Any one have Sheep or Goats?

[AppleCrisp]

Thanks

 

[Chatychick]

I have goats and cattle and horses...dont do sheep ...to me they are more trouble than goats and I love my goats. I raised orphaned sheep when I was younger and it was so hard to let them go when it was time. Bottlefeed sheep are more tame but not always. Goats on the other hand are so much sweeter and like Sunny and Helmsted said they are social creatures so you would need more than 1. I started with 3 and now have over 30 with more due in a few months... they are very addictive and you can get goats that you can use their hair , Angora goats. Dont have any of those I have Nigerian Dwarfs and Pygmy mix. I do have dairy goats which are the Nigerians and I do have a Alpine doe. The milk is good and they are great company too. I do have a dairy cow too. I think its just a matter of preference and what you really want to raise and take care of. Good Luck in your choice.

 

[rdranch]

Goats make wonderful pets. We got two for the horse to have some companionship. They were brother and sister. We got just before they were fuuly weaned and bottle fed twice a day for a few weeks. It helped us to bond with them and they became very friendly. However the male"Buddy" was fixed before we took delvery. As a wether he was very friendly and affectionate. We had to put him down 2 1/2 years later. He developd stones in his urethra that caused his kidneys to literally blow out. This also happened to a friend of mine but they were able to catch it early eoungh and had a vet that knew how to deal with it. Recently I heard that this is caused by having them fixed to early in life. It is best to wait until they are at least 6 months old so their bodies mature. This seems to prevent complications such as this later in life. I wish I had known this earlier as losing Buddy was very hard for us.

 

[Henrietta23]

Quote:
If you go to my member page (Henrietta23) there is a picture of my son with Adam, our friend's neutered male.

 

[turnerstar31]

Hello I have both sheep and goats. I have Pygmy goats and a mix flock of sheep. I have tunis sheep which are a hertige breed and are on the endangered list. If you are looking into sheep I would suggest the tunis (a little bias lol) they are a very interesting breed because they have red faces and they have decent wool. You need to sit down and know exactly what you want to do with the wool. Some breeds are better for spinning than others. You also need to look at the sizes and how much you are willing to spend on them. If you have the money tunis can be found depending on where you are for a resonable price. If you are looking for a smaller breed that I would maybe reccommend babydoll sheep. They have pretty good fleece for spinning and I have heard that they are pretty docile. However they are a little more expensive and hard to find. If you are into spinning I think the best fleece is from columbians but they can be a bit of a handful. My sheep are pretty good except when you want to do things with them such as trimming their feet etc and than they go nuts. However you get the grain bucket out and they will come up to you and nearly run you over for it. So like I said you need to figure out what you want to do with the fleece and decide on a size because some of them such as suffolks are pretty big compared to others. My main suggestion is sit down and research the different breeds and even if there are people around you that you know that have sheep ask them questions.
Here are some photos of my sheep

 

[lacyloo]

goats are kewl pains in the butt but kewl

 

[AppleCrisp]

Thanks. For me personally I'm looking for pets.

I will keep looking, hopefully it will all work out.

Lovely sheep by the way, such cuties!
I think I might think about goats a wee bit more... hmmm.

 

[ksacres]

If you want just a PET- get a wether (castrated male) of either species-no hormonal issues, they make excellent pets. Try to find ones that have been bottle raised and bonded on people. If you want to produce a product, get does/ewes and take them somewhere else to be breed. Having a buck/ram around is very difficult when you have no previous experience and the male animals can be very dangerous, especially during the breeding season.

 

[turnerstar31]

To me the goats and sheep are about the same. They are both interesting animals and are so adorable at birth. My pygmys are so cute but man they can give you a run for your money and they are so hard to keep in a fence. I swear I spend more time trying to think of ideas of how to keep them in an area and out of another.

Sheep can be like that too. :

 

[Nupine]

I have reg. alpine and nubian dairy goats. I LOVE them so much. I am always in the goat barn. They make great pets. But you should have at least two.