The pics from yesterday's post.

[genlisae]

Starting off with the arms which are actually better today because I got bright just before I went back to bed this morning and took antihistamines. Go figure.



This is my left arm. The tiny lumps are way better today. The bigger ones that I some how managed to rupture (possibly by breathing. It really doesn't take much) are not and the general arm swelling is still there. The ones on my thumb are new though :/ and yes, I do have fuzzy arms. :P




Close up of right arm and that one I mentioned that I keep cracking every time I bend my wrist. You can see what is left of the tiny ones a bit better in this picture.




And this is the back of my right hand showing the little lumps that are still there. Also, I would like to point out that I have actually tanned in this picture. No, really. That is me with a tan.

Now on to way funner stuff.




This is the goat structure! (the thing with the blue tarp over it in the back is the main chicken coop, it needs a new roof which is still on the list to be done and the person you can barely see at the side there is my mommy) It has a 2.5 meter (8 feet) square foot print. Stands 2.3 meters (7 foot 6 inches) at the front and tapers down to 1.8 meters ( 6 foot 1 inch) at the back making it tall enough (barely) for Mathew to stand up in all the way through. This closest side (the one you can see in) is for the goats. the other side of the interior wall is for storage of their hay, grain, and other assorted supplies. There are still 3 doors to be added. One for the barn area and two (for easy storing of hay and grain) on the storage side which will fill in those seemingly large holes you can see on that side. Other than that it needs a raised platform added to the wall inside the barn area. The goats prefer to sleep elevated. I don't blame them. That platform is waiting on the donation of a few more supplies before it is completed and then we will be adding the doors.




Outside we have a very wide Blackberry.




And a nearly as wide Casper who stopped playing with the ball to come and have this picture taken. I actually think she was looking for more grain, but we will pretend she was posing so nicely for the camera. K?




Those really large concrete blocks I mentioned in my last post being put to use .. in this case to beg more grain. They weren't actually hungry, the grain is molasses coated though and they LOVE molasses. You can really see how wide Blackberry has gotten in this picture.

Yes they are on a gravel/sand ground. Two reasons for this. One it is drier than grass which here has a tendency to build up a really awesome (if you are trying to grow plants) heavy dark loam beneath it. That loam holds water well. Really well. Add in goat hooves walking on it and pretty soon you have grass with mud soup most of the year. This is bad for those hooves and can lead to hoof rot. The second reason is because goats are very susceptible to intestinal parasites and infections all of which LOVE to live and breed and multiply in grass. Goats are not naturally grazers. Yes, they can eat grass but are much more adapted to browsing, like dear. Trees, shrubs, brambles, all of those things are far more better suited to their diet than just grass which also explains why they are so susceptible to those parasites which live in grass. They did not evolve to deal with them.

The usual method of pasture feeding goats to keep them as healthy as possible requires acres and acres of pasture divided into several paddocks which the goats are rotated through every 30ish days using a chemical dewormer about once a month as well. We do not have acres and acres of pasture. So, we have gone the less traditional, but still perfectly viable route of a mixture of a dry paddock and feed a combination of hay and browse (in the form of blackberries, bamboo, wild roses and other assorted edible shrubs, trees and bushes which we have in abundance). This means we do not need to use a dewormer anywhere near as often as well because the goats simply are not in an environment conducive to the worms (and other parasites) completing their life cycle and reinfecting the hosts. The goats don't care what they walk on they can run around and bounce just as well on dry ground as they can on pasture and I like that I haven't had to deworm them yet (based on fecal testing of worm load. It is actually lower now than when we got them).




And this is the view from the storage side over the wall into the barn side with bonus Casper butt (still looking for that grain they hadn't gotten yet!)




And Blackberry showing that while the wall is short enough they can see over it, they can't jump over it. She was standing up as tall as she could for this picture.

And yes, they did get their grain, right after this pic was taken. :P