A goat! A goat! A goat! Yippee!!!!

[gila_dog]

Aw, now you went and did it. You got me started talking about my goats!!!!

Goats are about the coolest critters around, maybe only dogs are cooler. I've got 3 wethers (neutered bucks) that are my packgoats (like llamas). They carry camping gear on wilderness trips. Here's a pic of Apache with his pack on a trip last summer.

 

[picklespickles]

oh HEY i'm trying to get my trained like that, too. i have one for sure whose a keeper no matter what and i think she would be way cool for hikes. i think it would be hysterical to put a chihuhuha on each side of the pack. lol.

 

[picklespickles]

yours doesn't look horned. how do you deal with dogs on the trail or if things go bump in the night. are they able to protect themselves? do you leave them loose so they can run if necessary while your'e asleep or ?

 

[gila_dog]

They stick close to me. I am their protection. But, yes, I do worry about predators, especially dogs. When we are camped out, I put a bell on one of them. That way I can tell if they are getting too far from camp and then I go and get them. Also I have a wonderful dog, Petie, who is heeler x German shepherd. He is always patrolling around sniffing for any kind of intruders.

By the way, you could stuff lots of chihuahuas into a goat pack. Next year when my guys are full grown they will be able to carry about 40 lb each.

 

[picklespickles]

so the dog is their protection then too. okay. do you camp at night?

 

[gila_dog]

Sure I camp at night. We go out for a week at a time sometimes.

You mentioned that your goat is a she. That's good because you could have milk, and make yogurt, while you're camping out. But if she has a big swinging udder that could be problem.

 

[picklespickles]

i'm not trying to be picky, i'm just trying to understand what you do at night. at night, when you're asleep, do they run free? do you tie them? or ?

 

[quadcam79]

Just to add as far as the bucks go, I cant say from experience, I've never owned a goat. like I said I was doing research about possibly getting a few and I was reading up on them and figured I can pretty much trust what I read from a goat farm. Like any other animal each individual is a little different I just wanted to give an overall warning so someone didnt end up with a problem.

I'd like to get two pygmy does but I dont know that I really have the room for them or the time to go milk them twice a day.

 

[Haviris]

Horns aren't really much of a help when it comes to dogs anyway. My doe Chaney is my only naturally polled doe and she bites! Never seen her bite a dog, but when she's fussing at another goat, she will go in like she's going to butt heads and then turn her head up and bite them on the ears. I've been hoping for a polled doe kid out of her (last year she had twin bucks, both horned), but sadly she aborted this year, triples and one was a doe, no way to know if she would have been polled. If she recovers enough we may try for fall kids, but most likely I'll just have to wait til next year. I wish all my does were polled.

 

[picklespickles]

my horned goat knows how to use his horns on everything including dogs. he's just not the one i think is responsbile enough right now to bring. just trying to figure out the parameters.