Building a suitable house for our goats Part 1

They day it is more fun in the Philippines! Balay Kanding

We have started a ministry to the very poor in our area of the Philippines. 

The idea:

• Give a doe goat to a family as goats require very little care as they will eat most anything.
• They find a sire for the goat and after she gives birth, they give us back a doe out of the first lot.
• The return of the first girl baby keeps the ministry going.
• The family can sell any subsequent kid goats for between $20 and $40 each or 1000 to 2000 pesos.
• The momma goat can be milked. Goats milk is, many times better for human consumption than cows milk.
• Our area has no dairy. Goats milk is delicious and nutritious.
• We are going to try our hand at making goatcheese. 
• The recipient family can eat the goat, providing necessary food for the family. 

So so now we have 14 goats. Out of the 14, four of them are only a few days old. We also one doe that will give birth soon. 

This post is about our preparations as we make a traditional design goat house. The Filipino Way!

The one modification we will have a metal roof. Coconut lumber, bamboo floor and sides.

The following video is of a local guy with a Stihl 077 chainsaw with a 40 inch blade. I had two very tall coconut trees. They cut the trees and then made boards to our list of required deimensions. I know we lose some potential boards to the saw curf, but if you go to a mill, sometimes your wood comes pretreated with termites.

 

As you can see this guy is pretty talented! Freehanding he makes some nice boards. This lumber made from coconut trees is super, super heavy. It does not require drying before use. It is also very hard! They cut the boards a genuine 2 x 4 inch board, not the 1 1/2 inch by 3 1/2 inch seen in the states!

The other thing I have acquired is some very long and pretty straight bamboo. The goat is already trying it out! She heard I was putting in bamboo floors so she doesn’t have to sleep in the dirt.

A couple of photos of our latest additions. One black doe with to kids! Two white does with one kid each. One cute cream colored one.

We are excited because we found the first recipient of one of our goats. A couple that got married last year and will have their first child in April! Our hopes are this will help them in the ways described above. Also they will know someone cares and it will speak of God’s love!

The little kids here (and not so young) call me Daddy William!

God bless!
Thank you so much for reading and commenting!