Goats (Not really horsey I know!)

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YouOnlyLiveOnce

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But I just thought there must be some of you on here who keep goats and I may be able to get some useful information!
I was considering at one point bringing my horse to live at home, but have now decided against that as think it would be too much of a struggle with the amount of grazing we have.
We have a couple of acres and we would like to keep something on it, I really like the idea of being able to give some animals a loving forever home, maybe animals that haven't had the best start in life. We can offer a quiet calm environment. and a lot of love.

We thought goats however we haven't kept them before and I don't really know too much about caring for them.
It goes without saying we would not go ahead with this until we have done all of our research and spoken to the necessary people to be able to care for them correctly. I have a very high standard when it comes to animal care and would not jeopardize any animals wellbeing.

I just wanted to ask before we embark on this journey if any of you seasoned goat lovers are able to give me any pieces of obvious advice / facts that would be beneficial when thinking about keeping these lovely creatures? :-)

Thanks so much in advance
 
I have kept goats for approx 10 years now. They are great and terrific pets..............but, they actually do not each much grass-preferring hay, hedges, brambles and overgrown stuff-mine are in a small paddock with 6 inch long grass at the moment and look at me longingly for hay every day!!! They are not waterproof like sheep and horses either so they absolutely have to have some sort of shelter from the rain. They also have no respect for fencing (especially the pygmy goats) and will jump or go under most fencing, they also like to tread it down as they climb to reach the vegetation outside their field (as this always tastes better!). They need worming, vaccinating and foot care and you must be a registered smallholding, have a number allocated and fill in defra paperwork, even for pets. I think they are worth it, but it is a bit of hassle to be honest!
 
I wouldn't have goats again unless I was paid VERY well. Sheep are just about bearable. As you are already used to horses how about a couple of minis?

I finally fell out of love with goats after the awful day when my two nannies, both due to pod any day, were firstly caught on the top of my brand new car - less than 100miles old! and then decided to get over a four foot fence to go and play with the traffic. They were having a high old time trying to mug drivers who stopped. They were sold the next day.

To own goats you need a CPH number and will need to comply with DEFRA's paperwork - movement orders and the like. If you want milk you need babies, which means a billy (and they SMELL) or trips to visit a billy, which involves movement orders etc. You also need to trim feet. Most farriers will do them but don't like it. If you want to milk get some that are used to it otherwise it's incredibly frustrating.

I still reckon you'd be far better off with a couple of small rescue ponies, possibly small retirement home ponies, or a couple of minis.
 
Thank you all so much, this is so insightful and may actually make me think twice about goats. Its a shame but ideally I wanted something to graze the land but smallish animals that don't need too much space, as I said we only have a couple of acres.
I'm so glad I asked. Unfortunately it sounds like they may not be the animals for us...
If anyone has any suggestions of what would be the best animals to give a home to on this amount of land, preferably animals that graze, I will gladly take all suggestions on board! We have a lot of love to give!
Thank you all for your advice
 
we have pygmy goats, absolutely love them, very playful and cute but they would test your patience!. useless for keeping grass down, they eat everything apart from it. They are a nightmare to keep in though! Nightmare! We had post and rail and wire all round their paddock and they bashed through it. They can escape anything! They battered down a wooden fence recently. Then when we reinforced everything, one would jump onto the back of the other and leap over the fence, then they'd roar crying because they were parted. As soon as they bash through part of a fence they just wander back into their paddock.

We only had them a week and they escaped and ate a rose bush my neighbour planted over her dead husbands ashes. Then one went into season and screamed 24/7 for three days. I had to lock them in my jeep and drive it into a field so we could sleep.This happened every month till we got her neutered eventually to stop the roaring. They jumped on our shed roof, bashed in part of it and ate most of my good stable rug. One of them got his head caught in a metal gate when we were out and our neighbours had to get welding gear to free him. They literally ate a whole kids trampoline before, minus the metal bits. On the rare moments they are not breaking stuff, they spend their time headbutting my poor chickens around the place.

Our seems to be especially naughty for some reason, it just never ends. i can see why people drew satan with a goats face in old drawings! Saying that, they are absolutely hilarious and we get great enjoyment from them.

If you do get them, make sure you have good fencing. Our demolished thick chicken wire so We put chainlink fence, plus wooden panels round the paddock and we regularly find them like this \/\/\/\/\/.

photo_zps987e5183.jpg
 
If you want a grazing animal, perhaps consider geese. We have exhibition toulouse/ toulouse dewlap (look like Stephen Fry). They are really affectionate and climb onto your lap for a stroke, lovely to look at, good at guarding. You can eat the eggs and the geese. The toulouse form pair bonds and go around in couples. Most geese need water to breed, and like a bit to paddle in but even a trough would do.
I know they don't sound very exciting but they are easy and delightful in their own way.
 
Go on, get a pair of mini's - but work them :)
Break them to harness & you & OH can use them to do grassboarding (on wheels), sledging in the winter & take them out & about to scare local horse riders ;)

They DO keep the grass down, but for 2 acres you might just need a few more than 2 :biggrin3:
 
Donkeys aren't much good at keeping grass down either. They are browsers rather than grazers. Oh and they like escaping too. That said I wouldn't part with my donks but they are not perhaps the best lawnmowers. How about just topping it from time to time to keep it down.
 
Geese would be my choice too. Or what about something really stroppy, like alpacas?


*someone is going to come along in a minute to say alpacas are lovely* ;)
 
Goats :p , don't mention goats. Great at escaping, get in the garden and eat the flowers off the plants and chew the washing, run up the road into the village and when you put a halter on them lie down and scream at the top of their voices like you are trying to murder them when they know perfectly well how to lead. Chew the ponies' tails, chew the electric cables on the trailer so the lights don't work. Eat everything, in fact, apart from what you give them to eat.
 
Thanks again for all replies. Its not so much an issue keeping the grass down, we have a sit on mower and just keep on top of it, it was more having a bit of space available and wanting to give some animals in need a home. Did think about alpacas too but again would need to research as not had any experience with them! Lots to think about here, thanks a lot everyone :-)
 
Thy are lovely and can make fantastic pets. There are a few things to consider though.

Horns. Best not to have horned ones as they can get quite bargy and the horns hurt and can even do bad damage.
They are often great escape artists, so good fencing requiered.
Got Holders Number, You will need to get one for these.

Then decide on your breed, get your goats and enjoy!
 
Love the goat posts, we had them whilst living in France and I adored them, they did not however eat the grass at all, they did escape a lot, they did eat our neighbours marijuana plants (yes really) not popular - I suggested they called the police, they didn't shock!

Generally they are little devils, but great fun to watch. We gave up and let them roam, on 20 acres with lots of variation they were content and never left the outer reaches but we could not contain them in a paddock, with any fence!
 
Some rare breed sheepies! Sorry no personal experience but we have some lovely ones at our yard. The pig / goats / alpacas/ peacocks I could leave and so would my horse!
 
My two goats are a darn nightmare, they are horned so have to be tempted away when the ponies are fed because they will barge in to the buckets wielding their horns - intentionally or otherwise! They can run up vertical fences and diagonal fence bracing posts. The ponies do interact with them very well and they do all play chase which is cute

If you have goats you need four things

1) a sense of humour bordering on madness
2) no champion rose/marrow/runner bean/sweet pea growers in a five mile radius (the LANGUAGE that these people use when angry is disgraceful)
3) an amazing 'oh my goodness me he has never done THAT before' convincing voice along with a suitably theatrical hand to the chest gesture
4) a memory for the faces to know which lie you told which person last

Sheep on the other hand are a good choice, get the fat ones as they dont tend to go far
 
If I had spare land I'd be desperate for donkeys, but they live forever and there isn't the resale market that the is for horses. I'd probably fill the field with soay sheep as a deer/goat/sheep compromise so I wouldn't be able to get donks or minnies. I'd worry about getting hit by a bus/loosing all my money/endless unlikely scenarios, and then having to rehome them. Soay would be great for me as I'm useless at making up my mind and they'd be a comprises between some of my fave animals

PollyP99 said:
they did eat our neighbours marijuana plants
Click to expand...
Did it have any effect?
 
This post has had me in stitches ! always fancied a goat for milking but not after reading this ! we have thirteen geese at the minute, be have bought them for Christmas and reared them from fluffy yellow balls of fluff in April and now look fully grown. They have been highly entertaining and I can confirm they do scoff lots of grass ! and may make a mess of your hedging. I introduced the ponies to them last weekend and they both didn't bat an eye lid at each other. When I introduced the sheep and geese there was a bit of chasing and head butting from the lambs but everything has settled down now. We used to keep pigs many years ago but they tend to root even with rings are put in their noses and turn your grassland upside down ! I did use to ride around on an old a large white sow before I was bought a pony when I was a little girl LOL X
 
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