Joyce Maynard, "Domestic Affairs"
When Mom and Dad were on a quest to find mates for the Boer doe and the Anglo-Nubian buck, they had the opportunity to go to commercial goat farms and observe the way things are done there. What caught Dad's eyes were the pens housing the goats, how squeaky clean and organized, made of top of the line construction materials. How Dad wished we could have the same set-up in our farm.
A commercial farm's goat house.
Ours is not a commercial animal farm (well, at least not yet) and technically it's just categorized as a "backyard farm". Without access to a solid financing, we must make do with what we have and put to good use whatever available resources we can get hold of.
The structure that houses our goats. Most of the time they're outside grazing.
When the time has come to move the goats out of their current grazing ground to make way for the plants that need to go there, Dad had to build a new house, a better home for the goats. Since the area where they can move about has been drastically reduced in size, the goats' house must be cozy and roomy enough that they won't feel the need to roam out far. Their food must now be brought to them instead of them looking for it.
The new house for our goats, constructed of materials already in the farm.
Taking into consideration what he saw from the commercial farms he had visited, Dad and his crew built our goats' house out of locally available materials. It may be a cheap housing unit, mostly made of wood and bamboo, but when it comes to comfort and function, our goats' new home is certainly at par, if not better than those found in commercial farms.
Inside the goat house.
My impression of the house Dad build for our goats is that it's cute, cozy and warm, unlike the sterile and cold vibe I got when I saw a picture of a commercial farm's housing units.
