My mini farm is developing..

[Kittikity]

I have finally worked off my three does who are still at the goat farm until I finish their pen and fencing.. All three does are bred, but they came into season so close together that their due dates are 3/22, 3/24, and 3/26.. I am so going to have my hands full that week.. I am already planning a rack to hold multiple bottles.. I could end up having anywhere from 3 to 12 babies born! I'll be bringing my girls home just as soon as I get their housing finished..

Here are pics of what I had done yesterday of their housing.. First pic is what is going to be their shelter.. Its 10X10 and I'll be putting a tarp over it and angling it so any rain runs off the back.. The whole pen is a 30X10 cement pad but the floor of the shelter side will be plush with straw..
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm73/Kittikity/goats/10X10shelter.jpg

The next two pics are of the gates I made all by myself.. I took pics of both of them because I'm very proud of them.. Thanks to Patti for her raised beds video because it showed me to pre-drill the wood.. If I hadn't pre-drilled, it wouldn't have been so easy to do or gone so well.. Gate 1 will go into the pen and gate two will go into their fenced area..
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm73/Kittikity/goats/gate1.jpg
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm73/Kittikity/goats/gate2.jpg

The third pic is of the right side of the fence line.. I pounded in more t-posts today (my hands are sore) but still have about 5-9 more to go.. Have to go buy more first.. The first wood post in the pic only went in 2ft (think we found the septic tank) so it will have to be braced.. Going to have hubby help me do that his next day off.. The bunch of trees to the left are black willow and will be inside the fenced area.. The goats are going to love chewing on those..
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm73/Kittikity/goats/fencelineright.jpg

Don't have any rabbits yet but will sometime in January.. I was going to get american chinchillas but that has been postponed.. So instead I'm going to start with red new zealand rabbits! New zealands are a common meat breed but the reds are much harder to find.. Here is a good pic of a nice red new zealand.. I love that color!
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_PlIdnGcCEaw/Rr0xEHpWUVI/AAAAAAAABAE/zG52uoKEt94/IMG_3751.JPG

Hopefully the american chinchillas won't be postponed for long though.. Here's a nice pic of one..
http://www.rabbitgeek.com/actable.jpg

I've been so busy getting the goat area done that I haven't done any more with my raised beds.. So no new pics of that..

But that's it for now on my mini farm.. I'm getting there!

Edit to add: I need a part time job to get all these projects done.. lol

[gardengirl72]

Kitti, I am sooo happy for you. Your homestead is going to be fantastic. I think the goats can bust out of those gates though.

I can't wait to see you red rabbits. What a great idea! Chinchilla's are sooo soft.

Are planning on meat rabbits, or just for poo?

Can't wait for more!

[Kittikity]

If you mean the goats will get out because of the spacing on the gates, the gates will also have wire fencing on it.. When I get the wire fencing.. = )

The rabbits will be for meat, poo, show, nutritious occasional treat for the dogs, and I also want to learn to tan the hides to make things from them.. And stress relief, of course..

The first rabbit meal I want to make is rabbit pot pie.. *drooool* Never made a pot pie from scratch though so gonna have to ready up on that first.. But just thinking about rabbit pot pie... Oooohhhhh....

Did you actually mean the chinchilla animal? There's also a breed of rabbit called chinchillas, named because of their grey coloring like the chinchilla animal.. Actually, there are three chinchilla rabbit types.. Standard, american (medium sized), and giant (largest)..