Goat carts and donkey carts

[josephusminimus]

<img rel="lightbox" src="http://blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Goat-Man-with-his-cart.jpg" class="bbc_img" /><br /><br /><a href="http://blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu/?p=870">http://blog.dlg.galileo.usg.edu/?p=870</a><br />I actually think this is probably still possible.&nbsp; This, or donkey carts.&nbsp; When I was trying to figure out where my life and the lives of the cats was headed I gave it a lot of thought.<br /><br /><strong>Pack Goats for the Elderly and a Youngish Hermit</strong><br /><a href="http://sofarfromheaven.com/2011/10/12/pack-goats-for-the-elderly-and-a-youngish-hermit/">http://sofarfromheaven.com/2011/10/12/pack-goats-for-the-elderly-and-a-youngish-hermit/</a><br /><br />In part:<br /><br /><div>

<div><em>Feeding them would be no problem because goats will eat just about anything and thrive on it.&nbsp;</em></div><div><em>But a pack goat would provide a lot more mobility than a shopping cart for people living on the streets and under bridges, as well.&nbsp; A goat can go almost anywhere a person can, climb into places where a person would have a lof of problems climbing into.&nbsp;&nbsp; The ability to easily move residency out of the clusters of street people living under bridges would keep the owner out of police sweeps, out of reach predatory humans preying on the people living under those conditions.</em></div><div><em>&nbsp;</em></div><div><em>In fact, I&rsquo;ve been acquainted over the years with several people living in small house-wagons traveling around pulled by burro-power as a lifestyle and talked with them about it at some length.&nbsp; It strikes me a person with a willingness to walk alongside the contraption instead of riding in it might actually be able to construct a small, light house on an aluminum frame with bicycle wheels sturdy enough to carry everything it took to live, move without buying gasoline, big enough for four cats.</em><br /><br /><em>Something large enough to haul some luxuries such as a camp stove, some groceries, a place out of the weather, but small enough to get out-of-sight come nightfall.</em><br /><br /><div><em>Equipped with photovoltaic&nbsp;charged LED lawn lights to allow night reading, cooking, etc, a chuck box and a small gas fridge.&nbsp;&nbsp;Maybe a guy would have to move up to a pair of donkeys to pull it.&nbsp; But maybe not.</em><br /><br /></div></div>

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[offroad]

Wanting some pack Dolphins (Flipper) for my boat. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[josephusminimus]

When the Mormons were driven out of the midwest states and migrated to Utah the great majority of them went using push carts.&nbsp; Whole families of them living out of something not much bigger than shopping carts months on end across bad trails, mountains, river fords and desert.<br /><br />While donkey or goat carts might seem over the line at first glance, it seems to me that in areas with a lot of public land it has possibilities for a person who's not too picky about the company he keeps.&nbsp; I've known folks who actually liked goats.&nbsp; Donkeys too, for that matter.

 

[bk2valve]

GET OUT OF MY HEAD JACK!&nbsp; <img src="/images/boards/smilies/wink.gif" /><br /><br />I think we will definitely see this become a lot more the norm as fuel skyrockets in price....<br /><br />You and I are probably thinking of the two old geezers who used to travel the I25 corridor north and south with a couple donkey carts...? No?<br /><br />Here is an interesting unit along the same lines....<br /><br />http://store.kamprite.com/catalog/Midget-Bushtrekka-p-16143.html<br /><br />Bri<br /><br />

 

[josephusminimus]

<strong>Hi Bri</strong>.&nbsp; The one I knew best travelled between Springerville, AZ and Socorro NM, usually wintered in Socorro during the time I knew him.&nbsp; He wasn't much older than late-40s, early 50s.&nbsp; Might still be doing it.&nbsp; He parked his wagon and kept his animals winters on a vacant lot near where the Socorro flea market is held weekends.<br /><br />The other I one was less well acquainted with I'd encounter or see SW of Zuni and as far east as Grants.&nbsp; Evidently spent a lot of time on the Rez and in the Zuni Mountains.<br /><br /><strong>Hi Tank:&nbsp;</strong> I'd guess the legality would depend entirely on how and where a person did it.&nbsp; On public lands I don't think the law would mess with a person.&nbsp; In town it might be a different matter.<br /><br /><img rel="lightbox" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_aWggsm2OBK8/S8mriktLwBI/AAAAAAAAAeY/JKUVTLryXGU/s400/001.JPG" class="bbc_img" /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://pinayinpakistan.blogspot.com/2010/04/reyri-donkey-cart.html">http://pinayinpakistan.blogspot.com/2010/04/reyri-donkey-cart.html</a><br /><br />Family Vacations on Covered Wagon<br /><a href="http://www.mywesttexas.com/life/article_524ff5d0-0499-54d5-96c5-394d1cf0663c.html">http://www.mywesttexas.com/life/article_524ff5d0-0499-54d5-96c5-394d1cf0663c.html</a><br /><br />Whittled Down &ndash; Adventures in a Covered Wagon<br /><a href="http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/2010/07/06/whittled-down-adventures-in-a-covered-wagon/">http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/2010/07/06/whittled-down-adventures-in-a-covered-wagon/</a><br /><br /><br /><img rel="lightbox" src="http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Whittled-Down-Wagon-Dutch-Door-150x150.jpg" class="bbc_img" /><br /><br /><img rel="lightbox" src="http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/wp-c...7/Whittled-Down-Wagon-Cat-Comfort-150x150.jpg" class="bbc_img" /><br /><br /><br />Idaho company builds modern day covered wagons<br /><a href="http://green.blorge.com/2011/08/idaho-company-builds-modern-day-covered-wagons/">http://green.blorge.com/2011/08/idaho-company-builds-modern-day-covered-wagons/</a><br /><br /><img rel="lightbox" src="http://green.blorge.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Covered-wagon-on-tires.jpg" class="bbc_img" /><br /><br />Hansen Wheel and Wagon Shop<br /><a href="http://hansenwheel.com/products/custom_wagons/CoveredWagons.html">http://hansenwheel.com/products/custom_wagons/CoveredWagons.html</a><br /><br /><img rel="lightbox" src="http://hansenwheel.com/products/custom_wagons/images/P9031617.JPG" class="bbc_img" /><br /><br /><br />

 

[josephusminimus]

Incidently Bri, that Bushtrekka bike trailer's a thing to behold.

 

[josephusminimus]

A person seriously considering pack goats pulling a goat cart to live in would be well advised to visit the Pack Goat Forum and read the posts on Cart Goats.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.packgoatforum.com/viewforum.php?f=7&amp;sid=d6b6c98c93035899c2c70558e15e7bf2">http://www.packgoatforum.com/viewforum.php?f=7&amp;sid=d6b6c98c93035899c2c70558e15e7bf2</a><br /><br />Lots of good info here, also.<br /><a href="http://www.luresext.edu/goats/library/field/sharp09.pdf">http://www.luresext.edu/goats/library/field/sharp09.pdf</a><br /><br />

 

[bk2valve]

I like it! Great stuff!<br /><br />I am thinking that there must be more of those ol' boys Jack..or were. The ones I am thinking of were definitely older than that. One had a spot for the winter down on the old highway between Hatch and LC and the other one wintered in a lot next to the turn off from State Hwy 26 meets Hwy 180 near Deming....Nice to know there are more of them in the state. I think I heard that one had headed way north though. Niether of those I knew of are there any more. One of them would actually use the freeway shoulder where the old hwy was missing....<br /><br />These ol' boys each used one burro to pull and trailed one, tiny little covered wagons and one was squared away like and old sailor and one was more all rags, and ratty tarps....interesting....<br /><br />I love the idea though. I thought that with the current state of materials, you could do as you mention and build a very lightweight and strong cart.<br /><br />I can see that if the current crop of legislators keep hammering at SS instead of treating it as the inviolate entity it was intended as, I may have to do something like that if I want to travel. If "she who must be obeyed" boots my old, fat butt out someday it would be either that or Mexico....<br /><br />When we lived in Idaho I remember a woman who ran a packtrip tour thing out of Halfway, OR into the mountains there using a string of billy goats....she got them free and they were quite large...packed a good amount each....<br /><br />Bri

 

[angeli]

Jack,<br /><br />Thanks for posting those. &nbsp;I especially love the 'cat comfort zone'! &nbsp;<img rel="lightbox" src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" class="bbc_img" />

 

[Stillwater]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1577052/<br /><br /><img rel="lightbox" src="http://www.honeybadgerco.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/goat_seq1.jpg" class="bbc_img" />

 

[Rafe Covington]

I have a hunting buddy who built a horse wagon out of a used farm wagon, been living in it for about a year. He has 2 draft horses he pulls it with, says thats all he needs.&nbsp;He was a systems analyst for a large company got fed up&nbsp;and just walked away one day.<BR><BR>Rafe<IMG class="emoticon bbc_img" src="/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif">

 

[TxGypsy]

I spent a summer trying to figure out the logistics of living with/on a string of mules.&nbsp; The main reason I didn't do it?&nbsp; I figured that someone somewhere would be determined to stop me.

 

[highdesertranger]

well if someone was thinking of doing this to save money I will tell you this, &nbsp;owning a horse or mule cost about as much as owning a car.&nbsp; a donkey a little less.&nbsp; a goat a lot less but a goat is&nbsp;not going to pull or carry much.&nbsp; so you would need many goats and there goes the savings.&nbsp; imho it sure would be nice but its not very practical.&nbsp; highdesertranger

 

[Rafe Covington]

If I decided to do something I would just do it, practicality is not in the equation. If it doesn't work out you backtrack and try something else. If everything was judged on practicality alot of new ideas would never have been tried. JMHO<BR><BR>Rafe<IMG class="emoticon bbc_img" src="/images/boards/smilies/wave.gif">

 

[LucyImHome]

I can see animal rights people having a fit over this.&nbsp;

 

[highdesertranger]

lol horse drawn wagon a new idea.&nbsp; what&nbsp;I was just trying to bring up is that this is not very economical and if you are trying to travel from point a to point b not very practical.&nbsp; highdesertranger

 

[highdesertranger]

on a side note what happened to josephusminimus?&nbsp;&nbsp;I miss him. &nbsp;highdesertranger