Tell me about owning goats

[Gigiintheforest]

Ok, thank you! I'm not sure what our fencing is called, I'll have to check. We got it at home depot, it's 5' and wire, with skinny rectangles not the big, fat squares. I sure hope that will work!
Thanks again for your help. I'm sure I'll have more questions later on!

That sounds good. I'd weave between posts to keep them from pushing it down when they scratch on it.

 

[Nikki99]

That sounds good. I'd weave between posts to keep them from pushing it down when they scratch on it.

Will do, thank you!!

 

[slikchik]

Wonderful photos.

I've had dairy goats for about 8 months now, got two sisters that were just ready to breed. Only one bred and kidded and gave two little doelings, amazingly cute and gentle. The best attribute of my does is their gentleness, my two year old daughter bosses them around. It was nerve wrecking when I was researching them but once they got here and settled in, we got into a good routine and now it's pretty easy, 30 minutes in the morning to feed and milk and 20 minutes at night to feed them and put them all away. So far, here's what I wish I'd known or want to pass on:

-goats NEED rotational grazing to keep the worm load low. Gallagher's sells amazing set-ups (just demo'd one this weekend) in the electric fencing department. Premier's catalogs are more like short courses on all things goat and sheep than sales brochures, very worth ordering, good prices and high quality stuff. Otherwise, cattle panels and t-posts with carabiners work well around young children. Best investment I made was a post driver from TSC and a post puller from Premier.

-Sweet goats are worth their weight in gold, temperament matters so much since you need to handle them every day. Buy nice goats! A friend's mean goat bit my 9 month old through her fence and head butted me several times when I was in her pasture. That goat would go in the freezer at my place.

-Best book I ever bought on goats was Pat Coleby's "Natural Goat Care" for goat health. I use it all the time. Second best is Storey's guide to raising dairy goats.

-Best website I have found is fiascofarm.com for all things dairy goat.

-yes, goats are amazing brush clearing tools. Ask my mother's lilac, apple trees and rose bushes. Just make sure you rotate them through small areas at a time so they don't overgraze the stuff they like and neglect everything else. Get good books from Joel Salitin and Carol Ekarius on pasturing.

-goats are not foolproof or neglectable; they need: weedy fresh hay, no alfalfa; a bit of good grain ration, salt block, loose minerals made especially for goats, kelp and baking soda. If you can offer apple cider vinegar also, so much the better. Your best place to start getting these things is a local feed mill. Line up your mineral feeders in their pen and store the rest in plastic buckets that you got for free from your local bakery.

-a dollar saved is a $1.30 earned (due to taxes). You can sink a fortune into goats but why not make it a game to see how thrifty you can be and still raise a sleek healthy herd? Free buckets to store feed, housing and hay racks built by yourself from the scrap pile, re-using fencing when you need to re-do the manger for the third time because they're still wasting half their hay. We don't cut our fencing anymore when we don't have to, we just overlap it since we know it might need redone later.

-along those lines, learn to build your own stuff. I build the goat stuff in our house and my husband (the professional contractor turned lineman) squalks when nothing is plumb, square or level. but it gets done and it holds them in. besides, that half-bucket of leftover paint from the last bathroom remodel covers a multitude of wrongs.

-save yourself some serious headache and teach your goat to walk on a lead. takes five minutes a day.

-Goats are better than dogs but have an attitude like a cat, you have to work with them like you would a cat. Bribes work great, punishment not so much.

-Keep good records! write stuff down. you won't remember it later, I guarantee. Keep the record and a pen where you do most of your stuff, like the goat shed. Tie the pen to the book!

-Goats like to eat eggs, just an FYI for those of us who keep layers for more than their pretty looks.

-goats, especially kids, are a blast to watch and very relaxing; all your friends will want to hear your goat stories.

I'll post more as it comes to me.

 

[Nikki99]

Wonderful photos.

I've had dairy goats for about 8 months now, got two sisters that were just ready to breed. Only one bred and kidded and gave two little doelings, amazingly cute and gentle. The best attribute of my does is their gentleness, my two year old daughter bosses them around. It was nerve wrecking when I was researching them but once they got here and settled in, we got into a good routine and now it's pretty easy, 30 minutes in the morning to feed and milk and 20 minutes at night to feed them and put them all away. So far, here's what I wish I'd known or want to pass on:

-goats NEED rotational grazing to keep the worm load low. Gallagher's sells amazing set-ups (just demo'd one this weekend) in the electric fencing department. Premier's catalogs are more like short courses on all things goat and sheep than sales brochures, very worth ordering, good prices and high quality stuff. Otherwise, cattle panels and t-posts with carabiners work well around young children. Best investment I made was a post driver from TSC and a post puller from Premier.

-Sweet goats are worth their weight in gold, temperament matters so much since you need to handle them every day. Buy nice goats! A friend's mean goat bit my 9 month old through her fence and head butted me several times when I was in her pasture. That goat would go in the freezer at my place.

-Best book I ever bought on goats was Pat Coleby's "Natural Goat Care" for goat health. I use it all the time. Second best is Storey's guide to raising dairy goats.

-Best website I have found is fiascofarm.com for all things dairy goat.

-yes, goats are amazing brush clearing tools. Ask my mother's lilac, apple trees and rose bushes. Just make sure you rotate them through small areas at a time so they don't overgraze the stuff they like and neglect everything else. Get good books from Joel Salitin and Carol Ekarius on pasturing.

-goats are not foolproof or neglectable; they need: weedy fresh hay, no alfalfa; a bit of good grain ration, salt block, loose minerals made especially for goats, kelp and baking soda. If you can offer apple cider vinegar also, so much the better. Your best place to start getting these things is a local feed mill. Line up your mineral feeders in their pen and store the rest in plastic buckets that you got for free from your local bakery.

-a dollar saved is a $1.30 earned (due to taxes). You can sink a fortune into goats but why not make it a game to see how thrifty you can be and still raise a sleek healthy herd? Free buckets to store feed, housing and hay racks built by yourself from the scrap pile, re-using fencing when you need to re-do the manger for the third time because they're still wasting half their hay. We don't cut our fencing anymore when we don't have to, we just overlap it since we know it might need redone later.

-along those lines, learn to build your own stuff. I build the goat stuff in our house and my husband (the professional contractor turned lineman) squalks when nothing is plumb, square or level. but it gets done and it holds them in. besides, that half-bucket of leftover paint from the last bathroom remodel covers a multitude of wrongs.

-save yourself some serious headache and teach your goat to walk on a lead. takes five minutes a day.

-Goats are better than dogs but have an attitude like a cat, you have to work with them like you would a cat. Bribes work great, punishment not so much.

-Keep good records! write stuff down. you won't remember it later, I guarantee. Keep the record and a pen where you do most of your stuff, like the goat shed. Tie the pen to the book!

-Goats like to eat eggs, just an FYI for those of us who keep layers for more than their pretty looks.

-goats, especially kids, are a blast to watch and very relaxing; all your friends will want to hear your goat stories.

I'll post more as it comes to me.

Wow! This was fantastic!! Thank you so much for your time. I didn't know most of this stuff. How often do you rotate them from place to place for grazing? And, how long do they need to stay off an area after they've been rotated off of it?

Your so right, I've read some here and some there and it's very overwhelming and intimidating. I just want to make sure I can do it right, or not at all. All the talk about diseases (in the reading material I've read anyway) has me very, very nervous. We want a pet that we can love, watch for entertainment and that will provide a service (brush clearing) for us, I don't want something that's going to rack up vet bills. I do have a lot more research to do, and luckily, I have plenty of time to do it. This helps a ton! Thank you!!

 

[Nikki99]

I swear I am not trying to hijack this thread but since we are talking "goat talk" I thought it an appropriate place to say that.....

We Got Goat Babies!!!!!!

They will be staying with their mama's until the end of September but we picked them out today and put a deposit down. Oh my goodness they are adorable! One was born the middle of July and one was born the end of July. They are Nigerian Dwarf (soon to be) wethers. The herd these guys are currently part of belongs to a family who's teenage daughter has them as her 4H project. We had a really good time watching all the babies run and play with each other. Watching the mom's with the younger kids was really sweet too.
We are so excited and still have a lot to learn, it's a good thing we have about a month to get some more education!
Here's some pics....


Baby #1. Black, white and brown. His mom's name is Nygilla, she's brown and white. He was born July 16th.




Baby #2 is black and white with blue eyes. His mom's name is Coconut, she's solid white. He was born July 28th, he and my 11yr old have the same b day!

 

[sumi]

Cute!

I've been watching this thread as we're planning on getting goats once we've moved and settled. Thought I'd do some research while we wait as I know nothing about goats

Since I'm here... I'm thinking 2-3 Nigerian Dwarf does for milk and dairy products for us (family of 3). I heard Dwarfs are good with kids and I know my 6yo son would want to be involved. Thoughts?