Getting Sheep and Goats

[redtailross]

I am about to buy my sheep and goats,

So what do you wish you had known about sheep and goats before you go them to be better prepared?

I am a beginner...and very excited.
I have 6 shetland sheep variety of colours and an Angora Goat black and silver.

thanks
L

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote:
Buy these 2 books and you wont regret it:

http://www.sheepbooks.com/MYE.html

http://www.sheepbooks.com/LP.html

 

[mitaha]

Keep the goats off of grain food, especially if you have a billy, they love it and will chase you down for it. But it causes all kind of urinary problems, kidney stones etc. Seems to be worse if he has been castrated. If you have kids and they start to butt you can put tennis balls on their horns to help out with the poking.

Hope you have plenty of time to spend with them, they are attention whores, ours run with the dogs but when they can't see you they will cry like they are looking for their mother.

Good Luck!

 

[stuckinthecity]

I love goats and sheep so much! Very funny creatures...
Well heres some advice...ughh... if your billy has horns dont use the wide livestock fencing. He will get his horns stuck, and its never fun to have to get him out of that.

 

[mekasmom]

Quote:
The one thing I didn't know, and wish I had was that they have to be TAME when you get them. You will not tame an older goat to milk for you if she was never handled. It is just too difficult and not worth the effort. If the original breeder was too lazy to bottlefeed and handle it as a young kid then it is meat not a dairy goat no matter what breed.

Another few things--

Mutt goats are just fine for most things. A mixed breed dairy will milk just as good (sometimes better) than a champion. The price of champion lines is not always indicative of a good milking goat. Papers mean little if your only goal is to have a pet/milker. Papers do help to make future sales if that is your goal. Low quality mutt goats taste just the same as championship boer, although sizes will vary in lower quality goats.

And my own opinion-- personality is worth more than any body quality, any bloodline, anything. If a goat has a good personality, is friendly, easy to handle, then you can easily overlook a lot of faults.

I made the mistake of spending big money for "championship" goats one time. They were never handled, and not friendly. Those papers that I spent so much for didn't mean squat when I was getting stomped by a bunch of wild animals that belonged at slaughter. And that is where they went. Championships and bloodlines mean nothing if you cannot use the goat for its intended purpose. I would rather have an ugly, good milking mutt rather than any papered, champion anything.


As for sheep..........
I haven't owned many. But I would suggest you get hair sheep as opposed to wool sheep if possible. Their value is much higher in resale.
On the same note as before.... Any sheep that fulfills its purpose for you is better than a champion that can't fulfill its purpose.

 

[Twix]

If you get a male goat and you do not wont to breed, get him fixed. he will smell a lot less. i had a male goat back in germany. he was fixed and he was the cutest pet i ever had.
make sure to check you sheep for parasites. the like to have a lot of inside and outside parasites. specially when they have there big heavy winter fur.

 

[hikerchick]

I wish I had known not to feed goats sweet feed. I lost one to polio that was probably caused by sweet feed.