Tweaking the Goat Minerals

Helen & Daphne

When I bought Helen and Daphne, I asked their previous owner what she had been feeding them. I always ask this question when I buy goats, because I want to make as gradual a transition in their diet as possible. She mentioned that she had been sprinkling their feed with Pat Coleby's mineral lick. When she told me her story, I was convinced I needed to try it too.

Besides the two Kinders she had two Saanans from a local goat dairy. She liked them but began to have problems with their hair falling out. When veterinary suggestions helped only nominally, she decided to try Pat Coleby's recipe. She sprinkled it on their food and their coats began to grow back. She ran out and stopped, and they lost fur again. She made and fed more, and it grew back again. Her goats had beautiful coats. That was all the convincing I needed.

Bunny & Lily

The recipe is in Pat's book, Natural Goat Care, but also around the internet, so hopefully I'm not violating any copyright by sharing it. Her instructions make a 37 pound batch, so I've quartered that to make 9.25 pounds.

• 6.25 pounds powdered dolomite*
• 1 pound sulfur powder
• 1 pound copper sulfate powder
• 1 pound seaweed meal (I use Thorvin kelp)

Mix well (dust mask recommended because it's all powders). Topdress feed with about 1/2 teaspoon (2 - 3 grams) daily. May also be left out free choice. Also recommended is keeping kelp available free choice, especially for dairy goats.

California AKA Clark

I put an asterisk (*) by the dolomite because I actually use dolomitic limestone. Dolomite is supposedly extremely common, but I'll be darned if I can find it. Hoegger carries it, but it's pricey (about $2 per pound) and often backordered. In her book, Coleby states that dolomitic limestone can be substituted. I can find this at the local nursery for about $4 per 50 pound bag. Note that it must be dolomitic limestone, not calcitic. The difference is the calcium and magnesium ratio, which must be twice the calcium to magnesium to be of benefit. Powdered is preferred to granular. My goats actually lick it up from the bottom of their feeders.

Gruffy, Randy, & Waldo

I buy the sulfur and copper sulfate from Alpha Chemicals. Their prices are excellent and so is their customer service. (They also sell ammonium chloride which is used to prevent urinary calculi in male goats, and citric acid, a necessity for making mozzarella!). I buy my kelp from Seven Springs Farm in Virginia. Again, excellent prices and customer service. Even with shipping the cost for a 50 pound bag is more reasonable than anywhere else I've been able to find.

While reading Pat's book about the lick, I happened to see the section on boron. It was the symptoms of boron deficiency that caught my eye - creaking knees. My two oldest goats (Surprise and Gruffy), in particular, had this. Since they get a loose goat mineral (Sweetlix Meatmaker Goat Mineral), a deficiency didn't occur to me. I thought the creaking knees and slowing down were due to their getting older. What I didn't realize was that my loose mineral mix doesn't contain boron. Even though we've been including boron in our pasture remineralization program, not all areas have been improved yet. But, within a couple of days of receiving the boron (as Borax), their behavior changed considerably - they went from plodders to prancers! What a difference! They get 1/2 teaspoon sprinkled on their feed once a week.

Surprise

In my mineral feeders I keep free choice Thorvin kelp, the Sweetlix, and baking soda. Now that I've cut back on grain my goats rarely touch the baking soda. They don't eat much of the Sweetlix anymore, either. Because I feed Chaffhaye, they do eat a lot of kelp (alfalfa being goitrogenic). The other thing I continue to give them is my own homegrown vitamin and mineral mix. They get a handful on top of their feed once a day.

All in all, I'm very happy with the condition of my goats. Coats are thick and soft, with no bald tail tips. I'll keep the mineral blend available but it's not disappearing as quickly any more, so this may be the right combination for us.

Tweaking the Goat Minerals © January 2015
by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Bay Window for the Living Room

We received an unexpected but wonderful gift for Christmas - the funds to do the living room window! Dan had extra days off over holidays, so we got an earlier than anticipated start on the project.

Old windows, original to the house - single glazed with no insulation
under the molding. The new energy efficient ones are in the corner.

The first thing we did was to take a trip to an area surplus building supply warehouse. We had decided that if we could find the right windows, then the bay window we wanted would be a go. Well, they happened to have recently gotten new stock and we found just what we were looking for - three new energy star rated windows (and for less than the cost of one at full retail price).

The next step was to take out the old windows.

It was a cold day and this promised to be a dusty job so we cleared
out the living room and covered what remained. Having doors for all
the rooms meant that all the cold and dust stayed in the living room.

As Dan feared, there was no header for the window opening. If you look carefully along the top you can see five studs spaced 16" apart on center.

Close-up of how the window opening was originally framed out.

A header would have supported the ceiling, but instead, the builder used the windows to prop up the opening. Not unsurprisingly, there was some sagging there.

With new header installed

Dan doubled two 2x6s with a strip of plywood sandwiched in between to make a new header. Having to do this meant having to rethink placement of the windows. We bought them the same height as the old, but the header decreased the opening by 5.5 inches. Lowering the opening at the bottom would mean having to cut the living room's cement board wall. The other option was the header as a beam effect. After finding several examples of this online, that seemed the simpler option.

Framing for the new windows

My original sketch showed only the windows projecting from the wall. Another option was to build it to look like a room bump-out. Bay windows are very heavy and are usually installed as one unit and attached to the house from above with cables. By building it like a bump-out, the weight of each window could be supported by it's own framing.

Here are a couple of close-ups for details:

How he framed out the top

Nailer on either side for siding and window trims

Next -

I'll paint the siding white for the time being, and then
do the final paint job once the entire porch is finished.

Dan stuffed every crack with either insulation or foam and then applied window flashing. The barnboard siding around the bottom is insulated with batting. He covered the floor with a vapor barrier and will also put down plywood cut to fit. This be covered with a window seat when we get to the interior.

Windows in!

This is a different style from what we've been putting in the rest of the house, but I like the picture window effect.

Siding up, trims installed, ready for primer and paint.

Like the front door, these windows brighten up the living room considerably. With the windows being energy efficient, I won't have to keep them heavily draped all the time. In fact, just yesterday evening Dan commented that this was the first time the living room felt warm in the six winters we've been here. In spring and autumn I'll be able to catch the lovely breezes because the front window is double hung with a screen.

The next step will be to prime and temporarily paint white. Then we'll get started on the inside. More on both of those here - "Progress on the Bay Window? Not Much".

Bay Window for the Living Room © January 2015
by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

2015: New Year & New Goals

Here's wishing everyone a very blessed 2015. As is our custom, we did not stay up till midnight. Nor do we make resolutions. Instead, we made goals. They are much more flexible than resolutions and more useful! Here are ours for the upcoming year.

House - finish the front porch. We accomplished quite a bit last year but still have a way to go. Up next will be replacing all the old windows with energy efficient ones; both those in the living room and the front bedroom. Then we can put up the new siding. Still under contemplation is replacing the porch ceiling. Finishing touches will be staining the decking and painting exterior, door, and trim.

Barn - the new goat barn still seems impossibly unattainable, but if we take it one step at a time we may eventually get there. The one thing we have definite plans to do is the branch removal I mentioned. Anything more depends on how far we get with the front porch.

Fences - this one makes the goal list every year because there is always something to fence, or there are fencing repairs to be made! There are several things we are hoping to focus on this year.

• Gates - we have three gates needing to be installed: two in for the garden and one at the bottom of the doe browse.
• Doubled fences for protected diversity - the idea here is to run a second fence about 4 to 6 feet parallel to existing fences. In between I plan to plant a perennial forest garden of fruit trees, shrubs, herbs, perennials, etc., that will help feed the chickens, pigs, and goats. Goats in particular will demolish things they like, but this way I hope they can gain nutritional benefit without destroying what I've planted. More on this soon. 
• We'd like for the goats and pigs to forage more in our wooded area. There are so many downed trees back there, however, that fencing would be difficult. We're considering setting up cattle panels to let them into the most accessible areas. The beauty of cattle panels is that they can be tied to trees for a temporary fence, but moved easily as required. 

Goats - Kinders only. Our days of different breeds and different sizes are about over. I tolerated the Nubians while trying to make Kikobians and Kinders, but they really aren't for us. Both Dan and I prefer the Kinder personality so much more. This also means Gruffy will need a new home, but I honestly think he'd be happier with goats his own Pygmy size. I know he gets tired of being picked on by all the bigger bucks.

Pigs - 2014 was our learning year for pigs. Not that we have it all figured out, but we've seen how useful they can be in preparing the soil. It confirms my original plan of rotating pigs, field crops, and pasture as part of our land stewardship cycle. Also, we should get baby pigs this year, which makes Dan happy 'cuz he loves his bacon and sausage.

Field Crops - Now that we have the pigs to help, we're hopefully looking at not having to plow anymore. At the most, the clay clods may need to be disced and the area dragged to make it smooth enough for the scythe or sickle mower. In addition to wheat and corn, I want to add root crops for field growing. Turnips and mangels or sugar beets in particular for the livestock, especially as I get away from grain for the goats.

Chickens - the chickens should really be able follow the pigs around. The pigs turn the soil, through which chickens love to scratch. Plus, they both need to be kept out of areas that are newly planted. We need a better gating system for this, however, so that we can direct the chickens to wherever the pigs are. For this we plan to expand the chicken yard, which will also facilitate expanding our chicken aided composting, another experiment we are pleased with.

Honeybees - I have my first hive and bees are ordered! More on that soon.

How about you? What plans do you have for the upcoming year?

2015: New Year & New Goals © January 2015
by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/