GOAT FEVER IS CATCHING FIND OUT IF YOU HAVE IT HERE!

[waddles99]

They are adorable! How old are they and what are theyre names if you dont mind.

Thanks very much! They are 3 months and 6 days old (born on July 7th). Their names are Frosting and Midnight.

CUTE!!!

I love Nigerian Dwarfs! IF they were easy to find (here where I live) then I would definitely get a pair!!!

Thank you!! I do too, they are my favorite breed. It was a tough debate between them and pygmys but I like the fact that you can get milk out of them better.

 

[silkieloverz123]

Thanks very much! They are 3 months and 6 days old (born on July 7th). Their names are Frosting and Midnight.
Thank you!! I do too, they are my favorite breed. It was a tough debate between them and pygmys but I like the fact that you can get milk out of them better.

Those names are awesome. Very creative. W If V (the black one above) has babies they will all named after colors since her name is violet. Like Fusia, Amber, Navy etc. Also if she has them in Novermber

i wanna name one Pilgrim!

 

[MeepBeep]

even though they're far more trouble than sheep or pretty much any other livestock.

May I asked why you say this? My goats are as maintenance free as any of my animals, I give them fresh water daily and that is automated with a timer that over flows their buckets once a day for 5 minutes with fresh water... Presto automatic fresh water change each day...

During the summer when they have a full pasture of grass, I don't even bother feeding regularly pretty much just treats, as they fend for their selves just fine and honestly won't eat hay in the summer when they have a pasture of fresh greens to eat...

In fact with winter moving in I felt bad as the pasture is getting down to slim pickings so I tossed them a bale of hay this weekend, they promptly pulled it all out of the hay rack and on to the ground and turning it into bedding not food...

During the winter months it's a little more work, but hardly that much, I go out once a day and fill up the hay racks and top off or change out their water...

Same with the llamas that share the pasture with them, pretty maintenance free...

Yeah occasionally I have to give them shots or deworm but that is pretty much the same with any animal...

 

[silkieloverz123]

May I asked why you say this? My goats are as maintenance free as any of my animals, I give them fresh water daily and that is automated with a timer that over flows their buckets once a day for 5 minutes with fresh water... Presto automatic fresh water change each day...

During the summer when they have a full pasture of grass, I don't even bother feeding regularly pretty much just treats, as they fend for their selves just fine and honestly won't eat hay in the summer when they have a pasture of fresh greens to eat...

In fact with winter moving in I felt bad as the pasture is getting down to slim pickings so I tossed them a bale of hay this weekend, they promptly pulled it all out of the hay rack and on to the ground and turning it into bedding not food...

During the winter months it's a little more work, but hardly that much, I go out once a day and fill up the hay racks and top off or change out their water...

Same with the llamas that share the pasture with them, pretty maintenance free...

Yeah occasionally I have to give them shots or deworm but that is pretty much the same with any animal...

She may have been referring to the milking. Normally you have to milk them twice a day if they are for dairy. Plus if she is showing them then they have to be in the best condition possible. Not her so i don't know just trying to help lol.

 

[chooks4life]

May I asked why you say this? My goats are as maintenance free as any of my animals, I give them fresh water daily and that is automated with a timer that over flows their buckets once a day for 5 minutes with fresh water... Presto automatic fresh water change each day...

During the summer when they have a full pasture of grass, I don't even bother feeding regularly pretty much just treats, as they fend for their selves just fine and honestly won't eat hay in the summer when they have a pasture of fresh greens to eat...

In fact with winter moving in I felt bad as the pasture is getting down to slim pickings so I tossed them a bale of hay this weekend, they promptly pulled it all out of the hay rack and on to the ground and turning it into bedding not food...

During the winter months it's a little more work, but hardly that much, I go out once a day and fill up the hay racks and top off or change out their water...

Same with the llamas that share the pasture with them, pretty maintenance free...

Yeah occasionally I have to give them shots or deworm but that is pretty much the same with any animal...

I wasn't referring to healthcare or feeding. Most goats are 'easy keepers', the species is notorious for it after all. But fuss free goatkeeping depends to a huge extent on having the correct infrastructure. You can keep pretty much all other livestock species with minimal infrastructure, but goats are famed as escape artists for a reason. If your goats are bent on escape, and have learned to disrespect fences from a young age, there's not too much you can do that will work infallibly.

The same fencing that works for almost all other livestock often simply doesn't work for goats. But, depends on your goats. Sometimes I come across those sorts of goats who seem to act more like most sheep, not escape-oriented, but overall, anybody with goats generally has to have better, more expensive fencing than their peers with other species of livestock. That's what my comment was about.

We had a large compound with chainlink mesh walls over 10 feet high, and just like wild goats in the documentary clips you see where they stroll up vertical or even outwards-leaning cliff faces as though they were able to defy gravity, our goatlings would scale those fences, quite literally just walking up them.

Then again we've had the occasional other goat which prefers to keep its feet on the ground, respects fences like it's a sheep... And there are some more primitive breeds of sheep which are just as much trouble with escape-artistic tendencies and skills as most goats are...

Overall, you get both difficult and easy strains within every livestock species and every breed, in my experience. Goats just tend to fall on the more intensive-fencing side of the easy/difficult keeping equation, usually.

Best wishes.

 

[MeepBeep]

Most goats are 'easy keepers', the species is notorious for it after all. But fuss free goatkeeping depends to a huge extent on having the correct infrastructure. You can keep pretty much all other livestock species with minimal infrastructure, but goats are famed as escape artists for a reason. If your goats are bent on escape, and have learned to disrespect fences from a young age, there's not too much you can do that will work infallibly.

The same fencing that works for almost all other livestock often simply doesn't work for goats. But, depends on your goats. Sometimes I come across those sorts of goats who seem to act more like most sheep, not escape-oriented, but overall, anybody with goats generally has to have better, more expensive fencing than their peers with other species of livestock. That's what my comment was about.

OK understand that, have read and heard the horror stories but can't say I have experienced it... All my goats are 100% respectful of the fence... I just have traditional 4-6 foot livestock fence around my pasture, I use cattle panels for gates between pastures and there are a few areas of the fence that are in sad repair and none of my goats have ever pushed out... In the barn I have tubular cattle gates sectioning off areas and they even respect those, even though hey could literally hop through the wide spacing...

 

[waddles99]

Some say goats are more care because they need more hoof care, medications/vaccinations, more susceptible to diseases, and are very fussy.

 

[chooks4life]

Some say goats are more care because they need more hoof care, medications/vaccinations, more susceptible to diseases, and are very fussy.

In my experience, anyone who makes a 'high-needs' claim about almost any domestic species has at least one of the following problems: lack of knowledge about management; genetically weak stock; sickened ground; depleted pastures; insufficient knowledge about nutritional requirements; underlying health problems; contaminants present; as well as any one of several other common problems which can be as simple as a small and hardly noticeable weed on the property that has some nasty effects they're not aware of, or having stock which are quite deficient in instinct and experience/commonsense, making everything vastly more likely to be fatal. Some animals, just like some humans, are definitely trouble-prone.

There's also those very troublesome family lines which manage to combine just about all problems possible into one lot, lol...

Personally, I know many people cull for such 'high maintenance problems' as fast-growing hooves that need regular trimming, but I prefer to go to the extra trouble and value fast-growing hooves because that's an animal that can go from soft pasture to rocky pasture and not be lamed by it. I want to avoid perpetuating strains whose hooves are only suited for manicured and rock free lawns. What is 'high needs' to one is acceptable, even necessary to another.

Often those who believe animals are very needy, go on to create very needy animal lines, by overcoddling them.

@silkieloverz123 --- no, I don't show mine, not interested in that aspect, but those are valid points you brought up, dairy or show animals are definitely more 'trouble' than more feral/landrace types you can just leave in the paddock, just about. I've kept dairy animals before and hope to again but this time, mix breeds, with a decent bit of feral in them I reckon; dedicated and high production meat or egg or dairy breeds of any species seem to be overall more trouble than mixes or lower-production types.

Genetically speaking, I think we do need to keep in mind what we're selecting for the next few generations, well for all future generations really; many family lines of animals are vanishing, becoming extinct, under our care, and the majority of those filtering the gene pools are more focused on the bottom line (economically driven) than on longer term effects, so they're selecting against traits necessary for preservation of the species, lol!

It's not for everyone to keep 'heritage' style breeds or try to preserve more 'feral' traits that serve the animals better than they serve us, but it's worth bearing in mind that there has to be a balance, and often the animals that serve us best are a false economy because in so doing they run themselves into premature graves.

Best wishes.

 

[cassie]

Some say goats are more care because they need more hoof care, medications/vaccinations, more susceptible to diseases, and are very fussy.

They need more care than what? Goats with correct hoof conformation and a place to exercise don't need a whole lot of hoof care. They should be vaccinated for tetanus and entero which can be taken care of with one vaccine (CD/T) given twice about four weeks apart and then repeated once a year thereafter. If stock is susceptible to disease it means they are poorly fed, kept in damp and/or overcrowded conditions, or otherwise mismanaged. Goats are fussy about their feed. It needs to be clean, not moldy or dusty, and of good quality. They want clean fresh water too. All livestock deserve these things.

However, goats are more susceptible to worm infestations than sheep. Sheep are grazers and as such pick up parasites when they graze and therefore they have developed some immunity to them. Goats, on the other hand, are browsers. They get their feed from off the ground where worms are less prevalent. So as a species they never developed as much an immunity that sheep have.

Dairy goats do require more care than those kept for meat or as pets just like dairy cows require more care than beef cows.

 

[MeepBeep]

Goats with correct hoof conformation and a place to exercise don't need a whole lot of hoof care.

So true, the concrete floor in my barn and 24/7 access to the pasture all summer pretty much take care of the hooves on the goats and even on the llamas... Having a proper housing and accommodations can alleviate a lot of the 'claimed' maintenance issues...