The Recycled Goat Collar

And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot.  Deuteronomy 29:5

It is very interesting to me that when God led the Israelites out of Egypt and on to Canaan that he miraculously made all their stuff last.  Their clothes and shoes never wore out!  Our stuff does.  Most every morning, we pray that things that we own will not break and that we're able to keep ahead of maintenance issues on our home and homestead.

We try to 'stretch' things to make them last.  We save things that break.  Before throwing away items, we rob any reusable parts off of them.  Tricia told me that her Dad was like that as well.  She came in today and told me, "My Dad would be proud of me if he was here."  I asked her why.  She said, "I'll show you."  She went outside and got a piece of a cow halter.  It had worn out, but there were still usable parts on it.  This piece below is part of the strap and buckle that went under the cow's jaw.  We cut that piece off.

Tricia told me that one of the goats (Mocha) did not have a collar.  Goats can be like bad kids.  You need to have a way to grab them and hold on to them and pull them one way or the other.  A goat collar runs somewhere between $4.99 to $13.00, depending on where you get it.  Tricia told me that we could make one for free.  (We had done it before).

A piece off of an old cow halter

Maybe you have a bowl or a jar like this?  This is on my work bench.  It contains a plethora of nuts, bolts, screws, springs, parts and pieces.  If you dig around in it long enough, you could find a wheel bearing for a 1957 John Deere tractor.

To put our reconfigured goat collar together, all I needed was to drill a hole in both ends of the old cow halter.  Then I fished out a carriage head bolt and nut from the 'junk bowl and fastened it together.  Then I got my grinder and ground off the end of the bolt that was sticking out.  This is some red neck engineering, for sure.

But it found a new life as a goat collar.  I put it on Mocha this afternoon, and I think she wears it well.

A repurposed collar for the goat.  Price: $0.00  I like that price point!