First!
I’m reminded of the people who comment “First!” on even the most wildly inappropriate of posts e.g., “Everyone you’ve ever known is dead.” Anyways.
This is my very first post on my very first blog! My plan is to make a post once a week as we build our farm. When we purchased this 5.4 acre plot of land, it had been traditionally row cropped for quite some time. It was allowed to grow wild for some time after that, not sure how long. That is to say, we had to build or buy everything that is currently here. To start with, we put up a perimeter fence. Not just any perimeter fence, but a 10-strand, hot/cold, high tensile electric fence on an 8 Joule energizer. Why? Because overkill! Since I knew we were bringing goats and/or sheep onto the property, and I also knew the road was quite busy, I wanted the fence of all fences (FOAF). I took a page out of Australia’s book and made a fence that several of my farmer contemporaries thought was perhaps meant to contain a herd of angry buffalo. I don’t take chances, is what I’m saying.
The front fence is a tradition, 4-board wood fence a la horses. For prettiness reasons. It also is lined with two strands of polyrope connected to the same overkill energizer (that, by the way, is on half power in deep snow and is still giving me 7-8 kV). Round that out with two, 10-foot gates on Ghost Controls, and we’re locked up pretty tight. Not to mention the 6-strand (soon to be 10-strand) polyrope fence dividing up the pasture into several paddocks. Fence fence fence. Plus a shed, a hoop barn with a dry lot, a pole barn with another dry lot, and a chicken coop. Oh, and a house.
All this to say, building something from nothing was a lot of work. And we had a lot of expert help along the way, some of it paid for, some of it given generously and without expectation. We hope that, in return, we can become a source of high quality goat breeding stock, goat milk, and some goat meat for our community. Plans don’t always come to fruition, but we hope you’ll follow along as we work towards our goals!
- Liz
