calling all goat owners!!

[TheDuckCrew]

So i have fallen deeply in love with goats over the past few years. i REALLY want some pygmies, i just need to find a place nearby that has them...harder than you'd think. i also need to convince my parents....thats also harder than you'd think. i get if they say no, its no. i'm planning on buying everything (i've figured out prices don't worry) but i just need some convincing ideas. i was thinking getting into goat 4h, but if i asked they'd instantly be like "WE AREN"T GETTING GOATS!!" but they are just so darn cute and friendly!! how could you say no?!? any ideas??




ps-please don't say i'm spoiled or anything. i'm not and i totally understand the responsibility that comes with goats. i also understand that if my parents say no, that its no and i'm not going to push it. thanks

 

[thebritt]

My daughter got her first pygmy goat when she was 10. We had (have) a horse to keep her company. She was really tiny and (obviously) very cute. Chelsea slept with the goat and her friend (slumber party) the first night...the baby started sucking on her hair (while Chelse slept), creating a giant dreadlock!!! It was hilarious. We knew a good hairdresser that "blended" her hair so you could hardly tell. That baby goat became a 3-time Grand Champion at the County Fair! We got her through a great breeder - the parents were champions - THROUGH 4-H. You don't say how old you are - but joining 4-H is the best way to learn resposibility for a critter (Chels also got into rabbits, dog agility, and chickens...that's how I learned about this site!). That goat is now 8 yrs old, and we've gotten 2 more since then. One thing about going through 4-H - good breeders that you meet at fairs and shows sell quality babies for a really good deal because they know you are being taught how to properly care for them. If you can convince your parents about the benefits of 4-H (one is college scholarships for the truly dedicated!), maybe they'll believe you SHOULD have a goat! GOOD LUCK!

 

[TheDuckCrew]

thanks! i'm 15 and i've been trying for pets for years! now looking back, i had some crazy ideas when i was little. i wanted a huskey, then a hamster, then a bird, then a guinea pig, then a rabbit and then i got ducks!! i had fish but they all ate each other....not happy. i was in 4h before for horses but i wasn't truly dedicated to it because i wasn't riding yet. i was little and all i wanted to do was ride. also, where i live the horse program isn't the best but the others seem awesome. i was gonna start with goats oh so many years ago. man i wish i did!!

 

[Chirpy]

Well, first are you being totally responsible in all other areas of your life... most specifically taking care of all your other pets? I'm guessing you are but ... just asking. That should help your parents if they already see how responsible you are.

Research, research, research. Learn all you can about Pygmies so you can show them you are taking this very seriously and you can answer any questions they may have about them.

Having my child want to get into 4H would be great for me, as a parent, (actually my daughter does Alpacas in 4H) so maybe they will see that as educational for you.

You cannot have just one goat, they are very social and need the company of another goat so you need to keep that in mind. Do you already have great fencing and some toys for them? Do you have a proper shelter for them? If you already have that you would be ahead in asking, I would think.

I am glad you realize your parents have the final say. If they say no, how you respond will show them a lot about you.

Good luck - I hope you can get some. I had to wait until I was married for almost 25 years to get mine!

 

[RioLindoAz]

I also wanted to get pygmies at first, but I decided to change my plans after reading several books about goats;
I'll get any dairy goat I see for sale. Not from a breeder, but from a regular hobbie farm. They'll usually have many healthy goats they'll be willing to sell or give away. After I bring my first does home, I'll wait for the income to add up so that I may buy the breed I really want.


Also, Do you know why your parents do not allow you to keep goats? There is a solution to every problem!



~Rio

 

[TheDuckCrew]

Quote:
i believe i'm pretty responsible. i'm in all honors classes with all As, never gotten below high honors. i'm also taking complete care of all our other animals, always have and always will, and i have researched TONS and have found fencing to buy that i heard will keep them in, found shelters, found the best place in the yard, found the greatest area i could give them with the fence i would buy (trusty geometry!) and we have an old picnic table we don't use and TONS of large rocks and other things for them to play on. i know i can't have one goat. i'd get two....and then maybe three...four....LOL!!

 

[TheDuckCrew]

Quote:
not sure why yet...afraid to ask! i always plan for days upon days just to bring it up!! the last pets i went for a couple years ago, they didn't want them because they were rodents or too big (large dog....eats a lot....sheds a lot)

 

[()relics]

If you are in high school besides a 4H goat project...you may be able to join the FFA at your school...and a goat would fit right in....I'm sure your parents would allow you the goat if it were for a part of your education.....Good luck....but remember you will never be able to own only 1

 

[Chirpy]

TheDuckCrew said:

i believe i'm pretty responsible. i'm in all honors classes with all As, never gotten below high honors. i'm also taking complete care of all our other animals, always have and always will, and i have researched TONS and have found fencing to buy that i heard will keep them in, found shelters, found the best place in the yard, found the greatest area i could give them with the fence i would buy (trusty geometry!) and we have an old picnic table we don't use and TONS of large rocks and other things for them to play on. i know i can't have one goat. i'd get two....and then maybe three...four....LOL!!

I actually guessed that about you!

Wanna be my daughter? I'd love for my kids to have that much interest and desire for any of my animals.​

 

[username taken]

this is what I said to someone the other day who was asking about how to convince her parents to get chicks ...

way way way back when I was younger and I wanted to convince my parents to let me get breeding goats ... they kept saying no ... and to show them I was serious, I saved up, bought a heap of fencing material and put it all in myself, set up all the paddocks with feed troughs, hay racks and water troughs, set up little shelter sheds for them. I also went round to the local breeders and spoke with them, so that when I finally asked my parents again, I had it all set up out of my own money, and I was able to tell them that a particular breeder was happy to help me out with pregnant does for very cheap, and I had worked a certain amount of days for another breeder for an unrelated buck.

I guess that showed them my dedication to it. Now many years later I'm currently at around 30 does, down from 50 odd at one stage, due to drought. Whenever I want to add more goats, they say no, but I go by the old saying 'It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission'​