Goats?

[Caminofeld]

Hello all, I'm building a temporary goat enclosure this week and will soon be shopping around for at least 2 goats for weed/tangle control, milk, and to interact with the kids and dog.

Does anyone have any helpful advice for picking a goat, raising a goat, etc? Any interesting goat stories? Pictures?

[barnett468]

Does anyone have any helpful advice for picking a goat,

Yes, get the one that kisses the best. http://www.mustang.org.au/forum/Smileys/smilies/thumbsup.gif
.

[86T3]

Goats are the craziest animals I've ever been around. You can't keep them in the ground, they climb everything. We were picking up some used motor oil yesterday and the people had a goat. It jumped up on a trailer, then onto the fence, walked 6 feet on the fence (an inch wide board) then jumped off. It walked out the their kawasaki mule, jumped in, got on the seat, climbed through the windshield area and stood on the hood. They said sometimes the find it on top of their horse trailers, it jumps on the hood of the truck and walks on 5o the cab, and then jumps on the trailer. They're bat trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro crazy. And they eat everything, my old boss had one and it ate all his mom's flowers and bushes. They're just trouble makers and you can't teach them anything. They go where they want and will probably trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro or piss know they're get there. Fun animals but you'll learn why the phrase is stubborn as a goat

[86T3]

I forgot the craziest thing, they said my truck was safe because it's white. He will climb anything except if it's white. Crazy animals

[onformula1]

I have heard some crazy goat stories, but they must be trainable because there is a guy down the street from me that has a goat and dog and they ride around in a SUV with there heads sticking out the window, he has a sticker of a dog on his back window and a goat on the other side..LOL. He also walks it on a leash and takes the goat to the dog park.

[El Camexican]

My friend has 400 female Boer goats on his ranch to do the landscaping. No males, or he'd have 4,000 in no time. As said they can and will climb anything. I don't think I'd trust a goat with kids, at least not a Billy. I could be wrong, but anything with horns and a brain the size of a pea is off my kid friendly list.

[barnett468]

...will soon be shopping around for at least 2 goats for weed/tangle control, milk, and to interact with the kids and dog.

Does anyone have any helpful advice for picking a goat,

Pictures?


.................................................. .......................... MINI GOAT


http://baby.daniellasmisadventures.com/DSCN6839.JPG

[Scootertrash]

I'd be a little sheepish about getting one off of craigslist. You never know if the goat was stolen and the seller was on the lamb.

[3 Wheel Drive]

My dad said his goat nearly killed him in the late 60's...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4a/cf/46/4acf4688af9c3959e89ff80543c752e4.jpg

Some owners claim they will eat anything that challenges them: rabbits, jaguars, cobras, eagles, cougars, impallas, vipers, road runners, mustangs etc.... They have also been known to snack on bugs like: spiders, beetles, scorpions and hornets.:twisted:

[atctim]

That goat's got devil eyes!

[tripledog]

I'd be a little sheepish about getting one off of craigslist. You never know if the goat was stolen and the seller was on the lamb.

Have you got mutton better to say? That was baaaaahhhdd!

[atc007]

If you get a male. Band it immediately. I have farmed my entire life,and like T3 said. Goats are in a whole nother category of their own. Unfixed males piss on themselves, when nervous, drink it,straight. The good/nice clean ones,lay in their excrement. They are a dirty animal. They are also absolutely awesome. If you can fence them in,do not have anything near enough to the fence for them to jump out over the fence. They will. They will amaze you with their climbing and balancing skills. All they need to eat is earth and water. If we actually get a winter, hay. I went to buy goat feed at Tractor supply,mainly for treats. The lady said, you do know they will just eat hay,weeds and grass and snow all winter and be fine? I said yeah lol. She had them all her life. Milking goats seem to be the nicest. But I have a lil fainter right now I get a real kick out of.

[Scootertrash]

Have you got mutton better to say? That was baaaaahhhdd!

I knew I couldn't pull the wool over your eyes!

[tripledog]

You mean thighs... you did mention being on the lamb.

[cr480r]

We currently have 4 nigerian dwarfs. 3 of them were bottle fed kids that we got at 3 days old. The better the place you have to keep them the easier it will be. They can be sensitive to diet changes and prone to illness when kept in small pens.. We lost one early on by not knowing how to identify rumen issues. Need to stay on top of it when they get ill. Haven't had any problems since moving them to a larger pen with a variety of feed. They can be quite destructive if they get loose. They will also eat bark off some trees, so keep that in mind when choosing a location for the pen They don't seem to do well alone so buy two. Mine have been fine with children, but they are dwarfs.. Our female is more aggressive than our wethers.

[Scootertrash]

You mean thighs... you did mention being on the lamb.

Well, I figgered I should at least buy you dinner and a couple drinks before we went that far :naughty:

[tripledog]

Well, I figgered I should at least buy you dinner and a couple drinks before we went that far :naughty:

Wow, the yarns we are spinning are derailing this thread.

[Scootertrash]

Well, we tend to be a pretty close knit group around here. A little needling comes with the territory. ;)

[tripledog]

I can't compete with ewe Scooter!

[Scootertrash]

Dude, you and I need to get together for beers sometime! We'd have a blast! It would be shear lunacy! Probably drive our wimmenz nutz with all the puns and bad jokes, but it would be a blast! My wife is pretty used to it, but I still get the occasional eye roll from time to time.

I do have two goat stories, just to prove I'm not here to only derail this thread:

A buddy had 2 mini goats for awhile. eat everything, climb on everything, and when they wanted to play, think butting heads, you would put your foot up and they would head butt th ebottom of your foot. When they didi that you pushed back as hard as you could with your foot. After you got them started they didn't want to quit. You have to watch your back for awhile when you were done.

A guy I was doing some yard work for had a full size goat, meaning his head came up a few inches shy of my shoulder. His name was Derek. He would come running when you called him and follow you around the yard just like a dog. He would play chase with the owners black lab, it was funny as hell. He would chase the dog and play butt him, the dog would chase him around the yard and then Derek would jump or climb up on something where the dog couldn't follow. The dog would start to walk away after a few minutes, Derek would jump down, play butt him in the hinder again and it would start all over.

I think the lab had gotten a couple of good solid head butts from Derek, because there were times when the lab was chasing Derek and he would abruptly turn around and put his head down and the lab would be like "OH SH!T!!!" and turn around and high tail it. Great cartoons!

[tripledog]

Sure, blame it on the goat.

http://www.marketmenot.com/geico-screaming-scapegoat-commercial/

[Caminofeld]

Sure, blame it on the goat.

http://www.marketmenot.com/geico-screaming-scapegoat-commercial/

Personally I blame it on the rain...

[Caminofeld]

Thanks guys, tomorrow is my first day of pen-building. I'll get some pics up when I get it done.

In the evening I'm driving to look at 2 goat kids for sale…one is a Nubian/Boer doeling and the other is an Alpine buckling. I'm steering towards the Boers though, because I want something big enough that it won't get eaten by a fox (I've seen some huge ones on my property). It sounds like they will probably be good with kids and dogs if they are raised around them, so I have high hopes.

I scored a large free shed off CL and my plan is to rebuild it next to the chicken coop with a large pen by late Fall. For now I'm going to pen them in the back part of my yard; which is plagued by unbelievable tangle. I'm going to use livestock panel for the fencing and make a temporary run-in insulated with straw. I think the panels will be great because I can easily move the enclosure to prevent overgrazing and work my way around the property to clear some brush.

[tripledog]

Personally I blame it on the rain...

You mean the song title isn't "Blame it on Lorraine"? Bummer.