You are so right to research first!!! I didn't and jumped into the whole "boer" craze. I was so wrong!!!! I now just have my baby Charity who is a three year old percentage (Boer/Nubian) big pain in my side lol no just kidding. In my experience on a small scale goats are great but when you get into trying to make a living out of it or do it on a large scale it becomes not so enjoyable...my own opinion through my experiences! The doe I kept is a HUGE pet. She is like a dog follws me around, loves on me, checks my poskets for treats, talks to me calls for me lol. Bottle babies are usually more tame but it just depends.....Charity was not a bottle baby and is more tame than some I have had that were raised on the bottle. They do require some maintenance and their most important issues are yearly vaccinations, worming, and hoof care. It is a cinch to care for a small herd and I had several different bucks at different times and yes they can get stinky during the rut (breeding season) but off season they were not always stinky and mean. Mine even during the rut never harmed us or bothered anyone. There are mean ones though and goats have to be treated with respect and a little caution especially if they have horns. They can hook you on accident or scrape ya not meaning to. Big debate on whether to disbud (dehorn) or not. I have had both and other than horns getting caught in a fence it really didn't matter to me. Horns can be a handy extra handle when you need them to be and offer a defense for them but when you have milkers they can also be a nuisance. Goats can stress easily sometimes and I have had a bout of being caught in the fence bring them down before so the horn issue is a biggie to think about. Feeding is something you definately need to read up on. It was mentioned before and way too much to tell you on here but their diet is definately something to consider and evaluate what kind of land you have to see if you can manage. They are not just little scrub brush eaters and they each have their own personalities like a dog lol. They are extremely smart despite what some might say and they can be trained for all kinds of things. Mine can open almost any gate latch there is unless you put a snap lock on it. She can also sail across a 4 ft fence like a deer from a standstill. BAbies can and will go through holes small enough for a cat.
They all can and will try and nibble on everything. They do NOT butt everything all the time with their heads. If you bend over and ignore them they WILL butt you in the hiney playing to get your attention and pretend they did not do a thing. They WILL get your attention any way they can including screaming in your ear sounding like a banshee until you give them attention. They are herd animals and usually don't do great alone.....Mine again thinks she is a dog and her companions are a steer calf and a miniature snauzer and a pekin duck uhhhh yes of all sleep together in the barn. Oh well I am typing a book just some thoughts I wanted to share. I hope you do decide to get a couple if you can. It is definately an experience!!!!!!!!!!!!
