Goat Newbie searching for Information! :)

[CascadiaRiver]

I want to do my research and get extremely well informed before teasing the idea of getting a goat, so bear with me on this long thread.

I am a senior in 4H and almost a senior in high school, I've been doing chicken 4H for the last 4-5 years and pigeon 4H for just a year now, I have been around pigs and goats for easily 2-3 years through friends farms and in this last month my mother kind of teased the idea of getting a pig, but now we're looking more towards a goat because of size.

I know basically the bare minimum about goats and would love to know more to see if keeping a goat would be good for our lifestyle and family. We're thinking of getting one to be kind of a house pet, but we have a really large yard and they would be able to live outside if they chose or live indoor/outdoor, but we're aiming towards family-friendly and

1. Size; The one thing I do know for sure is size, I want a smaller goat, more like a nigerian dwarf or pygmy, something around a medium to large dog but no bigger, aiming towards probably 50lbs or less?

2. Gender and status; I believe we'd get a neutered male (whether? wither?) because hopefully like dogs they're calmer right? (most of our friends with goats breed them so I've never really hung around non-intact males.) and the milking seems like a hassle, so preferably if I can I'd love to avoid a female I think.

3. Goat(s); If I'm planning to get a goat to live with my dogs and us in the house will it need to be a pair? Would I need to get two goats and would it be better that they were raised together or not? I assume I'd need two and they'd probably have to have been around each other beforehand for easier transition, right?

4. Age to Buy; What age do you buy a goat? Should I aim towards younger such as a few weeks (?) or a few months? I'd like to raise babies, but not sure how young?

5. Bottle feeding or not?; This kinda relates to the last question but (1) how long do they need to be bottle fed if they're taken from the mothers? (2) how old are they when they wean if they weren't taken from their mothers?

6. Horns; Since I'm currently thinking of getting male(s) that poses the issue of horns (though I believe at least in some breeds, females get horns too?). The whole de-budding thing kinda makes me queasy and I always felt bad for my friends goats cause I'm pretty sure those little nub spots are sore for a while. So is de-budding necessary in pet/house type goats? Could I leave the horns, and if I did would they need trimmed or maintained? Or would I just need to de-bud and get over it?

7. Hoof Trimming; Would I be able to do this at home? And with what tools? Could we use a dremel, or would we need to buy a specific trimmer from like WilCo or another feed store?

8. Breeds; Just touching up on breeds, I'd love to stay within the mini's or smaller goats, does anyone have/had smaller goats and have opinions or pro/cons for them? Some breeds I've heard of are Kinder, Mini-Nubian, Nigerian Dwarf, Pygmy, etc? (my mother doesn't like the elf ears on LaManchas so those and any mini variants are probably not an option sadly).

9. If I missed anything else please let me know! I'd love to know more about vaccines, medications, health of breeds and general care, as well as opinions and knowledge!


(the groups in my area that do goat 4H aren't super friendly and the unfriendly chicken person that left our group this year moved onto goats so I dont think I'd want to be doing real goat 4H but I'd be around others who are in my 4H groups who would be able to help a bit ^^ But I dont see them too often and I believe BYC responds faster <3)

 

[cassie]

Horns are not sex related but some are naturally polled. If you get a kid, you can ask one of your goat owning friends to disbud it for you. As for the buds on their heads being sore for a while, they can't be too sore because the kids head butt each other anyway. Dehorning the goat is safer for you and safer for the goat. A goat can suddenly throw its head back and get you in the eye. Horns also get caught in things. If the goat has horns, they need no maintenance. However, if you leave the horns on the goat and change your mind later, the horns can be removed but it is messy, painful, and hard on both the goat and you.

Kids should be bottle fed for eight weeks or so. If you get a weaned kid you want one that has been bottle raised. It is hard (very hard) to get a dam raised kid to bond with you or to even tame it.

As a general rule, goats and dogs do not mix very well. Goats are prey and dogs are by nature predators. Goats do NOT make good house pets. It is all but impossible to housebreak them. You could put a diaper on it, I suppose. However, goats get into and chew things like electrical cords and magazines, pull things off of tables and counters, and jump up on things. I had a friend who decided it was time for the kids she was bottle raising to go outside when she found them running up and down on the keyboard of the piano.
She kept them in a large box but that day they learned how to hop out and they were having a great time.

Yes you can trim the feet. You can use a hoof knife, or a hoof rot clipper or both. Just have someone show you how. It isn't hard.

As for breeds, I suggest you choose either a Nigerian or a Pygmy. See if you can find some in your area and interact with them to see which breed you prefer. I am no expert on mini goats and I have had limited experience with them. Personally, I prefer Nigerians but that is just me. I think the Nigerians tend to be smaller than the pygmies. I have seen pygmies that are pretty good sized.

As for vaccines, goats need to be vaccinated for tetanus and enterotoxemia. You can get a vial of CD/T at the feed store or livestock supply and that takes care of both.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

Thank you very much! The two little dogs we have are shih tzu's, they dont have any prey drive with the chickens and spend most of the days sleeping or eating (though the younger does like to play fetch a few times a day) so I'm not really worried too much about prey-preydrive issues, though I will keep it in mind about the goats being inside ^^ We have a large covered back porch area that I think would be great for them (once we move all of the old things out of the area of course) that way they'd be close to us and we'd be able to interact really often as well as them still having outside access and weather coverage. Between Nigerians and Pygmies I think I like the faces of Nigerians better, but looking around it greatly varies per breeder lol

 

[Athena2344]

Hi my name is megan, and i have been in the FFA for 2 years now, i showed broilers my first year, and i have shown 3 goats this year: 2 angoras and 1 Boer goat. Would have to recommend the pygmy or the mini nubian, there are polled strains(dehorned bloodlines), they also come in a variety of sizes, most goats though will be about 50 lbs or so, its just the way they are. Wethers are a lot of fun, i have not done one myself, but you have to face the fact that you will not be getting money back on them, as you cant stud them out.... All you really need is a pair of hoof trimmers, $20 from tractor supply, super easy, trim the walls and the frog of the hoof until its flat, if you see pink STOP lol. If it is going to be shown, bathe it every 2 weeks or so, and then of course before show. if not, about once a month to keep the dirt under control. Get a brush depending on hair type. Clean water, the proper amount of feed, and hay should do you just fine. Deworm every so often, and treat for lice or fleas if you ever come by any. and make sure to keep us all updated!!

 

[Athena2344]

Horns are not sex related but some are naturally polled. If you get a kid, you can ask one of your goat owning friends to disbud it for you. As for the buds on their heads being sore for a while, they can't be too sore because the kids head butt each other anyway. Dehorning the goat is safer for you and safer for the goat. A goat can suddenly throw its head back and get you in the eye. Horns also get caught in things. If the goat has horns, they need no maintenance. However, if you leave the horns on the goat and change your mind later, the horns can be removed but it is messy, painful, and hard on both the goat and you.

Kids should be bottle fed for eight weeks or so. If you get a weaned kid you want one that has been bottle raised. It is hard (very hard) to get a dam raised kid to bond with you or to even tame it.

As a general rule, goats and dogs do not mix very well. Goats are prey and dogs are by nature predators. Goats do NOT make good house pets. It is all but impossible to housebreak them. You could put a diaper on it, I suppose. However, goats get into and chew things like electrical cords and magazines, pull things off of tables and counters, and jump up on things. I had a friend who decided it was time for the kids she was bottle raising to go outside when she found them running up and down on the keyboard of the piano.
She kept them in a large box but that day they learned how to hop out and they were having a great time.

Yes you can trim the feet. You can use a hoof knife, or a hoof rot clipper or both. Just have someone show you how. It isn't hard.

As for breeds, I suggest you choose either a Nigerian or a Pygmy. See if you can find some in your area and interact with them to see which breed you prefer. I am no expert on mini goats and I have had limited experience with them. Personally, I prefer Nigerians but that is just me. I think the Nigerians tend to be smaller than the pygmies. I have seen pygmies that are pretty good sized.

As for vaccines, goats need to be vaccinated for tetanus and enterotoxemia. You can get a vial of CD/T at the feed store or livestock supply and that takes care of both.

It is not hard at all to get kids to bond with you: lots of treats pets and interactment on a daily basis, and enforcement of good behavior. I dont know if you show them with halters or collars, but i would definantly say halter training is a must. Halter = good things: do not drag, but instead encourage and reward when they walk with you, i managed to do it with 3, in a matter of 3 months. Unless you want to bottle feed around the clock, get a weaned kid, or a yearling

 

[ronzxcvb]

An old billy goat came with our house
So we got him a year old girl about same time got a lab mix puppy
They would play together all the time
But they were the only young animals so they had no one else to play with

Kids should be bottle fed for eight weeks or so. If you get a weaned kid you want one that has been bottle raised. It is hard (very hard) to get a dam raised kid to bond with you or to even tame it.

Glad you posted this my wife wanted our next goat to be more friendly
Guess it will be moving in for a while

 

[CascadiaRiver]

Hi my name is megan, and i have been in the FFA for 2 years now, i showed broilers my first year, and i have shown 3 goats this year: 2 angoras and 1 Boer goat. Would have to recommend the pygmy or the mini nubian, there are polled strains(dehorned bloodlines), they also come in a variety of sizes, most goats though will be about 50 lbs or so, its just the way they are. Wethers are a lot of fun, i have not done one myself, but you have to face the fact that you will not be getting money back on them, as you cant stud them out.... All you really need is a pair of hoof trimmers, $20 from tractor supply, super easy, trim the walls and the frog of the hoof until its flat, if you see pink STOP lol. If it is going to be shown, bathe it every 2 weeks or so, and then of course before show. if not, about once a month to keep the dirt under control. Get a brush depending on hair type. Clean water, the proper amount of feed, and hay should do you just fine. Deworm every so often, and treat for lice or fleas if you ever come by any. and make sure to keep us all updated!!

I probably won't be showing it as I'll be aging out of 4H in a year and a half, and I don't think I wanna concern myself with an intact buck to stud out because I've heard they stink? Like a lot? Otherwise I wouldn't bother taking off their poor little bits and such lol. and I'd like to keep more of a closed farm like we have for our chickens and pigeons so having other goats coming here and taking our goats elsewhere I'd be afraid of germs (if not just for goat germs then also bringing home other animal germs on my boots and such). I will hopefully look into and find some polled goats if not then I'll look to non-polled ones that we can de bud ^^ How much would it cost for a vet to de-bud if our friends couldnt do it? Same with castrating or neutering? Do you castrate and neuter goats or do you just to the little band thing around their man-bits? What do those usually cost? I'm glad hoof trimming seems easy, I was worried about it since I've never had a hoofed animal before!

 

[Athena2344]

If you know what you are doing, you can band them yourself, they should sell the tool and bands at feedstores. De horning i think is a little pricey... If you wanted to make some profit, i would look into a mini nubian nanny: they stay small, some are naturally polled, and if you breed them,you can milk her, and either turn it into cheese or soap to sell, or sell as is, and sell the kids as well. If you have any other problems, please dont hesitate to contact me, Besides having my angora does, my uncle has a heard of colorful pygmys, and if nothing else, i'll ask him.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

It is not hard at all to get kids to bond with you: lots of treats pets and interactment on a daily basis, and enforcement of good behavior. I dont know if you show them with halters or collars, but i would definantly say halter training is a must. Halter = good things: do not drag, but instead encourage and reward when they walk with you, i managed to do it with 3, in a matter of 3 months. Unless you want to bottle feed around the clock, get a weaned kid, or a yearling

I'm thinking of a weaned kid(s) or perhaps one in it's last week or two of bottlefeeding, just so I can experience it perhaps? Or I might be helping out out friends with their milk goats this year so I might be able to experience that and decide for sure if I'd want a bottle baby with all the work or perhaps decide i want an all weaned one

 

[Athena2344]

While bottle babies are fun, unless you can get the full experience of staying over and spending 2-3 days and seeing how often they need to be fed and played with, just go with a weaned kid