"Queen" of the hill

Queen of the Hill

Herd dynamics, for me, is fascinating. I have two does that are always duking it out for position as Queen. Momma has always been my queen. She is a 3 year old Oberhasli mix that was brought home as our 2nd goat in Fall of '09. She is by far my most personable goat. She is always wanting to be in your business and HAS to know what going on. By far my most vocally diverse goat. I can tell whats going on in the back yard simply by how she sounds. 
Fancy Is a 6 year old Boar/Nubian mix. She is my largest goat and was brought here with 2 kids in December of 2011.  She is very shy, will ONLY come to you if you have food THAT SHE CAN SEE and she knows youre handing it out. She'll stand on her tip toes, reach out her neck out as far as she can, then wave her tongue and lips in her desperate attempt to grad the food from hands. She is sweet once you have her and will stand to have her feet clipped.. But stubborn as a mule this one.

When Fancy came to live with us Momma was standing herd queen. She had her side kick, our buck at the time, and her 8 month old buckling always around. Fancy just didnt question it and shied away from the herd. Come March I decided to thin the males out of the herd and sold Fancy's kids, Mamma's 3 kids and the buck. It was just Momma, Fancy, and a couple bottle bucklings. Momma and Fancy bonded over the next couple months, but Momma still let Fancy know her place..
May comes and I find a new addition to add to the herd, Shyanne. This is the first time I had ever seen Fancy "buck up" on anyone. She was pushy with the new addition, but still, Momma would not let Fancy take lead. Finally one day Momma was just being nasty to everyone. Shyanne was due to kid at any time and I didnt want her to get rammed and abort. I put Momma in a pen where she could still everyone. After about a week I let her back out and her and Fancy had at it.
I can always tell when Momma and Fancy are going at it. Ill here Momma's "Battle Cries" and a BAM as they hit heads. After a couple days on bickering on and off Fancy had won the spot of Herd Queen.
...But it didnt come without a chip on her shoulder.
Fancy was not quick to forget how bad Momma had treated her. Fancy was just plain nasty. She still is. There are times shell just run up to Shyanne and ram her down to the ground or just chase her from food trough to food trough not letting her eat. Some days Ill have to lock Fancy away from the herd because she is being so rough.
The last few weeks Momma has decided shes had enough. I have seen Momma and Fancy go at it more than I ever have. Fancy has become increasingly aggressive towards her.. Just the other day I saw her chasing Momma around and around the goat barn, Momma hollering the whole time.
I dont think it will be long before Momma takes back her rein and brings the herd out of the Dark times Fancy has brought upon them...
(haha, I so look at it as a Camelot type setting) 

Back in Action

Hey guys, its been a long long time. I took ill for awhile and life got crazy and off track so my little "hobby" got put on the back burner.
Now that both the boys in school I have found a lot more quiet, unfilled time. I find myself more and more wanting to get back into my hobby.

Since we are planning on taking advantage of the housing market and trying for a larger home with more property I'm going to be giving this place a frugal "face lift".  Since I am not willing to part with my goats, chickens, turkey, dogs or cats I am going to have to design the property so it looks appealing and easy to use.
I will try my best to do as much research on my projects, take as many pictures as possible, and give a detailed report back.

Things to look out for in the future:

• Building a dry stone wall for a small flower garden
• Amending red clay
• Building a new back porch
• Dissembling and redesigning a chicken coop into a goat house, recycling as much wood as possible
• Building a wattle fence

And maybe I will throw some in-home projects in there as well 


I also will keep yall updated on my animals lives. Anything from illness to birthing to anything else I come across!

How to take pallets apart

About 2.5 million pallets end up in land fills EVERY YEAR!
That is A LOT of free wood!

I found an ad on craigslist stating they had 14 free pallets. I had my SO go by and pick up as many as he could. Many places having them laying out by dumpsters. I have also found out big box companies (walmart, homedepot, lowes, Tractor Supply Co, etc) send theirs back to the warehouses for reuse.

I was reading around on the internet how to take them apart and came across a post saying use a crowbar. I tried this for a very long time and was not getting anywhere, I mean NO WHERE! My SO came out and simply took 2 hammers and showed me..

The pallets:

 

Step One:

Take the claw end of the hammer and fit is as best you can between the wood
(sorry for the poor pictures, my camera was acting up that day..)

Step Two:
Hit the head of the hammer that is fitted with a second hammer

Step Three:

Once the claw has wedged under there enough to raise the nails a little stop

 

Step 4:

Hammer the top of the board (not the nails) back down

This is what it should now look like

 

Step Five:

With the claw end of the hammer pry the nails out

You should end up with a nice pile of wood to do many things with! Im planning on making a goat shelter with the wood Im gathering now! Pieces I cant use I am using as a divider between the gardens and grass.

Have fun!