I'm thinking about getting goats myself, so I was glad to run across this thread. I was hoping to see more information on how hardy goats were and how much medication/vaccinations they needed, though. I currently raise chickens, and while they don't "raise themselves" they certainly aren't high maintenance, IMO. I'm just wondering how goats compare.
Read a blog post recently about a farm that rented a billy goat for their doe in heat - well that was an education. Apparently - don't know if it was just that particular breed or not - to attract the female, the male saturates his beard with pee! You don't have to have much imagination to picture what else gets in there when he does this, or the horrific smell it produces. Needless to say, when they realized they had missed the lady's prime time for breeding, they quickly changed plans from keeping him until the next time to return that filthy thang as soon as possible, lol!
Hmm, my goats are definitely higher maintenance than chickens. But they are a joy to keep, but that is my opinion. Feed requirements are different, such as a supply of hay. I mean, with my chickens, my morning routine is to give them a scoop of feed, fresh water, and they are good. But with the goats, add in hay to that routine morning and evening, plus a bit of grain in the evening. And their health needs are a bit more than chickens, such hoof trimming every 4-6 weeks (you do not need a farrier, this is easy to do yourself), CDT vaccinations, and supplementing with minerals. A salt lick won't work well, they need a goat specific blend of loose minerals that they can lick up. People have found a salt block type mineral block leads to deficiencies, since they get mostly NaCl from it, and not enough of what they need, such as copper and selenium. Mine have a little mineral feeder in their shelter that I refill every few days. Sometimes they eat through it all very quickly, and other times they hardly touch it.
And yes, male goats do pee on themselves! The urine doesn't just get in their beards. They can bend themselves so their entire faces get a food spray, plus the back of their legs and belly. They mostly do this during rut, in the fall. The rest of the year they tend not to, but it depends on the buck. I own a buck, and during rut, he can peel paint off the walls. Because it isn't just the urine in his fur that makes him smell rank. They have scent glands behind their horns that kick into full gear which make bucks smell potent. So the bucks are marinating in their own perfume of urine and musk, which is irresistible to the does! Believe me, a doe in heat goes CRAZY for the scent of a buck! Using a 'buck rag' can help people without bucks figure out if their does are truly in heat or not, since the doe will react to the buck scent in the cloth. Because I have a buck, I always know when a doe is in heat, because of how she acts and how HE acts. The boys are kept far away from the girls, but he can still smell her on the wind, and vice versa.
Thankfully, the intensity of their odor and tenacity of their behavior die down after rut, especially for the breeds who are only seasonable breeders. Year round breeders still act like bucks, but less so. In fact, I've met Nigerian Dwarf bucks in spring and summer who hardly smell at all. You can pat on them and not have the clinging rank of buck sticking to you for the next day and a half (despite scrubbing!). My buck, George, is a very sweet fellow, but I am not keen on snuggling him while he is in the 'sexy man' stage of the year!
