PEOPLE WITH GOATS!!!

[Southern28Chick]

I'm getting goats in a few months....finally. I wanted Nigerian Dwarfs at first but then I found a farm close to me that has Lamancha and Oberhasli dairy goats. I've been told these are great dairy goats and will supply enough milk for my milk, cheese and soap making needs. I'm thinking about 2 does.

Can anyone who has goats please post pictures of their goat housing so I can get some ideas. I only ask because I've been all over the web trying to find good ideas and I just can't find any.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks y'all!!!!

 

[Southern28Chick]

I forgot to mention. I have the area for the goats already mapped out. I have a fenced in yard that's about 1/2 an acre. Then outside of that yard is a 40'x50' chicken yard. The goat pen is going to be from one end of the fenced in yard to the other and wrap around the chicken yard. Does that make since??? The goat pen will be about 100'x70' minus the middle 40'x50' where the chicken yard is. Is that enough room for 2 does? Maybe tomorrow I'll take pictures so y'all can see what I mean.

 

[helmstead]

Those are great dairy goats. Big ones, too.

I have 11 Mini Nigi/Pygmy crosses on an area that is about 80' x 30'. When they moved in, it was weeds and briars so thick we were almost unable to run the fence...but a week later it was barren.

Provided you muck and rake regularly, that should be enough room. Course, you'll have to provide hay (which you should do from a manger) because the forage, if there is any to begin with, won't last.

As for housing...we have minis - but here's what we use. We built a 10x20 pole barn. It has two stalls (5x10) in one half and is open on the other half with a dog door type opening for them to go in and out of. One of the stalls is devoted to my chickens - housing their feed and nest boxes. The other is for kidding or injured goats. We also have a plastic dog house (that would be for a 150 lb dog) and a home made wooden dog house the same size, then two "open air" three sided stalls that are, oh, probably 3x4.

I'll look for pics on my harddrive and post them if I find any...

 

[Southern28Chick]

Do you lock them up at night?

 

[helmstead]

Oh kay...Pics!

This is the goat barn last winter. The ramps on the side are for the babies to play with. We constructed the walls out of the outter cuts off the pines from our property that we used to put up board fencing for the horses.

And here's a shot of the home made goat house - DH calls it the Love Shack, dunno why 0 with our little doe Annabelle inside. Usually, it sleeps two!

 

[nccountrygirl]

Trisha, you need to get a billy too, that way you can have baby goats.$$$$$$$

 

[Southern28Chick]

Thanks helmstead! Those pics really help!!! How do they do in winter? Southern winter that is. I'm sure they'll be ok in the winter as mild as they are here.

nccountrygirl,
I wanted one at first but so may people told me about how they pee on themselves (which I already knew) and they're mean to the babies. I heard you can ask a goat farmer if you can breed his billy with your does and pay him with a kid. IDK. The whole billy goat things is up in the air.

I mainly want dairy goats for the milk. We can drink milk that we KNOW where it comes from, I can make cheese (I LOVE cheese) and I want to expand my goat milk product line. I'm thinking an entire line of goat milk skin care products. I only have 3 soaps with goats milk right now but with a constant supply of milk I can expand it. Goats milk is SOOOOOOO great for your skin. Out of all my soaps my goat milk soaps are the ones that I use every day and my skin feels like a baby's booty.

 

[helmstead]

No they go in on their own at night...

You don't NEED a billy. You can have your girls AI'd to freshen them. Many people freeze goat semen.

 

[helmstead]

LOL we're posting simultaniously!

They do fine over winter. The barn is well bedded with kiln dried shavings and hay...and they grow a nice thick coat. If it's wet, they HATE being wet and stay inside. We do have a heat lamp hanging in both the 5x10 stall and the 10c10 "living room" in case it gets really cold and we have babies. Babies are not very cold tolerant.

So far, our billies have been GREAT with the kids - until the kids get about weaning age. Really, you shouldn't get a billy if you're on the fence. I love both of our boys to death and their behavior is hilarious, but the DO stink of rut and pee everywhere. Borrowing a billy or AI are really great options for small goat keepers. Some days, when my widows are open and the wind is blowing just right, I wish we didn't have them!

 

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:
What's AI'd??? I'm so clueless about goats. That's why I want to learn everything now so I'll be prepared when it's time to get them. FREEZE SEMEN???? How do you get the semen? Can you buy it from a goat farmer??? I can talk chickens all day but I'm so stupid when it comes to goats.

Edited: Nevermind...duh...I know what AI'd means.