Starting to feel like a farm

Tags

brush, goats, meat goats, trade, weed removal

Steps to getting farm status (in our minds):

1. Grow veggies
2. Easy animals
3. Add more easy animals
4. Sell Veggies
5. Sell Meat
6. Make money!
7. Quit our jobs!

Well it’s official, we are at step 3 folks (sort of). The ladies have arrived!

After nearly 20 years of not farming the land the brush on our property had grown and taken over so much of our 10 acre farm that we decided to reclaim it. We spent most of last summer clearing the creek and the front pasture from invasive weeds and willows. And surprise, a little rain, a mild winter and the weeds and trees are coming back.

With no budget and or time for large brush hogs to keep it mowed down we had to get a bit creative and came up with a great solution. Goats! We needed goats. But how many, what kind, what are their needs, what do they cost…? So many questions!

For this resourceful lady here, no big deal, lets start with Craigslist (my #1 go to to fix anything). I punched the words “Goats, Weeds, Brush, Clearing” into the search bar and voila! a posting for “free weed removal via my goats” popped up. I couldn’t believe it! I instantly called the guy and got the details. Thankfully my excitement and billion questions didn’t turn him away.

He basically said that he raises meat goats and his pasture gets eaten down way to quickly and was looking for somewhere for them to graze for the summer. Perfect! So, he will drop them off in May and pick them up in the fall. All we have to do is put some feed out once a day for them since he was to drop off mommas and babies and the babies were still nursing.

So, at about 11am, on Mother’s Day, the “Goat Guy” as we call him, pulled in with a small trailer. He pulled into the pasture, opened the door and let the momma’s and babies out. Lots of bawing and ba’s were heard and I just melted. They were perfect! He unloaded the grain and soon after left on his way.

This works out perfect for us for many reasons:

1. We dont have to invest in a goat heard
2. We don’t have to buy feed for them
3. If they don’t work, it’s not a loss to us
4. If we need more to handle the weeds better, he will bring more
5. We don’t have to care for them in Winter (working full time 40min away, getting home   in the dark to take care of livestock is hard to do).

So far we have learned that they get into absolutely everything, don’t care for the dog very much, and are very sweet. Expect more goat stories in the near future. 🙂