It’s kind of a funny story, but now I have question

[BGcoop]

My daughter has been wanting a goat. We considered it briefly but the timing just wasn’t right. My husband had mentioned at work that my daughter and I had been looking at them. Sooo today his work friends thought they would be funny and dropped this little guy off at our house.

Does anyone know what breed he might be? I guess he’s a couple months old, and he was purchased at an auction. That is the extent of the information I was given on him! Of course my daughter fell in love with him immediately, but as he has horns, is not weathered and we don’t have a current place ready to keep him in long term, I am not sure we can keep him. ( plus he already escaped to the neighbor’s 3 hours after he was dropped off, thankfully our neighbor is my MIL) Any and all advice is very much appreciated!! Thanks in advance!!

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

He's cute! I would love to have a goat, but not allowed here in suburbia

 

[BGcoop]

Ha! I’m honestly not sure I’m allowed to have him either! We have almost 10 acres and most of our neighbors are really good (none have complained about our chickens and we hatched a batch of chicks this spring with about 15 roos in the mix- that noise is diminishing as we slowly send the boys off to freezer camp). I have tried to find the regulations for our township but nothing seems to reference what animals I am allowed or how many, so we’ve just been trying to keep what we have without being bad neighbors about it.

 

[cassie]

He needs to be dehorned, castrated, and most importantly he needs a companion and a pen he cannot get out of.

 

[BGcoop]

He needs to be dehorned, castrated, and most importantly he needs a companion and a pen he cannot get out of.

If he is already a couple months old, isn’t he too old to be dehorned?

 

[cassie]

No. At that age it is no big deal, but for the record I have taken horns off mature goats. I had a dairy and in my situation horns were unacceptable.

 

[BGcoop]

No. At that age it is no big deal, but for the record I have taken horns off mature goats. I had a dairy and in my situation horns were unacceptable.

Oh! Fantastic! I was under the impression after they got bigger it became a major ordeal to remove them! Thank you!!!

 

[Clarity1210]

That is awesome (kind of)! My daughter would be so envious. She's wanted a goat since last year's Sate Fair, but we're not ready for it. I think she'd have to be in a 4-H for it to even work out well for us, and it looks like our state's 4-H groups largely work with Boer goats (a meat goat). Does yours seem to be a dairy goat? Obviously no milk as a male, but I discovered that if we wanted a goat we could milk we'd have to find a way to get her mated regularly (so my contemplations ended there, partly due to my compact car - though someone in my neighborhood has an entire herd of goats...). Good luck - I'll be curious to see what you resolve upon in this (unlooked-for) adventure!

 

[ChickNanny13]

He's CUTE! He will need company, they don't like being alone. Maybe you can get a dog kennel with a house in it for a pen but that rope, when he figures it out, he'll chew through it. Hope you get to keep him but as @cassie mentioned, he should be de-horned and castrated. Your Hubby should get his buddies to pool up the the cost of housing & medical ... Don't know how they thought it would be "funny".

When I was a kid would have loved the idea of someone "giving" a pet but now that I'm older, know why it's not a good idea ... Your predicament, try calling your animal shelter or County office, they should know your "restrictions".

 

[BGcoop]

I have no idea what type of goat he is! I wish I knew so we could have an idea of how big he’d get.
When we were thinking about the possibility of a goat last year and started to research how to care for them we did learn a bunch, and yes if we keep him castration is a MUST (boys stink!)
For tonight he is locked in our nearly finished new chicken coop(8x17), but we would definitely have to create some type of secure outdoor space for him and soon!