November 2010
It has been a pretty slow month on the farm as we head into winter... We got our annual delivery of manure. This year we got about 10 yards of composted manure off of craigslist. Originally, we were planning on rototilling this into the garden.. however it got late in the season and we decided to wait until spring. Nothing like 5 tons of frozen manure to dress up the landscape.
It has been a pretty slow month on the farm as we head into winter... We got our annual delivery of manure. This year we got about 10 yards of composted manure off of craigslist. Originally, we were planning on rototilling this into the garden.. however it got late in the season and we decided to wait until spring. Nothing like 5 tons of frozen manure to dress up the landscape.
As the weather gets colder, we usually close one of the back doors on the goat barn in an attempt to keep
the cold out. This year our Nubian buck, Fred, decided he didn't like that and ripped to door right off the
hinges and bashed the panel into a two pieces. The lesson here is to build the goat barn with every aspect
able to withstand direct attack from a 175 pound goat.... After building the barn originally along the same
lines as a standard shed, I ended up reinforcing every single door and structure within, so if you are
contemplating a goat barn... triple strengthen everything, these guys are very tough on it.
Here is our barn door broken in half and hinges pulled out by Fred. I orginally had three light duty hinges on
this, with a "hook and eye" closure on the inside. The door itself is made of half inch OSB, with 1" PT pine
edging. I made both these doors with leftover scrap wood from another project. Net result = NOT
SUFFICIENT
Because I am cheap, the repair was also made with scrap wood I had lying around. The inside of both doors was
braced with multiple 2X4s, I spliced the door panel back together with a piece of 1X8 PT pine, and put a few
more pieces on there to further stiffen up the door. I also put one extra heavy duty hinge on each door at
approximately "goat ramming" height. I also replaced the hook and eye closure (which was ridiculously puny)
with a pair of "old timey" brackets that hold a 2X4. This is something that Grizzly Adams would use to keep his
cabin door closed... and this should work.
Anyway, as a test, I locked Fred inside and he hammered away at it for about 30 minutes until he gave up... so I
can now officially declare... mission complete! Here is a video of Fred trying to bust it down in vain.