Our New Goat Pen

Good morning.  And the fun begins.  The plan is to have a small farm here with some animals.  The first animals we want to get are miniature goats.  Mike had goats once before in NC but now I get to enjoy this new adventure:)

But first we need to make sure they have a safe enclosure.

Clearing and burning is an ongoing thing.  Just a couple of small piles to burn....and two years later we are still clearing and burning, lol..

The plan is to make a 90' x 90' pen for the new goats.  We are using Redbrand No Climb Horse Fence in the 100 foot rolls.  We will use wood poles on the corners and for the gate.  The rest will be t-post every 10 feet.  We used a string line to keep it all straight.  Mike using the t-post driver.

Mike and his fires.  Of course we cannot live without this tractor:)

For those who know us, you know we have done fencing before and usually we use a post hole digger.  We tried that here and with our soil/gumbo/clay or whatever you want to call it, that is not happening.  All that happens is you hit that mixture of soil and the post hole diggers stop and you can't get the clay stuff off.  So it's time for a new toy:)  We like toys.  This one is an auger made for our tractor.  Mike making sure we attach it right:)

Ooh this will be so much faster to dig a hole:)

We are going roughly 3 feet to set each wood post.  Eventually Mike and I worked out a system.  He controlled the auger from the tractor seat while I held onto the yellow bar to make sure it stayed straight while digging out the hole.  The worst part about this auger is if you catch a big root you better pull out.  There is no reverse on this so if you get stuck you need to manually and forcefully get it unstuck.  Ask me how I know, lol.

Our gate:

Our fencing came in 100 foot rolls, easier for Mike and I to handle.  This first round we unrolled one section on the outside of the t-posts and lifted up while temporarily tying to the t-posts until we stretch the fence tight and then clip each 10 foot section to the t-posts.

Using the tractor to pull the fence tight while Mike clips the fence to the t-posts.

This is the idea Mike came up with the pull the fence tight.  Since then we have improved but this was the first time Mike and I used solid wire fencing.  Since then we have improved:)

Stapling the fencing into the corner posts.

Of course a couple of trees are in the way and need to be taken care of.

Pulling the last corner and them Mike will staple it to the pole.

Our pen was 90 x 90 with one 6 foot gate.  Next the goats and eventually building the barn, at least the first one:)

I don't have a full picture from then of the whole pen but you will see it many more times when the goats get here:)

More to come tomorrow:)