i want to get mini Goats so i have ??????

[ChickenShell-A]

What breeds are very small?

What would be the best breed to get with small children?

How bad is the Smell if you olny have 1 or 2?

should i get male or female?

I heard that males stink bad!

Do they cost alot to mantain?

thanks all info will be helpful

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Nigerians and Pygmy's are very small. They also have Mini lamanchas and I'm sure there are other small breeds.

I have a Nigerian and she is super sweet with kids.

Only unfixed males smell (very, very badly). I don't think their poo smells at all. When they are wet they do have a 'cow barn' smell to them I think.

I would get fixed males (whethers) Does seem to baa a lot and can get weird when they are in heat and of course unfixed males are not only stinky, they can have attitudes and hard to handle for a novice.

Goats are super cheap to keep. Whethers you can maintain very cheaply as they don't need grain. Offer a good timothy hay some people use alfalfa, but I find alfalfa hard to get, so I use timothy and buy alfalfa squares and just give them a couple a day) You do have to trim feet (easy to learn) and worm them every 3 months (I would guess it comes to about $5 every 3 months for worming) Offer loose minerals as well (you should be able to find them made specifically for goats at your feed store or online) or a mineral block but I think they do better with them loose.

Hope this helps.
There are a lot of goat people on here so I know you'll be getting a lot of answers and opinions.

 

[ChickenShell-A]

Thank you for the info

 

[cgjsmith]

I second that. I have pygmys. Moe my buck is the only one that stinks and hes not too awfully bad (just smells like really strong onion grass to me) I started out with two weathers as well. Now have three does a buck and two weathers. The biggest problem I have now is keeping them in the fence! Make sure you have a really good fence as they can escape anything. My buck was the nices baby we bought and has turned out to be really great because he totally loves us. He might knock hubby out of his way once in a while but is always a perfect gentleman with me LOL. Crystal

 

[leecey411]

Mine are cross of Nigerian and Pygmy. They are ridiculously tiny! At 6 months they stand maybe two feet tall! Get young males and have them wethered or just get wethers.Get them polled too. Wethers are very sweet and not very smelly at all. My DH cleans their pen and feeds them for me, they are gentle and sweet.Our biggest problem is flies. Oh, goats are also very finicky about their food . Quite a surprise!

 

[Wildsky]

I have a regular size goat (Boer) - he loves the kids..... I bet if they climbed on he'd let them ride

good luck - goats are much fun!