OK, so we are getting more baby goats for the farm (they are so adorable), and if you have goats or have met goats you may have noted a lack of any sort of good judgement. And recently the gate to the goat’s pen got fixed so it no longer binds on the frame because it wasn’t square (which has handy since if it got unlocked somehow it was pretty sticky to open. But now it freely swings open. Since goats are morons (lovable morons, but still morons - we are wondering since the new goats are girls if that might lower the moronicness? I love those articles touting goat intellegence “Are they as smart as dogs and cats?” - no, no they are not a better title might be “Are they as smart as very intoxicated dogs and cats?”). Anyway with new goats even having less common sense than the adult goats (in reality we know what happens when the boys we have get out (Butterscotch ran to visit his friend Favio (a Lipizzaner) and Rocky runs to the hay loft (because it’s a room-made-out-of-food!)
Anyway with all the folks who ride over the summer, figured the pen gate needed a sign:
The sign is regular 0.5" x 3.5" wide red-oak from Home Depot, and as far as settings, it’s basically “Ensign, route auxiliary power to the phaser banks!” level. Then because layering Red Oak leaves a horrible Exxon Valdez level goo polymerized on the top of the wood (despite masking - soaks right through it) I use an 80 grit random sander disc then swap to a 220 before spray urethane as final finish.
At least the cheapest hand sanitizer will not craze the oak and to the point it warps, compression while wet until dry will keep it square, and it will dissolve even Valdez level gunk.
Here is Rocky as an angry Jack Klugman. That hat was WAAAY tougher than it looked. After getting the absolute crap bashed out of it, just popped right back into shape! The boys pretty much have 2 activities: bashing heads and eating (often at the same time)
We do too. So much poison ivy in the woods around the house that it encroaches into the yard all the time. It’s a never ending war to beat it back. I’m not especially sensitive to it but my wife just needs to touch something that has touched it to get a rash. Goats eat the stuff right up
What sucks about using your goat for poison ivy, is then your goat is covered in the oil, and for like 2 weeks you can’t touch your goat… But they’re happy, since they love it!
Seen it many times around here, they put up a temp fence and signs - something like rentmygoats.com. Seems like they can clear out an acre of undergrowth in a couple of days.
Yes, there are goatscaping companies near me as well. Those goats are solely used for that, so nobody cares. Our goats are pets, and we take them for hikes (we’ve gotten them up to around 5mi at this point) and kids love running up and petting them. There is a goat renal company that lets you hike with their goats not too far away (at $35/hr - which is crazy since I only spent $100 for Butterscotch) - note when purchasing goats, other than the breed (and from breed dairy vs. meat) we got diary goats (Nigerian Dwarves) we got the sensible purchase of 2 wethers (neutered males) which are the “waste product” of the milk production, since to keep the goats making milk you keep having baby goats, but males eat the profits, so off they go. And unless they are registered show grade, they are pretty cheap. Butterscotch was some teen’s backyard 4H project and Rocky was from a dairy, and the incoming 2 are from a gentleman’s farm and just pets essentially (but weirdly they have not neutered the males there so guess what there is a batch of babies each spring (they are always born in the spring). Oreo and Caramel are girls (but since the boys are neutered that’s not a problem for us)
The boys out on the hiking trails at Hale Reservation (note my Daughter really hates bugs - so has that bug suit). The boys basically view the woods as a giant 5mi buffet. It is really amazing to watch them eat, because they eat the branch along with the leaves (goats eat leaves, sheep graze grass, although goats will eat anything if left to it) considering they are grinding the wood of a branch against their pallet (they don’t have top teeth)
Which to be honest just adds to the crazy… (you can’t quite see it there, but his dog (goat?) tag is lasered on the GF). Most ruminants are calm and collected (take cows who mostly standing in one place chewing their cud) while goats can best be described as a 2-year-old who got into your meth stash… Or as I like to describe it to visitors, they are morons, but they make up for it with enthusiasm.
