I am thinking about getting a goat (s) but have some questions

[drewskimac]

Ok thankyou very much for all of your input.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I used to recommend wethers to everyone I knew who were thinking about goats. It's what I had growing up and they were great pets. However, after vet school, I don't think I will be recommending wethers as much as I once did. Male goats have a temdency to block incredibly easy and the treatments for blockage are expensive and not all that great. You can prevent it (which is the best option, though not always a gaurantee) but if you plan on leaving and giving the goats free acces to grain (not a good idea whether male or female) and you don't feel like saving a thousand or so for treating a male goat for urinary blockage, I would go with does.

A dog kennel will not be enough space for two goats. Goats do need some room to exercise. I would also recommend a built shelter (though the goats will probably try to eat that as well). Logs work great as play toys in the pen.

I also think the other posters definitely had some great advice for your other questions.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I keep a lot of whether goats, neutered at 8 weeks, never had a single goat with stones, proper diet will prevent such problems, good old grassy clover hay, pasture, very limited grain if any, good mineral, baking soda, tree branches, weeds, good goat diet, that's how you prevent stones.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I keep a lot of whether goats, neutered at 8 weeks, never had a single goat with stones, proper diet will prevent such problems, good old grassy clover hay, pasture, very limited grain if any, good mineral, baking soda, tree branches, weeds, good goat diet, that's how you prevent stones.

Yep, that is definitely a good way to prevent them! Unfortunately it's not always 100% and even with the best prevention there can still be issues. It's a warning I think most new goat owners considering male goats should hear because the treatment is often expensive and without treatment it is a very painful condition that can lead to death. I never had issues either, but I do think keeping male goats requires a little bit of extra research. I think a large number of commercial grains available for goats can predispose them to urinary blockage, so its important to know what you are feeding and be diligent about amounts given.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think what is needed in keeping wethers is to not do as most people want to do which is feeding what is basically junk to goats, especially wethers, grains, rations, and alfalfa based hay or pellets, are not needed for a goat not in production, they need a bit of corn and ration the first year and maybe a bit during the winter, handfuls really, and the rest of their diet needs to be grasses, weeds, browse and tree branches, It is a 100%, I have never had stones in 20 years of keeping wethers.

 

[enola]

Goats eat the twigs on tree branches. They do not eat tree branches. Just to clarify.......

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Mine strip the bark off of larger branches and eat the smaller branches, also known as twigs, sorry for the wrong terms.

 

[enola]

I just didn't want some one that knows nothing about goats to think they could eat large branches that are on trees.

However it is possible for goats to kill large trees by stripping off all of the bark they can reach.

One goat ate all of the potted plants on my front porch in less than 30 minutes one day. I had a LOT of plants too. Nearly broke my heart. It took me MONTHS to grow them back from the stems she left me.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I call mine organic wood chippers, they break the large branches down to useable firewood, sorry about your potted plants.

 

[enola]

That was years ago.......

We bought that goat at an auction. Brought her home and found out it was impossible to keep her in a fence. Husband thought it was funny until she ate his grape vines. She went back to the auction with a load of calves........