Building a Hobby Farm- from woods to eggs

[tony123]

Rowdius, finally got a chance to check out the link you gave for "Homesteading Today". Looks like it will be a great source of information. Now I will be up until 4am reading instead of 2am. Gee, thanks.

[ore540]

Originally Posted by tony123

Goats: I don't have a real plan other than letting the kids have fun with them. Probably get two does and breed them to sell the kids. I think my boys would learn alot from the exposure to animal husbandry, the kids are fun, and selling them would help offset some expense.

I liked the little pygmy goats we had (gave them to a neighbor after the boys grew up and left for school) and it certainly gave my son an education in animal husbandry. He was a 6th grader when the we had the doe bred and he was excited when the kids were due. Twins were born healthy and mom ended up fine but the first kid was stuck and the doe needed some help. It hadn't occurred to my son that goats (and other creatures in labor) might scream. It was an education with a happy ending and one of the better forms of birth control I've run across

[Rowdius]

Originally Posted by tony123

Rowdius, finally got a chance to check out the link you gave for "Homesteading Today". Looks like it will be a great source of information. Now I will be up until 4am reading instead of 2am. Gee, thanks.

Hey, at least now I know there will be at least one other person up in the middle of the night reading while I am too!

[tony123]

ore540, it does sound like good birth control. I think it would be of some importance to sell the goats off. Are pygmies as easy to market as a larger "meat" goat? if so, I would prefer pygmies for size reasons alone.

[tony123]

I've mentioned splitting firewood, but haven't posted a photo. Here's the pile I'm working on right now.



The pad that all this wood is on, is the future barn location.

Here's a shot showing what I've gotten out of the rye seed so far. Without any rain, its a pretty good start. I know winter rye will live in winter, but will it grow and thicken? At least I have something to help with erosion. The barn location is down at the far end of this photo. One property pin is near the transformer in the far back left of the photo.



I'm wanting to get started with my fencing, but couldn't find two important property pins. So yesterday I went out with the boxblade and did some searching. I found one of them. The other, I think is under my gravel drive, which makes for some fun digging. Haven't found it yet. When I do, fence work can begin.

[ore540]

Originally Posted by tony123

ore540, it does sound like good birth control. I think it would be of some importance to sell the goats off. Are pygmies as easy to market as a larger "meat" goat? if so, I would prefer pygmies for size reasons alone.

There's a market around here for pygmies as pets and they will keep the blackberries back. We live in a valley that's more suburban all the time with more and more 2-10 acre places like ours. Hobby farmers like pets. The meat goats are bigger as are the dairy. It's interesting how many craigslist ads for the larger goats say "not for meat".

We kept the horns on them to give them some defense but penned them at night -- too easy a snack. The pygmies are easier to fence, I think. Ours really were just pets and good at it. I'd never been around goats before and I was amazed how sociable they were.

[tony123]

I decided today to install the "yard hydrant".

I only need about 35' of trenching for the 3/4" waterline. I've been working at the trench with my boxblade (tilted) and a hand shovel. I've worked about as hard as I want to and the trench is only about 6-8" deep.

Our frostline here is almost nothing. If anything, just a few inches. The instructions say to mount the hydrant in a 24" deep hole. I'm planning on asking a neighbor to do the hole with his PHD. Question is, do you think it's okay to have the waterline itself at 6-8" depth and angle down sharply to the bottom of the hydrant at 24"? See what I'm getting at? I would end up with only a foot or two of waterline that is down 24". (Less digging )

I'm going to put a 4x4 post in the hole with the hydrant and strap the hydrant to that.

Any insight is appreciated.

[tony123]

Just found an online frostline map. Apparantly I'm 2-3". So, it seems that according to the instructions the only depth requirement is that the valve at the bottom of the pipe be deeper then 2-3". I'm at about 6-8" so that sould be plenty. The 4X4 should give the needed support.

Seems I've answered my own question. But I'm sure some of you have real world experience.

[Defective]

The important question for trench depth is wether or not there will ever be any kind of traffic over it. If so, you're going to want it deeper.

Know anybody with a hoe, trencher or even a middle buster?

[tony123]

I don't know anyone that would do it without charge. I could rent a trencher but for such a short distance, would be high dollar per foot.

Have thought about getting a middlebuster though. Maybe now is the time? I was thinking of getting a tiller for the vegetable garden, and the middle buster would be a nice compliment to make the tilling a little easier.

Or, maybe its just time to sweat a little more than I'd like.

So...how deep should I go to be safe from tractor traffic? I imagine a pickup truck might go over it a few times a year.

It's a shame they don't make a shank that would fit through the boxblade shank holes that would go down and act as a subsoiler/middlebuster.