how hard is it to keep dwarf goats?

[spish]

ive been asked to take in 2 goats (castrated male and a female) both dwarf(?) goats of 4 years old

now i have an empty field at the moment roughly 100m x 100m....sheep wire all the way round, then over that is chicken wire, but the height is only 1m in some places...the rest is 1,50m high. can they jump that height?

also looking for general basic care (what they eat, what they cant eat, what minerals etc they need, how often feet need trimming, worming times and what not..
i plan on doing some thourough research tonight whenthe kids are in bed but just looking for some peoples advice first while im flitting back and forth with my chores.

ive never kept goats, and never planned on keeping them, but this person is desperate to rehome them, asap, and theres no one else in the area really apart from me(!)

 

[elevan]

1 m is about 3 ft ...I think...so that would be a little bit short. Depends on the goat's personality if they'd jump it or not...but it's not going to do much to prevent predation.

I'd like to invite you to our sister site www.backyardherds.com where we have a lot of threads devoted to goats. I think you'll find quite a few answers there

Regular deworming is not recommended due to parasite resistance building up. We have a great thread on Parasite Management on BYH.

Goat starter kit.

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5759&p=1

Let's Look at our Different Feeding Practices *GOATS*

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11677

The goat medicine cabinet.

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=32187#p32187

Parasite Management Goats/Sheep

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=139991#p139991​

 

[MetalSmitten]

mine have been pretty easy keepers. i have 4 nigerian dwarfs. we use 4' no climb fencing, but i've never seen them even try to jump it. they don't really need a pasture as large as what you have, if you needed to divide it due to the areas of short fences. goats prefer browse (woods) to pasture. they otherwise eat good quality hay, i like alfalfa grass hay but you'll hear people debate about the alfalfa over and over. their hooves do need regular trimming, but as far as how often, it really depends on the goats themselves (if their feet are already overgrown, they'll need more trimming) and your pasture - provide them some rocks or rough things to jump on, and you usually won't have to trim them as often as if they were just on soft grass all the time. they need loose goat minerals. worming is also a subject of debate but suffice it to say they will need it on occasion. they will need shelter, they HATE the rain.

hope this helps

 

[chrislemurs]

goats can jump 3 times there hight. so you will need a taller fence.

 

[Kaitie09]

Quote:
Yeah really, I have a boar that can hop a 5ft no-climb fence with just a quick running start and not even touch the wire. We had to replace all the fencing with 7ft high welded wire fencing and then weave cable wire into it to keep her from bending it enough (she can squeeze under a fence if it is more than 8in off the ground too). Our pygmy will put her whole weight against the fence until it bent enough that she could squeeze under it.

With the small ones, make sure that you check the bottom of the fencing. If you can bend it even the slightest, they will stretch it until they can fit under it. You might want to consider running a couple strands of electric fencing to keep them from rubbing the regular fence too.

 

[Skyesrocket]

I love my big dairy goats they stay put behind a fence. My darn Nigerians can get through, under, over, whatever it takes to get outside of my fences. Most of the time they stay along the fenceline but on the outside of it....grrrrr They will even go through our high tensil electic fence. Then stand on the outside of it crying to be let back in through the gate.
They should do fine on just pasture and minerals during the summer. In the winter they will need good hay. Fresh water all the time. Goats don't like dirty water buckets. Only worm when they need it. You can tell by pulling their lower eyelid down. If it's pink don't worm. If it's white then worm. Hoof trimming every 6 weeks or so. Depending on your ground. You can trim the hooves yourself. Check out utube for trimming videos.
Goats can be a lot of fun to have around.