January 2020 – Storybook Farm

Posted on January 27, 2020February 15, 2020 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Creep Pen

We have some young kids in with the herd, and with our new mangers, I was concerned that they weren’t able to graze spilled hay anymore, and that — when the hay was eaten down some — couldn’t reach the hay. (Yay for no more hay waste! Boo for hungry kids.) Also, we might have something like 12-16 kids coming from February to March, and I’ll want them to have a good place to get away, eat, and sleep, too, so, we’ve been experimenting with a creep pen for them.

Left is a video of the kids first exploring the prototype version that we threw together so that we could learn. (Hit the triangle if you don’t see a preview picture.)

This pen measures 5’ x 5’. It first had the kids’ heat hut in it, mostly to train them to it, then it had just the heat lamp above the kiddie pool, and now it just has the pool with hay in a purple bucket.

Obviously, those three 5-week-old kids were barely fitting in that kid hut by this time, and we certainly weren’t going to fit 15 in kid huts this spring. Thus, we will need a creep space come March, and it will need to be bigger than this prototype we’re playing with now. (More on the new and improved version that resulted HERE!)

In case you don’t know what a creep space is, it gets its name from the creep gate that will only allow a small baby — goat or sheep, or sometimes a puppy — to creep in while keeping adults out. Some farmers give food that they only want babies to have, and others want to provide heat or a rest area free from adult bullying. We use ours for all these features.

Our creep gate was made by Premier 1. It is very sturdy. It is built with holes that are drilled at specific intervals both tops and bottom and side to side. Moveable steel rods allow the farmer to adjust the height and width of the creep openings to the size of their growing young ones.

The basic gate comes with 5 vertical steel rods inserted into PVC slip covers, and one horizontal one. We invested in four more rods (black in the picture) from a local hardware store, but you can also buy extra rods from Premier. We found by trial and error that we needed six-inch openings for our littles to get in, and still keep out a petite 6-month old doeling in our herd.

We attached two 5’ goat panels to the gate and wall with carabiners and wire. That wooden wall behind is really one of our gates that leads to our barn aisle. This has proved very handy in servicing this area, though one can remove the rods to get into the area from the front.

As you can see in the picture below, this creep space doesn’t take up much of our overall space, and the kids freely go out with the herd whenever they want to. We often find them in the pen in the early morning curled up together. (If you’re wondering about the kiddie pools, click here.)

Posted on January 19, 2020March 24, 2021 by Marcia — Leave a comment

A Better Manger

We have had a building hay crisis at Storybook Farm. We got a delivery of what looked like excellent hay in the fall, but as we’ve been going through it, about 1/5 of our square bales have molded! (We have a brand new barn with an excellent hay loft, so the hay had to have become damp somehow before it got here. Luckily, I buy locally, and the farmer who made it has 100 bales on reserve for me, so I have more on the way if we get a break in the weather. But I digress.

It was the combination of the concern about hay shortage and the crazy amount the the precious hay that I was sweeping up each morning as I muck our rubber-floored stall that made me decide, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. There has to be a better manger that saves hay!”

We just couldn’t afford to throw out any more!

One of my biggest problems (besides waste) has been that, because we dam raise, little kids get into most mangers and do “the pee and poop dance” there. So, I was looking specifically for a solution for a group of mixed-aged does. I have kids that are 5+ weeks old, one that is 6 months old, three that are 9 months old, and then full-sized senior does—who range from small to large Mini-Nubians. Indeed, one of my does is almost the size of a standard Nubian.

These were my challenges going in, but I couldn’t be more pleased with the solution that I’ve found!

Fair warning: this manger solution is not for horned goats. That said, there are enough of us out there with disbudded goats that I think it’s worth the share. The above picture is the “before” shot. The picture at the right is the “after” shot.

I want to give a big shout out to the designers of this manger: creds to Thorcrest Farm in Canada for this outstanding design. From what I read, they’ve been tinkering with it for 25 years. They raise show-quality standard Nubians, but I followed their exact directions (using screws in case I needed to make adjustments) and so far, it’s working like a dream with Mini Nubians.

Some kind soul posted this picture of one of Thorcrest’s farm page posts, and the build was super easy. It took me (with a bit of help from Scott in a couple of places) about four hours to build from scrap wood found around our farm.

Below are pictures and videos (just hit the triangle even if there’s not a preview picture) of our does using the manger, and beside each one are comments that answer common questions that I’ve received on the Internet about this manger. Enjoy!

This video shows the step, which is about 5” deep. Skylark (at 5 weeks) can just balance on this step, but her tubby little body is too wide for her to turn to eat or to jump into the manger. YAY! Problem solved about kids playing in the manger!

She can, however, reach the manger from the floor. That opening is 2.5’ up from the floor, so she can’t just jump in. And, when the does eat it down to about half full, she can’t feed from it. But, since littles are still nursing and don’t need a lot of hay (and because they have their own hay in their creep pen, this feeder is just fine for her.

The picture (below right) shows does of three ages using the manger together. The doe at the right is a mid-sized, adult Mini Nubian, and can eat with all four feet on the floor. The doe in the middle is 6 months old, and easily reaches into the feeder. The doe on the right is six years old, quite pregnant, and is chowing down with her lips reaching to the bottom of the trough.

Note that the actual hay section of this manger is only 9” deep, so when feeding, throw in enough batts (flat) to fill only to the level of the lower edge of the opening. DON’T overfill it! If you do, they will “grab and go,” creating spills (also known as waste)!

I’ve been asked about the possibility of goats slipping on the step and hanging themselves. From my observations, this is highly unlikely. Small goats can get their heads out quickly, and larger goats can eat with all four feet on the floor if they are skimming the top layer of hay.

When a goat steps up on the step, she’s standing on four legs and perpendicular to the feeder. If she gets butted, she moves a bit, but has time to get her head out, and usually has one foot on the step even so.

Also someone asked if the does pull their heads out and waste hay that way. My answer is, “it depends.” MOST of the time, they leave their heads in and browse and munch. SOME of the does are nervous, and pull their heads out to look around. But, overall, there is SO MUCH LESS hay waste. I’m thrilled. THIS is the “after shot.” Below is the “before.”

Our plan is to build three more of these feeders for our goat space, replacing the feeders seen in this video. I think it’s clear why by now!

Final picture. Here I show that there’s a great space under this manger for kids to use as an away space. I sweep hay that does drop down to the floor (minimal) under the manger most days, and they can snuggle into it for a nap.

Note the end of the manger: we put a door on ours so that I can clean it out. With any manger, I’ve found, there’s a build up of tiny leaves and sticks that needs to be cleaned out from time to time. This little door makes that simple.

We also built a freestanding (therefore portable) version of this feeder. Details and more pictures are HERE.

And more recently, since we were running out of wall space for mangers, we began to convert our wall mounted ones to freestanding two sided ones, still with all the same great features. All we had to do was duplicate the side construction, and then put end boards on to stabilize it. We kept the cleanout door. It’s such a great feature.

This change now doubles the number of goats that can eat at one manger. Interior width is 32″: enough to lay two bats side by side down the length of the manger (which is six feet). To get an idea of how many goats this can serve, I include a picture from last week of them all crowding around to get at the hay we had just fed. This gives you an idea of why we needed to convert these mangers to give more linear feet.

Gallery of pictures below. it is the manger on the right in the first picture that was converted.

Overcrowding… but very little hay waste!

Posted on January 3, 2020January 21, 2020 by Marcia — Leave a comment

Herdshares at Storybook Farm

It’s 2020, and for those of you who are local to Storybook Farm, it’s time to launch our herdsharing program! I am SO excited about this!!! If, after you read this article, you are interested in sharing our herd, please sign up for the monthly newsletter from the box below. (Most of this post is excerpted from this month’s Herdshare Group newsletter.)

What is a Herdshare?

In many states, West Virginia included, it is illegal to buy raw cow or goat milk. However, there is no law against a person drinking raw milk from his/her own dairy animal.

But, what if you don’t farm, or can’t keep a cow or goat, but want all the wonderful health benefits of raw milk? WV law provides you an opportunity to purchase part ownership of a dairy animal, which then entitles you to consume milk from her. You, quite literally, are sharing the herd with the farmer and other raw milk lovers. At Storybook Farm, we raise only dairy goats, so we’ll talk about only goat milk for the rest of this discussion.

In a herdshare agreement one first pays a one-time fee per share of a goat. Each share makes you a part owner of the herd, and thus entitles you to a set amount of milk from your herd per week.

Because you now are part owner of one (or more) goat(s), you must also pay a farmer a monthly fee for boarding your goat(s), caring for the goat(s), and milking the goat(s).

The herdshare owner thus obtains (but does not purchase) the milk from his/her own herd. This arrangement is similar to arrangements of owning a share in a condominium (a timeshare), or to a CSA share for farm produce.

Additionally, some farmers also offer “value added” products, where they will turn your milk into cheeses or yogurt, for instance, for an added fee.

How Does it Work at Storybook Farm?

Farm herdshare agreements (which are legally binding contracts) vary from farm to farm. Here is how we intend to start our program for our first year at Storybook Farm.

First, the cost of a share in this first introductory year will be $25 per share. This is the cost of ownership of one share of the herd, and entitles the shareholder to 1/2 gallon of milk weekly and one truckload of manure, suitable for preparing garden beds each spring.

If you want to consume more than a 1/2 gallon per week (or get more manure — LOL), you can purchase two or more shares. We will have a total of 30 shares to offer in 2020.

The monthly board expense for the goat(s) per share will be $12.00. There are four weeks in the month, plus a few days. Some months are five week months. The board fee averages out to $2.50/week per share.

There will be modest start-up fees. The herdshare owner will need to purchase at least two (2) half-gallon mason jars (with lids) for distribution purposes. These will cost $3 apiece.

Storybook Farm will work out with each member of our herdshare how best to transfer the milk. Some will need to pick up at the farm; others can get delivery in/from Franklin, WV. Each week, herdshare owners must return a clean 1/2 gallon jar per share to the Farm for fulfillment of their milk allotment, unless they are receiving value-added products instead. (Obviously, since each shareholder owns two jars per share, you can return the empty jar(s) when you pick up each week’s milk.)

Storybook Farm will be offering Feta cheese, Chevre cheese, Mozerella cheese, and Greek-style yogurt as value-added products. Thus, if you wish to convert your weekly milk allotment to any of these products, you will add the cost of processing only. The end prices of these products will be similar to what is purchased in Franklin grocery stores from cow’s milk, but, of course, superior in terms of healthiness, freshness and taste!

Milk Comes with Babies!

Speaking of milk, we confirmed that 7 of our 9 adult does are pregnant! For those who are interested, our Breeding Plan and due dates are here: https://storybookfarmwv.com/breeding-plan/. Why not go there now and choose the doe of whom you’d like to purchase a share?

You may notice (on that page) that we’ve already kidded out Sparrow. Her kids (below) came on December 9 (making a busy month along with preparing for our family of 22 people for Christmas). Sparrow gave us three gorgeous doelings. You can read all about them here.

Help Us Spread the Word!

If you are local to Storybook Farm (and/or Franklin, WV, where we’ll be making deliveries) you can join in! Please forward a link to this post to friends and family who would enjoy becoming joint herd owners.

In next month’s Herdshare Group’s newsletter, I will be detailing the many benefits of goat milk and giving a tour of our state-of-the-art milking facilities. I’ll also discuss ways that we will be making our milk as safe and sanitary as possible, including getting the herd tested for TB and Brucellosis in early March. Milk distribution will start in late March.

I plan to send an email to this group monthly, at the least. My goal is to inform you of events that are of interest to those who partner in our herd, or are considering doing so. In busy months where our herdsharing is in high gear (from late March through early September) we may be sending updates or information more frequently.

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