Hello,
My husband and I just bought a home on 5 acres in North Idaho. We are late 50's and love gardening and amimals. We have a corgi and two cats. Our three children have fown the coop and do come home for visits. We are waiving feathers and burning incense in hopes of adding some grandchildren to our flock in the near future. In the meantime we are thinking about adding some animals to help keep areas around our little ranch somewhat groomed and possibly have butchered for the freezer. We both love the idea of goats, especially my husband to whom I ask "what would you do with goats?" He never answers that question so I told him they would just be ornamental goats for the pasture which would be fun. They could also become coyote bait which is a terrible thought. We would hate to face that kind of carnage. We are new at animal keeping and do have some knowledge from our childrens 4H days long ago (pig sheep and goat).
We have several areas here that are partially fenced. There is a three acre pasture in the back partially fenced and borders a large cattle ranch the whole length of our rear lot line. This area will never be irriagted and grows natural grasses and clover etc. We are thinkjng about what we can put out there to keep the pasture grazed down. Any suggestions welcome, we are allowed 5 total livestock, no pigs allowed here. Coyotes frequent the area.
We also have a small orchard area with about 8 trees and raspberries and blackberries. This area is sectioned off by fencing, chain link one side, square wire (sheep wire?) and metal post fencing on two sides (separates the 3 acre pasture and neighbor side), one side has a short 3 ft picket fence to separate a garden area. We are considering adding ducks to the orchard section (concerned about the berry rows getting ate) to keep the weeds down and have some nice eggs. Open to other suggestions.
We also have a chicken coop built on ground level with 4 nesting boxe and roosts. There is a chain link fence all around it. The previous owners put metal flashing around the base of the coup but we can see one spot where something dug under the metal flashing and got inside. There is old dried up evidnece of a kill in the coup.
one huge problem in our area is Coyotes. We have a pack that sounds quite large that frequent the area. our neighbor has chickens they keep in a wire fenced area with an elevated locking coop. It seems to be working for them.
My husband and I just bought a home on 5 acres in North Idaho. We are late 50's and love gardening and amimals. We have a corgi and two cats. Our three children have fown the coop and do come home for visits. We are waiving feathers and burning incense in hopes of adding some grandchildren to our flock in the near future. In the meantime we are thinking about adding some animals to help keep areas around our little ranch somewhat groomed and possibly have butchered for the freezer. We both love the idea of goats, especially my husband to whom I ask "what would you do with goats?" He never answers that question so I told him they would just be ornamental goats for the pasture which would be fun. They could also become coyote bait which is a terrible thought. We would hate to face that kind of carnage. We are new at animal keeping and do have some knowledge from our childrens 4H days long ago (pig sheep and goat).
We have several areas here that are partially fenced. There is a three acre pasture in the back partially fenced and borders a large cattle ranch the whole length of our rear lot line. This area will never be irriagted and grows natural grasses and clover etc. We are thinkjng about what we can put out there to keep the pasture grazed down. Any suggestions welcome, we are allowed 5 total livestock, no pigs allowed here. Coyotes frequent the area.
We also have a small orchard area with about 8 trees and raspberries and blackberries. This area is sectioned off by fencing, chain link one side, square wire (sheep wire?) and metal post fencing on two sides (separates the 3 acre pasture and neighbor side), one side has a short 3 ft picket fence to separate a garden area. We are considering adding ducks to the orchard section (concerned about the berry rows getting ate) to keep the weeds down and have some nice eggs. Open to other suggestions.
We also have a chicken coop built on ground level with 4 nesting boxe and roosts. There is a chain link fence all around it. The previous owners put metal flashing around the base of the coup but we can see one spot where something dug under the metal flashing and got inside. There is old dried up evidnece of a kill in the coup.
one huge problem in our area is Coyotes. We have a pack that sounds quite large that frequent the area. our neighbor has chickens they keep in a wire fenced area with an elevated locking coop. It seems to be working for them.
Lots of goat knowledge here.
Hmm sounds veeeeery familiar! I recently moved from home and married, and now have two sets of parents biting their nails.
