Experimenting with Goat Hobbles

So, while exploring Pinterest and checking out different blogs about farming and homesteading, I found a little gem called Granny's Best. It's a lovely blog following the adventure of owning and operating a Goat Dairy and Creamery.

While I was exploring and pinning from the blog, I came across a really cool idea to help with does that kick and jump around on the milk stand: velcro goat hobbles.

I've never heard of hobbles before and especially not this way of making your own. Goat hobbles are like handcuffs that go around the goat's upper back legs to keep them from moving. These velcro ones are made from cattle leg bands.

I was so excited! I have one especially difficult doe who is due soon, and I entirely related with the story on the blog. So I immediately ordered a set of ten (neon pink!) leg bands from Amazon.

When the package came in the following tuesday, I had forgotten all about the hobbles. There were chores to be done and other projects to take over my thoughts. But when I opened the box and saw the leg bands my excitement was renewed.

Our milkstand that my Daddy built. Roomy enough to fit two does. We use a lead rope to tie the goats off.

I went out to the barn and prepared the milk stand for its first usage in a few months. Then, I dragged in our stubborn, very round doe Dolly.

The way these velcro hobbles work is two bands around the legs are bound together by another band in between. I figured I would strap one not too tightly around each back leg just above the pastern, then strap those two bands together.

Bad idea!

I wrestled with my doe, holding her legs still, forcefully pulling her back up when she laid down, strapping the bands too loose and yelling at her when she popped them off. It was a bad experience for both of us.

I threw my hands in the air. Forget it! We'll just butcher her in the fall. (Our usual angry response to naughty critters. :P)

Dolly

I went inside. I visited Pinterest. I went outside. I did some gardening. I refilled the rabbits' waters. Then, I went back out to the barn to try the hobbles again.

I figured I would start with a much more chill goat. My wether Dobby, who we really are butchering in the fall, is also known as Chillax because of how laid back he is. What I forgot is that he doesn't have a collar, has never been tied off before, and panics when he's alone. He just seems laid back in the comfort of his pasture and herd.

After noticing his lack of collar, I retrieved the lead rope we use to tie goats to the stand and looped it around his neck, clipping it to itself. That's when any semblance Dobby had to his alter ego "Chillax" was gone.

Dobby

He hated the idea of being lead. He refused to move, forcing me to either drag him or push from behind, then he'd jolt forward randomly, going exactly in the wrong direction. When I finally got him on the stand he danced around like a tap dancer, stomping and never standing still. I gave up. I dragged/pushed him back into the pasture.

Goodness, I just realized what I bad person this makes me sound like. Hopefully fellow goat people understand. Please?

Okay, it's time to do what I should've done from the beginning. I go fetch my best doe and kindest milker Raini. She actually squats when i touch her udder which makes milking that much easier.

The lead rope I used on Dobby is usually tied o the milk stand at a perfect length to hold the goats where they need to be and not allow the goats to move, but when I walked Dobby out, I had to use the lead rope, and when I brought in Raini, I switched the lead rope to her.

As I walked up the center aisle of the barn, my best doe at my side, I watch from the other end of the barn our miniature pony walk in through that gate, into our open feed room, and from there into the adjacent chicken coop!

Jazamin

I hurriedly tied the goat to the milk stand, allowing a long length for her to move around with. I run into  the feed room and I hear a noise behind me. The goat jumped off the milk stand and couldn't move because she was still tied to it at an awful angle. But she's not choking. So she isn't the priority.

I chase the pony into the coop, and when I enter I slow down. The pony is more or less scared of us and we've been keeping her in our backyard. Also , we keep a halter and lead rope on her for easy, gentle catching. Just grab the lead rope off the ground.

I do so, and as I walk the horse back to the backyard I see Dobby, back in the barn, heading in the same direction. Ugh! I had left that gate open, too.

I led the horse into the back yard and preceded to chase down, grab, and drag by the horns that darn goat. It sounds mean, but please, you have to understand, there was no other way! It's hot outside, the heat of the day in the prairie sun, and my stress and frustration levels were skyrocketing.

I finally get Raini back on the milk stand properly, and we actually have a nice time. She ties off without a problem, just stands there. I treat her to a little sweet feed and touch her udder. She squats for me. I love this goat.

I play with the cattle bands for a while, trying to figure out a faster way to get them on the goat. Then, I got it.

Instead of tying them first to the goat's legs then together, prepare the middle link by making it into a loop, about an inch, inch-and-a-half in diameter. Then strap that loop to the first leg. Then to the other leg. Wa-lah!

Getting it on the second leg is harder because the goat doesn't want to bring it's legs so close. You could make the middle band wider, but the wider it is, the more motion it allows the doe. Another mistake I made was attaching the hobbles just above the pastern. They really need to be above the hocks.

So it all worked out for the best. I walk my best doe back out to the pasture and decide to take some pictures. I realize I left my camera at the milk stand and run back to get it, leaving the gate open. When I turn back, Raini is gone!

She had made a quick run for the rabbitry (where I had left the door open!) while my back was turned. Ugh.

Oh well, all's well that ends well. And it did end well. All the critters were put in the proper place, the hobbles were figured out, and I walked around the barn and closed all the gates and doors.

So, lessons learned:
          1) Always have patience. If it's going to happen, it will. Don't get so frustrated.
          2) AND ALWAYS CLOSE THE BARN DOORS! Lol. For real, though.

-Katie

A Small Lesson in Space Management

While doing farm chores today, I noticed something I always saw, always liked, but never thought about. We are so busy, going about our chores, dreaming up bigger and better plans, finding ways to make those plans fit onto three acres. We fret about how to fit everything together, and as it comes together, we forget to take notice of just the beautiful way it all works out. Space is multipurpose, amenities tucked into tight places instead of roomy orderliness.

Asparagus grows tall at Heart of the King Farm.

The thing is… it's working out amazingly. It seems no matter how hard we dream, we are provided the perfect solution, the perfect way to make it happen. And I can't imagine how I've let such a blessing go unnoticed. But I realize it now, and I'm so thankful. So, so thankful.

I realized all this looking at our storm cellar. Living in tornado alley, we have a very necessary, but not so pretty cement cellar that is half in and half out of the ground. It was an eye sore, and in the way.

So we put it to work.

Grapes hang from the trellis for easy picking.

Built around the cellar is a tall raised bed where we've grown asparagus, carrots, garlic, rosemary and other vegetables and herbs over the years. Right now it just grows asparagus and grass. Lots and lots of grass.

An old cattle panel bent from one end to the other created an arched trellis, perfect for climbing underneath and picking sweet, delicious grapes--- if you get to them before the birds! They pick them off right when they turn purple and kindly leave us with… a couple.

"After all," Mama Bird says to Baby Bird, "Humans need to eat, too."

Harkness keeps an eye on things.

On one end of the raised bed we keep a small cage and a rabbit that we let out during the day. He is so adorable, hopping to and fro, nibbling on the grass! Just like a rabbit should.

It is humbling to see what amazing work goes on around you, through you and into the farm everyday, and we can be so busy we hardly notice. It's about time I open my eyes and be thankful for all that I have and am constantly given. It's a miracle. It truly is.

…And doesn't that open space beneath the grapes look like a great place for a bench? Another dream we just might squeeze in. :)

-Katie

Bonus: The Small Story of the Killer Birds

This is the story of how I died. (Lol, if you get this reference, go you!)

The morning started out like any other: a glass of chocolate milk, changing from my pajamas into real clothes, stepping out into the morning sun, watering rabbits and moving their tractors, and then I went to take photos for this blog post. 

That's when the horror began.

I took some pictures of the cellar, of the asparagus, of the rabbit (ain't he adorable!). Then I climbed onto the top of the cellar to take pictures of the grapes.

I'm running out of room on my camera, so I'm carefully picking out different bunches of grapes, trying to get a good close up… and I start to hear a weird grumbling sound. Hmm, weird. I keep taking pictures and then I hear a weird grumbling and a pa-caw! I look around and on a t post behind me is a mocking bird.

But it's just a bird. So I go back to taking photos and I find this:

See those twiggy things? It's a nest!

When I realize this, I look back over at Mama Bird. I hear another pa-caw and out of nowhere a second mockingbird (the Daddy?) comes out of nowhere and rushes at me! I screamed and ducked, but the bird stopped before he hit me and turned around to sit on the fence with his companion. 

Okay, so they won't actually hit me, right? I'm good. I keep moving around, checking to see if any grapes might actually be ripe-- of course there were none, those birds were eating them!

I here more grumbling, a couple more pa-caws! I look over to see both birds bulletin towards me, beaks first. I pulled my camera against my chest and jumped out from under the droopy vines one arm clutching my camera and one arm swinging wildly trying to scare them away.

Forget it bird! You can have my grapes!

Well, for now. The birds never followed through on their attack, so they aren't vicious, right? And they were just protecting their young. So, we think we're going to hang up some shiny cds, scare them away.

Maybe we will then be free of this horror!

-Katie 

(for real this time)