Goats...

[babeandbessy]

Anybody have goats? How much work are they? How do yours live.. in/out? Thinking of getting some as 'yard pets' seeing as being pregnant theres not much other half will let me do with the horses. Where did you get them from also?

 

[widget]

And goats with horns would be better! I've got three they are lovely stabled at night out in day but like jumping fences!!!

 

[Bobbly]

Do you need any sort of licence from Defra to keep goats?

 

[moana]

Beware goats with horns! - often head-butt horses (and people etc!) Not all of course.

 

[JillA]

I used to keep goats - you do need more than one, they need company of their own kind. And they don't do cold and wet, like donkeys they need shelter whenever it rains. And they will eat all the plants you love and ignore the ones you hate. And if you want milk, you will have to have kids and there is no market for male kids, except for meat. And you will have to milk at least once a day - I would milk once and let the kids take the rest, but days off are out of the question. Dog sitting? Easy peasy? Horse sitting? Not a problem? Goat sitting with milking - no chance!!
But they are great characters, when they aren't escaping (two together escape a great deal less than one on its own) and mostly they don't butt you unless you spoil them and then stop spoiling them! I don't know about traceability and Defra beauracracy though, mine were way before that.

 

[Enfys]

Anybody have goats? Um, yes, just a few

How much work are they? As much, or as little as you want them to be. As JillA says a milking doe is very tying, she HAS to be milked, and to get milk, you need kids, if you have kids you will have to castrate any bucklings, and preferably get them de-horned too, unless they are a polled breed.

How do yours live.. in/out? Mine live in, but are either tethered or in paddocks when the weather is suitable. They hate rain, don't like snow much and feel the cold. If you have them in a paddock you need small mesh wire that is at least 3' high with electric wire on top, nothing that they can climb on must be anywhere near a fence. They can live out quite happily if they have a shed, and they prefer a platform to lie on, a couple of pallets/straw bales will do. They can live with horses but one well aimed kick will kill or maim them. If they are not de-horned they can, inadvertently, disembowel a horse in a worse case scenario, and they must also have escape routes- fenced off sections where they can escape and/or hide and the horses cannot get at them - some horses hate goats. I have seen horses pick goats up and try to squash them.

Thinking of getting some as 'yard pets' seeing as being pregnant theres not much other half will let me do with the horses. Padlock your feed shed, feed bins, any gates and anything else that you don't want them getting into. Never, ever, leave wheelbarrows unattended, and forget having any sort of greenery/flowers about the place that aren't suspended 5' in the air Or more, Goat reaches higher than 6'

Where did you get them from also?

You can pick goats up anywhere, local papers, local market, look for ads in farm stores. If there is a dairy farm near you waltz up there and they will give you buckling kids for a couple of pounds, or even free.) Put adverts out "Wanted goats for pets" - you will be inundated with offers

Goats are great people. I love my goats. They come in all sizes, pygmys are a convenient size, dairy breeds get big - I have a Saanan that stands 34" at the shoulder.

They are amusing, generally gentle, and usually get on with other animals. Dogs will learn to leave them alone as an adult goat can stand up for itself - one of my GSDs limped for a week after she got butted.

They prefer grass and browsing to weeds, are quite fussy eaters, won't touch dirty hay (so feed from racks, or haybags - never haynets), like their water fresh, they will eat horse food, but goat ration is not expensive. Corn will give them bloat, as do brassicas. They also need their feet trimmed, you can either do that or your farrier may (my farrier has a contract at a local dairy farm to do 500 goats!)

 

[debsandpets]

We got rid of our Golden Guernsey goat trio as goat food was ludicrously expensive IMO compared to sheep feed. They didn't touch grass, so had to have hay and concentrate all the time. And they also need proper shelter, which we didn't have available in our fields - started off keeping them at home with shelter etc, but when the Billy came home, they had to move house due to the smell of billy wafting down the garden into the house ........