Sheep And Goat Club Farm Tours

V had us join a local sheep and goat club last year but we never made it to any of the meetings.  So when they had their farm tours yesterday, we thought we would go and see what was going on with the club.  

 Our first stop was at an Amish farm where the family ran a store/restaurant/cabinet making shop and had a few goats.  Their landscaping and flowers were beautiful. 

 You can't really tell from the picture but the tomatoes are woven through a corral panel.  J would like to try ours like this next year.  Maybe it would help keep the tomato jungle under control.

 They had flowers everywhere. 

 I think he said there were 31 goats total on the farm.   They started out with Boer goats but have switched to Kikos.  They felt the Kikos were more resistant to worms and foot rot.

 They had 3 billies.  These two were older, the white and brown one was 9 years old.  We had a wonderful dinner at the Amish Diner then on to the sheep stop. 

 These were new producers that have only had sheep for 2 years.  They have 10 acres and 21 ewes. 

 But they have a lot of equipment, fences and pens.  They had gotten 2 Great Pyrenees dogs six months before they got the sheep.  Then, when the sheep arrived they turned the dogs in with them and they attacked the sheep.  So now they have the dogs in a separate field and they got guard donkeys for the sheep.

 The highlight of the tour was the Roll O"Matic.

 It is a sheep/goat chute that will rotate and lay them on their side so the feet can be worked on.

After the tour the club president asked if they could tour our farm next year.  It will be a big contrast to all the equipment this farm had.  We have no goat specific equipment other than the hook attachment for J's catch pole.