Goat Barn: Plaster, Interior & Goats!

The last few months have been very busy with family visits. We rushed to finish the goat barn before Tal’s sister arrived, so that she could try out the new shelter first. After she left, we had to get cracking with the rest, since we had two goats waiting to join our homestead.

We started with plastering the walls. I used a lime plaster, applying only one layer. It is quite a simple plaster, basically only sand and lime—the same mix I used for the Octagon, but without the cow manure.

Once we finished plastering I started working on the outside fencing. We planned for the goats to have a small, permanent outside enclosure that connects to the barn. This will enable us to have the goats in one place close together, when that is required. In addition, they will have a larger pasture encompassed by electrical fencing, so that we can rotate the browsing sites. We are still waiting for the fencing to arrive, which will complete this project.

For the interior, I decided to use a compartmentalized design we had encountered in our previous goat endeavors. The lower part of the barn is the goats’ indoor living space, complete with a trough for hay/branches. The next compartment is the milking area. This has a deck for the goats to stand on while being milked. They have a feeding trough here as well, so that they can eat while being milked. The last smaller compartment is for us to access the feeding trough and to enter the barn.

Finally, we were ready for the goats! We drove down to the center of Portugal to pick them up from a Belgian family who had raised them lovingly until then. Adina (“gentle” in Hebrew) is the older one, about 2.5-years old, with the red/brown coat. Lua (“moon” in Portuguese) is about 6-months old, with the beige coat. They are both pregnant, due in the next few months, and Adina is still giving milk from her previous pregnancy—so Haffy and Ella have both had a chance to practice their milking skills.