More sheep coming next week! (was: need encouragement)

[patandchickens]

Hi all, you know I don't do this often so I am hoping you will indulge me this once

I am feeling really kinda discouraged about the logistics of getting 2-3 goats or sheep for milking (for cheese), and could really use a pep talk and some encouraging words. Unless of course you think I really *can't* make it work, but I don't *think* that's the case (is it?)

(I should say that Free and miss_thenorth have already given excellent help over on BYH, big THANK YOUs to both of ya, I am just still feeling kind of overwhelmed by a combination of other peoples' discouraging opinions and my continuing vast ignorance despite a bunch of reading).

I feel like I can't give 2-3 goats or sheep enough indoor space for them to be comfortable -- I can only carve about 8x10 of permanent space out of my hay storage area, although that can be enlarged as winter progresses and the hay disappears.

And I feel like I can't give them enough non-muddy outdoor area either. It's not like I don't have a lot of different options in terms of exactly where to put the pen, but it has to connect to the S or W side of the barn and I can only afford to truck in maybe 15x20' worth of roadbase as fill to create an all-weather surface. And the rest of the area accessible from there varies from "puddley whenever it rains" to "frequently underwater for weeks at a time". I do not want to make animals miserable, nor do I want exciting lessons in Advanced Footrot.

Plus, my husband is starting to worry about whether I will have TIME to milk, even just 1x/day while kids/lambs are still on their mamas. And I will admit that I could see where even just milking 2 ewes or does could be a half-hour task or more, twice a day, and do I *really* have time and energy for that?

But darnit, I want to try cheesemaking with our own milk, and I just LOVE goats and have always wanted some (sheep I am more lukewarm on, but OTOH would not be as distressed if I had to send their offspring to freezer camp), and if it doesn't work out I can just sell them and chalk it up to a lesson learned.

Right?

Right?

Aaargh, this is really bothering me, I don't want to sink lots of work and money into something that will just end up with miserable animals :/

Tell me I can do this?

Thanks,

Pat

 

[TanksHill]

I know I am not the most informed on this topic. But it sounds like your just talking your self out of it. Your area sounds like it varies from great, to good, to sometimes not so good. Sounds like life to me!! Ah I love that song. Anyways, I say go for it. You will never know if you don't try.

this was my inspirational quote for last week.

Mark Twain: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Pat you are great at everything, I am sure this will be no different.

gina

 

[ksalvagno]

There is no reason why you can't make it work. Like you said, if it doesn't work out, you can always sell them.

My pasture that is associated with my goat area is in a flood area. Right now my goats have their pen in the barn and space under my overhang of the barn. I have 9 goats (with 2 new little ones and more on the way) in a 12x30 area in the barn and the overhang space is about 10x50. Once everything dries out, I can let them out on pasture.

Everyone can't give their animals the absolute perfect area. You just find ways to make what you have work! Good luck!

 

[sufficientforme]

I agree with others as we have only a 8x8 foot stall for two sheep and they have plenty of room for laying and eating. I was surprised at how small the stalls were at the breeder we got them from. Yes I believe milking is a huge commitment but if you decide it is not for you, you let the babies have their Momma's back fully and you wean them to sell or keep. Our hair sheep are very low maintenance and hardly eat a thing. We really enjoy them around the place.

 

[Wildsky]

I might be in the same boat soon..... so watching and reading.

I do have a large barn, but I wnder about having enough time to do all the milking and such.

 

[big brown horse]

Hello Pat,

I have two sheep, one I will eventually use to milk and one that is her pal.

Dolly, my future milker is a Border Cheviot, a wool sheep. She is considered to be dual purpose mostly for wool and meat but she can also be milked.

She is a hardy breed that has a wool coat that can take our moist cool weather year round. I have a very small enclosed area that they rarely use. I would love to have an 8 x 10 enclosed permanent space for them!! I know you have really cold winters up there, but if you get a wooly sheep (hint, hint nudge, nudge) they keep themselves warm. They also are calm enough to wear little coats just like horses. Talk about CUTE!!!

They live in my enclosed back yard of about 1 acre. They don't ruin my apple, cherry, plum and pear orchard by eating the bark etc. Actually they have done a wonderful job mowing under the low branches and eating any leaf (or fruit for that matter) that drops.

(I did have to put a fence around my gardens and my grapes and fig tree, because they can't those resist fresh leaves. That has been the only downfall. I needed to do it anyway b/c of my big oafs (st. bernards).

The best part about having them in my back yard is that I have not mowed my yard since last MAY! All I have to do is rake around their poop pellets to spread them out every once in a while.

This year I'm buying a RAM!! Yea!

Good Luck,
Have Fun
Sally (Couldn't resist! )

 

[miss_thenorth]

I answered you on BYH, but I'll just say this here. I always give this speech to my son: If you really want to do it, you will succeed. If you don't want to do it, you will fail. Mind you, with him it is in regards to good grades. If you want this--go for it. You CAN do it.

( I also tell him can't is a four letter word, you either won't or don't want to )

 

[lupinfarm]

WELL..

Last year when we brought Cissy and Mione home I purchased a calf-hut on the way home from a farmer for about $125. It has a minor crack at the base, but otherwise its in fabulous condition. It heats up nice in the winter, and I've heard of people putting pallets down and then plywood and then sitting it on top to keep their goaties and sheepies nice and toastey and dry. Layer it out with straw, and you're set. I guess just make sure to point it south. They're quite large as well. I may as well say that when we went to see Cissy and Mione at their old place they had a small barn (maybe 10x14ft) that the goats were free to use but they also had a 6x8ft "house" that had no door, and was layered out with straw that the goats preferred to use. All 9 of them. Piled in there together. Babies included.

If you were worried about the cold/wind you could add in a plastic flap of some sort on the front opening of a calf-hut by screwing into the plastic. I use my calf-hut as a run-in shelter for the goaties in my pasture. Which is cold. and windy because its on the side of a hill and faces North.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Good Luck,
Have Fun
Sally (Couldn't resist! )

Funny! Pat's sig line!!

 

[FarmerDenise]

Sounds like you have some of the same worries I do. SO is also concerned that I will be spending too much time with the goats. He already gets annoyed when I take in bottle babies from the Humane Society, because he thinks I need to be working in the field every waking moment!
I figure that when we start getting milk and I start making cheese, he'll sing a different tune. He really likes it when we have homemade stuff. He loves to brag about all the stuff we canned and made ourselves. And I am hoping the cuteness of the kids will win him over right away.

I really appreciated visiting a goat dairy yesterday. I was able to get a lot of my questions answered and actually saw the way they kept their goats and how the goats behaved. The owner was most enthusiastic about them.

So we'll be in this endeavor together
Come on, do it, I need a buddy in this.

Mark Twain: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

BBH I love that quote. I am going to have to print it out and make a picture with it.