Goats

[Crosshill Pacers]

Looking for some help to get the ball rolling. I've been pestering OH for some time to get some goats as all of our land is grazed by horses and is crying out for something else to strip it bare of all the flowers and weeds. I grew up on a sheep farm and despite my dad's best efforts to get me to branch out into shepherding to follow in his footsteps, I just don't really like sheep all that much.

OH finally agreed last week to start looking for two nanny goats. I said I didn't mind if they were mixed breed or what they looked like as they will be there to eat everything in sight, so as long as they have good appetites I'm not caring about the rest!

That said, I have always been slightly obsessed with goats at agricultural shows, and said if I ever got any I would get some Toggenburgs. My dad has also told me I should get a proper breed (my nan said I should get pygmies, as apparently I liked them the most when I was a child).

Does anybody know of any for sale in the central Scotland area? I've been trawling Gumtree/Freeads etc. but just wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction.

Thanks

 

[paddi22]

check your fencing!! we got goats for a similar reason and they are the bane of of our lives. Ours seem to be particularly destructive. Our are turned into an acre field on the hope they will eat weeds, but instead spend their entire time breaking through the fencing and chewing through our clothes, wires, car parts, basically anything apart from what we got them for. They bounce on eachothers backs so they can spring onto the car, then the jeep, then our roof. Last week they knocked our satellite dish off. They have bashed through any fencing we have ever put up, even professionally done fencing. We thought we had it cracked with tough horsewire, but they can hook their evil little hooves through it and climb up. If i had to go back in time i'd get sheep.

 

[millikins]

No advice but following with interest as thinking of doing the same. I have a lot of overgrown hedges too, which sheep wouldn't eat would they?

 

[Bellasophia]

Paddi 22 I'm rolling with laughter here..soooo true....just two days ago we went to walk our dogs and saw a white goat hanging outside its fence line by a collar being strangled to death..it had jumped out and been hanging for at least a day.My hub lifted it back and we felt we'd done a good deed.
Next evening we saw the same daft
goat bouncing to and fro to dodge the traffic...it had jumped out again..this time it wasn't so easy to catch but when it saw my st poodle it came running up to us like my dog was one of his herd.lol..
We caught it again and threw it over the fence...
Yes definitely high fences and no easy escape routes...if I gets out again we will ring the vigili...my poor hub was covered in bramble scratches,thorns and Fell in a ditch for this goat...me ? I laughed a lot,but by golly they are not for me!

 

[Kylara]

Do be aware that goats are seriously picky about what they eat. And they can be a handful (escaping, jumping on things they shouldn't be jumping on, eating things they shouldn't). They can be lovely though, just choose wisely!

 

[Crosshill Pacers]

check your fencing!! we got goats for a similar reason and they are the bane of of our lives. Ours seem to be particularly destructive. Our are turned into an acre field on the hope they will eat weeds, but instead spend their entire time breaking through the fencing and chewing through our clothes, wires, car parts, basically anything apart from what we got them for. They bounce on eachothers backs so they can spring onto the car, then the jeep, then our roof. Last week they knocked our satellite dish off. They have bashed through any fencing we have ever put up, even professionally done fencing. We thought we had it cracked with tough horsewire, but they can hook their evil little hooves through it and climb up. If i had to go back in time i'd get sheep.

We have an acre which my mare is being turned out on shortly, and although she will make a good effort to clear the grass there is still plenty of 'rubbish' that a hippo like her won't even get around to eating. Plus we have another field with a mare and foal in which needs a bit of help clearing; that's rented land though and although I've considered asking the neighbouring farmer if he wants to turn some sheep out in there, it's not the best of grazing so he may be reluctant. Perhaps that would be a better idea? Borrowing some sheep?

Do be aware that goats are seriously picky about what they eat. And they can be a handful (escaping, jumping on things they shouldn't be jumping on, eating things they shouldn't). They can be lovely though, just choose wisely!

A friend of mine down in Wales keeps two, both the bane of her life, but she tethers them. I don't know if that would maybe be better but then I have visions of my horses attacking them as not one of them has seen a goat in their life...

 

[paddi22]

they can genuinely be evil! we cant even give ours away as it would be like handing a curse to someone! A petting zoo wouldnt even take them as one has arthritis from when it jumped off our roof and fractured its knee. I wouldnt depend on goats doing anything you actually want them to do. Genuinely the only useful thing are can be relied on to do is eat the xmas tree when xmas is over.

The irony is they were filmed for a tv show in a hotel roomand did exactly what the tv crew wanted them to do. As soon as they came home they turned into little b*llixs again!

 

[paddi22]

i'd be wary tethering them, a neighbours goat managed to strangle itself recently. They are grand with our horses, they just wait till they are aslepp and lying down and then they sneak up and eat tails and rugs.

 

[paddi22]

we have an acre of delicious looking weeds for them and they got out the other week and ate the coolant pipe on jeep, so the engine overheated when i was driving up the road I had actually thought they were just sunbathing in the shade, but they never do anything harmless or cute like that. Just constant evil.

 

[Crosshill Pacers]

Paddi you have not sold them to me at all!! They always look so innocent when I see them in fields and at shows...how wrong I must be!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

other people's goats are brilliant fun-and thats all I have to say

 

[paddi22]

honestly, anyone who wants two goats can have mine, i'l gift wrap them and all!

 

[planete]

The only fencing that might reliably keep goats in is deer fencing in my experience. Bear in mind that goats are browsers, not grazers and prefer eating from bushes and hedgerows to eating grass. They also need access to shelter from bad weather. They are clever, determined and mischievous but they can also be doglike. I used to herd mine and it was easy as they would just follow me. It was actually quite difficult to give them the slip when I decided they knew the land and had an established routine so should be able to manage without me. Pygmy goats would probably be easier to contain with normal fencing than full size ones.

I loved mine but they were free range in the welsh mountains, an ideal set-up for goats (the then Forestry Commission did not agree!)

 

[ribbons]

Pygmy goats are even more trouble than regular sized goats. I have know idea how they manage some of the mischief they get into. They are the masters of escape.