Water

Over the past two years, I have become more water conscious as I have spent time at El Rancho.

Water, without which life on Earth cannot exist. Our bodies are about 60% water and water covers 71% of the Earth's surface, yet less than 3% of water on Earth is freshwater, and a lot of that is frozen. Most Americans have access to clean, fresh municipal water, so sometimes water doesn't seem so exciting, unless of course you live in a Texas town that is running out of water (Seventeen cities and towns are at critical water stages right now).

When we bought the first 19 acres of land, we were waterless-- no municipal, no well, no stock tank. In 2011, like most of Texas, we were in Stage 4 drought, thoughtfully labelled "exceptional" by the NOAA (I think they should have called it hellatious) and we could  hear trees cracking in the wind, which sucked the moisture right our of them. That was the year of horrible wildfires, including the destruction of the Lost Pines of Bastrop, Texas. This all happened before we had our livestock, and, in fact, delayed out entry into animal husbandry... what would they drink? Or eat? Definitely a brown summer.



While we built the perimeter fence, we drank pallets of water, sometimes working for ten minutes and resting for twenty. Finding someone to drill a water well or even get on a waiting list at that time was nearly impossible as everyone needed water, water, more water! When we brought our donkeys home in 2012, we first bought a used polypropylene container, which holds over 200 gallons. We trucked water from Brazos County. Then we bought more land with a well and trucked it a few hundred feet, later advancing to hundreds of feet of water hose. The friction in the water hoses slowed the flow down to a trickle, but it sure beat the heck out of toting water!

A couple of weeks ago, we rented a ride-on trenching machine and laid out water lines to all the established pastures, even going across the road and stubbing it off for the new pastures. So our water only had to travel through 25 or 50 feet of hose to a water tank. Finally, this week I splurged and bought $10 automatic water fillers for each pasture... Now we only need to ensure that the tank looks full and clean. I think of our water journey and realize how hard it was for folks in early Texas. If you didn't have a spring, you dug a well (by hand), or toted water from a river or stream that was maybe clean.

I am grateful for the good, tasty water in our well. So much better than muni water in Brazos County.  (That water has a lot of sodium in it, which makes washing soap off really difficult). The animals seem to like it, too, sucking up clean, cool mouthfuls.

Next on my water list is getting my own well drilled. Dan and I have already decided on a spot for the barndominium, so next is the well. Hopefully, we will tap into water like Danny has at his well. To increase our water security, we are considering running a line from one well to the other. Then, if one well goes down, we could tie in the other house to the other well.





On another note, Billy BA is busy in the middle pasture with the girls. We will be expecting kids in early December. This is Baby, a young doe who will be having her first kids this year. She was the first 'baby' goat we had at the place, bought as an afterthought at the Navasota auction. Although she wasn't born here, she has eartag number 00001. With her blue eyes and Billy's dark red cape, they are certain to have nice looking, stout kids!

Water, electricity, and MORE GOATS!

 When we bought the 14 acres next door, we knew there was an old well there, but the seller did not make any guarantees on it. The cost of drilling a well is really steep, so we hoped we would end up with a well that worked... The well house is long gone, but they had put cattle panels around the wellhead to keep out livestock and deer. The yaupon, however, had completely covered the area. After we closed on the land, Dan began cleaning up the area and found that the pressure tank looked fine, but we still had no electricity. He also found part of an old septic system with field lines.  In order to test the pump, we needed electricity, thus necessitating the services of an electrician. Doesn't sound too hard, right? Wrong!

I think Danny called two or three electricians who siad they would call him back and never did. You'd think there was no recession going on. I finally did phone-a-friend on TexAgs.com and "Dubi" came through with a great referral in Atlas Electric in Bryan.

I spoke with the owner and described what we needed and then an electrician worked with Danny on setting up a time. On Friday, he met with the electrician and we got a 200 amp box, two GFI weather resistant convenience outlets, and, more importantly, power to the well!  Danny called Bluebonnet Electric and the lineman came right out and connected power to our box. That afternoon,the Dans went out and started it up and the pump started pumping and the water started flowing! We needed about three dollars worth of plumbing parts and we were in business. Today, we ran the water into a gully for about an hour. The water is clear and cool and very tempting!  However, knowing that the well has been open a while, we are going to have the water tested before we taste any of its goodness. Having water and electricity places us much closer to Danny building his house! We also won't have to haul water for the livestock! Amazing how handy first-world utilities are!

Speaking of livestock, I've been scouring the Brazos Valley looking for does. I visited one place in Grimes County where the woman said she had 30 goats and needed to sell a couple to relieve overcrowding. Well, it was pretty crowded all right: eight cows, one bull, 30 goats of various breeds, ages, and sizes, seven turkeys, at least 50 ducks, two Great Pyranees guardian dogs, 12 guineas, three kittens, a llama, innumerable chickens, and a miniature weiner dog. Oh, yeah, and a macaw. All in one enclosure. Wow.  One Boer doe had two kids, just a few days old, and they were being trampled by large dairy goats. The woman remarked that one was limping. Well, duh! Needless to say, I let her know the next day that I didn't think they would fit into my herd.

At an impasse, I blindly contacted a guy with a $1000 buck for sale on Craigslist, asking for advice on where to buy does. He not only emailed me back, he gave me some leads on commercial breeders in Burleson County. I called one man who said he did not sell fewer than ten at $250 each because it wasn't worth his time. He suggested I go to Navasota  Livestock Auction.

Of course! I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner.  The auction is open most Saturdays and is well-attended. I went yesterday just for a little reconnaissance. I saw lots of goats, including goats that looked like they might fit into my herd. I hadn't planned to buy goats, but I did!  They sold at least 35 goats on Saturday, and I got five of them. The auction starts with goats (lucky for me!) and the first two out of the shoot were two white dairy goats from the Grimes County place I visited on Thursday! I saw the woman sitting down front. The next goat out was a very pregnant Boer with a nice udder and I was the high bidder for her. The woman turned around and glared. Guess she was mad I didn't spend money on her goats! I ended up with five does: the pregnant traditional one, a white spotted LaMancha cross (can't miss those ears! Oh, they ARE missing..), a pregnant Boer cross, a red Boer cross, and a traditional Boer doeling.  We picked them up on Sunday and left them in the trailer for a while, so they calm down from the highway ride. When I opened the door, they jumped right out, eager to eat and greet.

Jumping out at Asno Blanco

So now, time to plan the nursery. The new Boer looks ready to pop and should kid within the week. The agouti pygmies (I call them the Oreos) are both pregnant and are anywhere from 3 to 5 weeks out. I am pretty sure that the two young does I bought with Billy (Doll and Belle) were exposed in October. As for the others, only time will tell.

Finally, I contacted the State Veterinarian's Office and was issued a herd number for the Scrapies Eradication program. They will be sending me All-Flex eartags with my herd number and individual numbers. As soon as they arrive, I can start tagging the herd. My big question involves the LaManchas--- do I tag their ears?

Moving forward...

Things have been pretty quiet the last two weeks, but I've been busy planning. There are many things that need to happen in the near future in order for my beautiful goats to take up residence at El Rancho and start making more goats. The needs are not difficult, but they are needs and not wants:


Land
Fence
Water
Forage
Security


Once I have these five things nailed down, I can start buying goats!  I have the land (the most expensive piece, btw) so that's a great start.  The next two, fence and water, are 'in the works.' On water, I have spoken to two drillers and am planning to contact a third. I have never drilled a water well, so this is brand new territory. We've consulted people we trust, but still it's an unknown: How deep will they need to drill? Will the water be potable or have tons of iron or sulpher like LB's? Where should the well be located? Near the barndo or the future house?

On fencing, we have already done our homework and shopping. Fencing is not cheap! Sheep and Goat wire seems to be the best choice for the perimeter, using t-posts. That way, the escape artists will be foiled (hopefully!). For cross fencing, we plan to start out with electric fencing. That way we can wait and see what works, what size areas we want for rotation purposes. We found that Producer's Cooperative has the best price overall. Last week, I turned in my application to become a CoOp member. The board meets at the end of the month to decide on all of the applications they received. The State granted me a farm use sales tax waiver already, so.....Fingers crossed! It is a member-owned coop, so that means we share in the profits each year-- taxable income called patronage (We received a patronage check from Capital Farm Credit, which is where the land is financed).

Once I have fencing and water, we can start getting goats! We have sufficient. forage for them to eat without our having to feed them grain or pelleted feed each day. Probably need to keep some hay (large round bale) and plenty of fresh water. Last week, I received a gift box from Native American Seeds, sent by my friend Zynobia from Junction, Texas. She sent a variety of native grass seeds, including small bluestem and shade tolerant varaities and a Lady Bird wildflower seed assortment. I feel good about planting native grasses that are time-tested by Mother Nature.

So, once all that's done, I just need to find animals-- goats and a donkey. Right now I am leaning towards a donkey for goat security. Many goat farmers rave about the great job done by dogs, but a dog needs to be fed each day and a donkey can eat browse and hay like a goat (they are a little equine, but can live off browse like a goat). One of the smartest things I've done is join a couple of goat email groups. I'm starting to learn the ropes, figure out who's where in Texas, what the going price is for goats, and so forth. I'll be asking some of them for advice as I get closer to purchasing some does. For the donkey, there are hundreds which have been abandoned in the last couple of years, so hopefully I will be able to find a jenny with an amiable personality. Dan has pretty much nixed any discussion of llamas...

Water---

Owning land in the country that you plan to live on  is different than buying an 1800 square foot ranch-style in a cookie cutter neighborhood. Most city folks don't give a thought about water most days, but we will have to drill a well and keep our water potable. We have neighbors on two sides with different water in their wells. One has good, sweet water; the other has water full of rust!  I have contacted a couple of well drillers and can't wait to find out what they project on costs... probably a five-figure amount. 


Electricity is readily available on our property, so that's a wonderful thing! Plus, it's an electric co-op, Bluebonnet Electric.  But first, water.