Tell me about Goats?

[poiuytrewq]

I worked at a yard that had 3 yo would come out the house and let them out of the pen having no regard of what was happening on the yard, on occasions I have been feeding the yard and they literally attack you to get to the buckets, they rear up at you boxing away butt you chew on your clothing, and if they got in the feed room it was carnage you just can't get them out they just tip all the bins over get in them.

They chew everything we couldn't leave anything outside stables or it got chewed, why the yo thought they should have the run of the place I don't know it was miserable and liveries did leave because of them.

I wouldn't ever have them.

Did we work at the same yard?

 

[poiuytrewq]

@shanti you must regret having asked this
Have we sold you the idea?
How about sheep? Friend had a few hand reared lambs who stayed really sweet and friendly as pet sheep

 

[Goldenstar]

My friend had a adorable goat as an companion for her lone horse he was a castrated male he was a lovely character .

 

[JBM]

They get stuck everywhere
Put their head in and can’t get back out cuz of their horns I swear I found the same goat stuck in the same place every. Single. Day!
Never again

 

[millikins]

I had 2, a wether and a nanny, both unregistered saanens. They were actually charming, the wether especially was very clever, I watched him shove a large plastic planter until he could climb on it to reach an overhanging tree. He was also very much "my" goat, very jealous of the dog but he never did anything worse than threaten to butt. I bought them to eat weeds, and they did if you were there with them otherwise they usually hung about in the yard, never tried to escape. The cost of suitable mobile fencing and shelter to keep them where I wanted the weeds eaten wasn't viable so they were free range in the day and had a pen and field shelter at night.
Sadly he became ill last year, called an absolutely useless farm vet and eventually had him pts, no idea what he was ill with and I gave the nanny back to the farmer who bred them, she's now had kids and is a milking goat. I was very fond of them, especially the wether but as others have said if you don't have correct facilities they can be a nuisance.

 

[millikins]

They get stuck everywhere
Put their head in and can’t get back out cuz of their horns I swear I found the same goat stuck in the same place every. Single. Day!
Never again

Mine put his head through a sheep hurdle, I had to rapidly find a car jack to release him

 

[JBM]

Mine put his head through a sheep hurdle, I had to rapidly find a car jack to release him

I feel they do it on purpose sometimes just to see us panic

 

[millikins]

They are lovely in curry ….

I worked with several Nigerians, Indians and a Mauritian in my last job, none could understand why on earth anyone would keep goats as pets and kept suggesting recipes.

 

[shanti]

Ummmmm....... I honestly don't know what to say! I WAS hoping to show my husband this thread but that's obviously not happening now

I'm going to dream about evil goats all night now

 

[sassandbells]

Despite all of the replies to the thread, I still think I want goats on my future farm thanks for asking this Shanti!

 

[Chuffy99]

I had a British toggenburg nanny goat given to me, she was very happy keeping my NF pony company and he was fine with her
When it got cold or wet I bought her a waterproof dog rug so she could still go out, my neighbour rang to say quick look at your pony who was carrying said quite large goat about by the surcingle, she obviously didn’t mind as on trying to keep her safe on her own she would climb the fence to get back with him. She was however a pest with all the fruit trees and was eventually rehomed

 

[Sparkeyboy]

I've loved reading this thread, glad we weren't the only ones !! As others have said, it seems to be down to management where people go wrong, and we definitely did. We got 2 goats and thought they'd be happy grazing with the horses in the field. An 8ft electric fence later.... they still jumped it and escaped. We made the mistake of treating them like pets which I think is where it went wrong. They became very over-friendly, wouldn't leave you alone so it was a battle to try and get in and out of the house without letting the blighter's past you. They climbed on the cars, chewed the ariels, chewed everything!

I think if managed properly they're not as bad, when you see them at farms they always seem quite content but they're in larger groups. Would love them again but would definitely do my research first

 

[Nudibranch]

I'm still bemused as to how people have found goats such a disaster. Even with 26 running about they were fine...bottle babies can be pushy but they soon learn not to jump up if you "discourage" it.

I know someone who runs meat goats (ex dairy not boers) 200 at a time and like mine they stay behind 3 strands of electric. I guess like horses if your energiser isn't up to the job they'll get out. And they absolutely do graze, especially ANs. Mine have topped 10 acres very nicely. The person who runs the big herd grazes them like sheep.

I suspect they'll feature quite heavily on Clarksons Farm series 3 as he is trialling ex dairy meat billies. Given they allow their goats to climb all over them I expect they won't make a good advert for goat behaviour again, like horses it's all down to what you let them get away with.

And yes they are delicious. I sell kid goat - not actually baby kid, think 9-10 month grown adolescents. Like a delicate lamb with less fat. No doubt when Clarkson features them they'll be popular eating for a while.

 

[Esmae]

We had AN's, and AN Alpine crosses. The AN's were not in the same league of sheer destructive force, but still lovely characters. I've been out of goats for years (OH is quite keen though) and the golden guernsey's look to have similar temperaments. The pygmies would really tempt me if didn't know better...

I had one wonderful AN x Alpine with fabulous helicopter ears. She was hermaphrodite so never bred but was such a character and a really hammy actress that we kept her as a pet. I loved my AN's. Beautiful personalities and so pretty.

 

[Esmae]

I'm still bemused as to how people have found goats such a disaster. Even with 26 running about they were fine...bottle babies can be pushy but they soon learn not to jump up if you "discourage" it.

I know someone who runs meat goats (ex dairy not boers) 200 at a time and like mine they stay behind 3 strands of electric. I guess like horses if your energiser isn't up to the job they'll get out. And they absolutely do graze, especially ANs. Mine have topped 10 acres very nicely. The person who runs the big herd grazes them like sheep.

I suspect they'll feature quite heavily on Clarksons Farm series 3 as he is trialling ex dairy meat billies. Given they allow their goats to climb all over them I expect they won't make a good advert for goat behaviour again, like horses it's all down to what you let them get away with.

And yes they are delicious. I sell kid goat - not actually baby kid, think 9-10 month grown adolescents. Like a delicate lamb with less fat. No doubt when Clarkson features them they'll be popular eating for a while.

I ran all my billy kids on for meat. Wonderful under rated meat.

 

[Apercrumbie]

Oh I always enjoy a goat thread, love hearing the things they get up to from the safety of my own sofa!! I would also love goats one day but in reality know it would be a disaster. I think the shetland has indoctrinated me into loving stubborn, cheeky escape artists so I just want more!

 

[Sealine]

The yard I was on as a child had a milking goat. In the day, as long as it was dry, she was tethered on the field edge to eat the weeds and hedges. She loved elder trees and absolutely hated getting wet. At night she was kept in a pen. One morning we found her with an ear missing! We never did find the ear or work out what happened.

 

[shanti]

we had two mini goats, I still have post traumatic stress disorder from them. I love animals. I love ALL animals. but I grew to hate these goats. and they were so cute. I can't bring myself to type the litany of destruction they brought, if you do a search for mini goats it's on here. do not get goats. never ever get goats. no-one should have goats. I don't know how I can stress this more. they ate through my brake cables and I nearly crashed. the ate through my coolant pipe and destroyed my jeep engine. they broke the satellite dish on my roof, then jumped off, breaking a leg and ending up in a vet hospital where they escaped onto a university campus and broke a man's arm who was trying to catch them. Jesus im having flashbacks again. don't get goats.

I showed this reply to my daughter who immediately sent it to my husband. Apparently if I get goats he is divorcing me

 

[Pinkvboots]

They are lovely in curry ….

Nooo the meat actually tastes how they smell in a stable but I know some people love it

 

[Pinkvboots]

Did we work at the same yard?

They are plain evil and I was only about 20 if I had to put up with them now I would probably find a shot gun from somewhere

 

[Pinkvboots]

I showed this reply to my daughter who immediately sent it to my husband. Apparently if I get goats he is divorcing me

My husbands brother ran a safari park and he said goats were in a pen there as an attraction with a machine you put money in to get pellets for the goats, my husband said the most funniest thing his ever seen was his neices and daughter all ran down went in the pen as soon as the pellets came down the goats literally butted them all out the way and had there little mouths waiting for the pellets

 

[Cortez]

So much goat hate! I loved my goats and would have them again in a heart beat. Like any other animal you have to have the right set up. They can make lovely pets but you need the right land, fencing, housing and knowledge of how they operate. I have a friend who drives hers in a little cart and I've never seen happier goats.

Goats are much too intelligent to just sit in a field and do have a sense of humour.

 

[paddy555]

I found goats do best in a constant temperature. It is called a deep freeze

. If I ever had to have another it would be a Golden Guernsey. She was lovely and the only nice, sweet, calm and nice breed you could live with. Just went into the field, stayed in the field and ate grass.

 

[Esmae]

Nooo the meat actually tastes how they smell in a stable but I know some people love it

It only tastes if you use uncastrated males. I always ringed my billy kids and then they went for slaughter at about 9/10 months old. No nasty taste then.

 

[Andie02]

It only tastes if you use uncastrated males. I always ringed my billy kids and then they went for slaughter at about 9/10 months old. No nasty taste then.

Every day a school day .......I didn't know that. Thanks Esmae. Not that I am going to try eating them again.

 

[rabatsa]

We got given a pedigree goat as a wedding present, not easy to give that one away without it being noticed .

One goat became many goats and I bred and showed them. Everytime the car needed taxing or insuring I would sell a goat to pay for it. Life took over and the goats had to go. I then got a part time job milking goats, 700 when I started and 10 years later I was milking 4,000.

Would I have goats again? No. I now keep sheep instead, far less trouble and not as time consuming.

 

[Jenko109]

When I was a child, a local boy had a sizeable back garden with a zipline running across it.

They also had a goat.

The goat would wait for us to go on the zipline and chase us along. He would butt you and hard if you didn't jump off and run away quick enough!

 

[EventingMum]

My son was given a goat by a distant uncle. She was very sweet and apart from climbing out of fields or anywhere we put her not too much trouble. She got fatter and fatter and then produced two billy kids. No one would rehome them so we castrated them and kept them for a while but the three together caused mayhem. One cost me a fortune as he broke his leg climbing up a stack of hay bales and jumping off and if the got into the tack room they would emerge wearing bridles on their horns or any other things they could find. they were also partial to jumping into cars or the farriers van causing chaos. Eventually I managed to rehome them. A man had just bought a small holding and wanted goats as he'd had some as a child. He turned up to collect them in a new Reault Clio and put the back seats down and put them in loose. I sure at least one would be in the front seat by the time he'd got out of our drive!

 

[Jellymoon]

Oh my gosh, best thread ever! I also want goats…well I did…until I read the posts about what little shiiits they are…but then the post about the really happy goats pulling a little cart?? How cute would that be?

 

[Esmae]

My son was given a goat by a distant uncle. She was very sweet and apart from climbing out of fields or anywhere we put her not too much trouble. She got fatter and fatter and then produced two billy kids. No one would rehome them so we castrated them and kept them for a while but the three together caused mayhem. One cost me a fortune as he broke his leg climbing up a stack of hay bales and jumping off and if the got into the tack room they would emerge wearing bridles on their horns or any other things they could find. they were also partial to jumping into cars or the farriers van causing chaos. Eventually I managed to rehome them. A man had just bought a small holding and wanted goats as he'd had some as a child. He turned up to collect them in a new Reault Clio and put the back seats down and put them in loose. I sure at least one would be in the front seat by the time he'd got out of our drive!

I used to travel my goats in the back of the car. Fine as long as you get them out as soon as you stop so that they can pee. If you don't.....well, you know what happens. Interesting at traffic lights as well if one starts to bleat! People looking everywhere to see where the noise is coming from. Very funny.