Goats, sheep, pigs

[Nudibranch]

So following on from my bridging loan madness post, we did it and are now proceeding on the dream place! Still a long way to go but fingers crossed.
Anyway I will finally be able to start my long awaited Herdwick flock. Will add a couple of pigs, and expand my chicken flock. I'm also after a couple of Golden Guernsey goats but I don't yet know all that much about them! Do they generally get along with sheep? And horses? I'm planning to keep the pigs totally separate as the ones we had when I was a kid used to chase sheep. This is all assuming the boundary fences are in good order! There's lots to browse so I'm thinking the land is quite well suited to goats.
Goat advice much appreciated....

 

[piebaldproblems]

Can’t offer any advice, but I do have a dream of eventually having a smallholding myself. So will be following this thread (and any pictures you provide of your future sheep ) keenly.

 

[rabatsa]

It is generally advised not to keep sheep and goats together as they require different husbandry. Goats get all sheep diseases and several cow ones, they have different feed and vaccination intervals.

I kept goats for many years and they are delightful animals, now I keep sheep which are not as hands on but have personalities of their own.

 

[planete]

Standard size goats can jump six foot fences and they like to browse on anything that is not animal or mineral. i love them and use to keep a few free range when I lived in north Wales but the set up required to keep them fenced in on agricultural land would be a big no-no for me as I would not keep them in a small enclosure. I herded them for quite a few weeks when I first got them until they were hefted and we covered a lot of ground in a grazing period, they like a big area to move around. I think pygmy goats are better suited to a small holding.

 

[rabatsa]

Pygmy goats are a nuisance, I have seen one scale a chain link fence. Dairy goats tend to be easier to keep. Golden Guernseys are nice goats and generally not too jumpy so a stock fence and top rail should keep them in. I bred British Alpines and they were good too, visiting Anglo Nubians were right pains in the backside.

 

[Maddie Moo]

We have goats at work - they’re kept separate from the sheep but have the free roam of the rest of the property. They’re no problem around the horses and the horses seem to be quite happy with them grazing in their fields when they chose to go in there with them.

Just be aware that they will find any weaknesses in your fencing and may make a bid for freedom (or into the feed room ??‍) if given the opportunity.

Their feet will need trimming if they starts to overgrow otherwise you can get lameness and other foot related issues, it’s something you can do yourself once you know how to and it’s fairly easy to get to grips with. I’ve found that like horses, some goats have better feet than others, we have some that need trimming more frequently to keep their feet healthy. A vet would be able to help guide you with that.

They’re really lovely animals to own though.

 

[Antw23uk]

Ahh the dream ... I remember five years ago listing all the animals i was going to have when i brought the barn conversion and land with stables. Thankfully i realised early on and before committing to every waif and stray (once people know you have land you get a lot of freebie offers, lol!) that a full time job to pay the mortgage AND a few pigs, sheep and extra chickens to go with the horse or two, that you rather like riding more than once a week, plus the dog and cats was far from a good idea. You spend your life fixing post and rail, poo picking and doing all those jobs that miraculously got done on livery, even though you could never understand how or when they got done and why your livery yard owner always looked tired and grumpy ...... Hahaa

Its really exciting but go slow. Im so thankful i didnt go all guns blazing because other than being a field ornament(s) there would be no point having a horse because it would never get a decent look in because your spending all your time shovelling sh*t or at work trying to pay for it all, lol!

Goats are a nightmare, i asked and got scared off the idea by everyone i ever spoke to about them

 

[Nudibranch]

I've only ever spent about 3 years in total on livery in my entire life and that was many years ago so I'm pretty used to being self sufficient in terms of land management, the only real difference is that there will be more of it. Hence the additional stock (I also work part time and the mortgage will be miniscule so it should be manageable even with a 5 yr old...hopefully). What I won't miss is sharing a barn with a farmer and scraping 2 inches of half dried sheep **** off concrete every time I want to use it. My barn, my rules!