch your herd, and see what they think. )
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