thinking about getting a goat

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

My dad swears by goats for cleaning out thick underbrush.  Today I spent half an hour rescuing DD#2 from a blackberry thicket, and many thorns and scratches later I am seriously thinking about goats.   Lucky kid got to ride out on my shoulders, so she only got a few little bitty scratches... I wasn't so fortunate!  Older daughter who talked her into the spot in the first place is kind of in the dog house and has been a saint since then today!

[Redoverfarm]

The worst thing about goats is control.  Where you want them to eat and where not.  Maybe you could use a light weight chain and collar tied to an adjoining tree. In the absence of a tree or stake to a spare tire or cinderblock giving them several feet of leave way.  Remember when you restrict their movement you will need to supply water that they can reach.  Works quite well for "crop rotation elimination" in a sense.

[tanya]

I have been thinking about mini goats but....  Maybe later.  My experience with the bigger size is documented in the above garden thread and it wasn't pleasant.  OF course I have never been thrilled about caging or tieing up animals so my original goat was allowed to roam free with the dogs.  That was a big part of her lack of decorum. 

[StinkerBell]

If you get a goat name her Bubbles.

[Ernest T. Bass]

We had goats for many years... Many years of frustration, that is. If you want to keep them contained in a large area, be prepared to spend lots on fencing.. We've tried everything. Electric fence is no good; they jump forward when they get zapped, and keep on scrambling until they are free and your fence looks like spaghetti. They also jump up on field fencing and pull it down.. Heavy welded fencing with lots of posts works the best, but costs a fortune.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Can't name her Bubbles as that's what my daughter used to call me!  When she was about a year old, she started saying, "I love you Bubbles" every night before she went to bed. I don't know where it came from or what she meant, but it was cute.

Goats are a pain to keep penned... I was thinking more of a picket line of some sort?  Then I could move them as they get the thickets cleared.  Don't get me wrong... I love the fact that there are wild blackberries everywhere, but it would be nice to at least have some clear paths.  Or maybe I could get a cable run like we have for our little dog?  That way they have 60 feet of run with about  15 ft. of leeway on either side, thus giving them a 30' by 60' area they could browse at any given time.  Hauling water would be OK and worth it.

[muldoon]

I for one am really looking forward to the humorous stories from HGT about the troubles she has with her goats to be and the mischief they will certainly get into.  I say get them as soon as possible! 

Or you could get a riding lawnmower and drop that bad boy down to 1" over grade and pulverize those thickets.  Thats what I do.  Makes a hell of a noise on the mesquite brambles.   Still rolling tho, JD makes a nice machine.  I love my mower. 

[tanya]

I agree get the goats!!! You can always bar b que later if they don't work out. 

[Ernest T. Bass]

They don't taste that good.. Some cuts are okay, most is best ground with other meat.

Cable run might work if you only have a couple.. Ours would figure out how to strangle themselves if we tied 'em to anything, but an overhead deal might do the trick. You just have to be extremely careful if you have any fruit trees around.. They can kill little trees in the blink of an eye if a kid accidentally leaves the gate open or something.

[Sassy]

Our goat was named "Cupcake" & sometimes "The Inspector..."  She was quite the character but never ate anything we wanted her to eat.  Glenn put up a fence for her & the ram (Studley) but once she learned how to get out & then taught the ram to escape - there was no fencing them    Glenn put Studley on a 50 ft cable & he ended up breaking his neck when he slipped on the wet grass running up to "butt" Glenn when he drove up.   

Cupcake went everywhere & tried to get into the house - part of the place was open & she'd go in there all the time to try & see us & baaaaa at us.  But, neither of them ate poison oak, brush or even grass that was not tender  We ended up buying hay for them to eat...  maybe they'll like blackberry bushes better...

We used to have fields of blackberries in Washington - I remember those thorns - my kids were small then - but they never got stuck in them 

[fraggin]

I've had to deal with those quad pods for many years.
They have pros and cons.

Pros

1. They are maintenance free as long as they have a water source and dry ground. (foot rot is a common problem in wet areas)
2. The females are typically well mannered.
3. There's nothing cuter than a newborn kid.
4. They keep your place relativley clean. Their manure is great fertilizer and doesnt kill grass.
5. They are easy to milk and you can get a quart of goats milk a day from a healthy female.
6. They are quite edible.
7. They make great pets when they are young.
8. Smaller and safer/easier to manage larger livestock
9. You can fit a few in the back of a truck with cattle pannels. No need for a trailer.
10. Relativley cheap livestock

Cons
1. It takes exceptionally well built fencing to keep them in.
2. No matter how well they are fenced, they will find a way to get out eventually.
3. They get their heads stuck in the fence often.
4. When staked out, they get tangled up in their leashes.
5. The Males are horrendously stinky because they pee on theirself. (they can also be aggressive)
6. Sometimes, you end up with a stupid one that doesn't have common sense to mother their kids.
7. Some don't have the ability to know what plants will make them sick.
8. Newborns are succeptible to birds of prey.
9. They attract wolves and coyotes. (buy a young jack and get him acclimated to the goats, and he will protect them from predators)
10. Somtimes they require routine hoof trimming if the ground stays moist for more than a few months at a time.

[Ernest T. Bass]

I don't know about your females, but our herd always had a nasty "leader" that would beat up on the smaller goats, and if she left the next biggest one would take her place. Feeding them hay is a pain, because they don't just share a common bale.. It's survival of the fittest.

Also, dehorning the kids is a horrible job, but it must be done if you want to keep relative peace in the herd.

[fraggin]

Yeah, we had one in every herd. And after I moved away from home, I realized there was one in every office too.

[fishing_guy]

They don't taste that good.. Some cuts are okay, most is best ground with other meat.

Cable run might work if you only have a couple.. Ours would figure out how to strangle themselves if we tied 'em to anything, but an overhead deal might do the trick. You just have to be extremely careful if you have any fruit trees around.. They can kill little trees in the blink of an eye if a kid accidentally leaves the gate open or something.

There was a BBQ place down in Texas that we always went to when doing experiments at the factory.  Smitty's was the name.  It was your typical dive BBQ place.  You had 3 choices when you went in...Regular...lean...and goat.
Being the Yankee that I am, it took me several times before I tried it.  After I did, it was my favorite.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

When we first got married, goat was the only meat we could afford (my dad had butchered one that made him mad one time too many, and my step-mom wouldn't eat it because she'd liked the goat... so we got a freezer full of free meat.)  We had goatloaf, goatsagna, goatsketti, goatburgers, goat sausage (one of my favorites, but you had to either cook it in fat or add some fat to the meat or it would dry out horribly), and goat jongol, and goat stew, and goat gumbo, and... (do I sound like Bubba and the shrimp yet?)  DH hates goat milk with a passion but the kids will drink it (no pun intended) and I don't mind it.  I like goat cheese if you put a lot of garlic in it (the homemade I've had was always better than when I've actually paid for it at the store, though.)  And every goat I've ever been around definitely has a mind of its own... so like Muldoon says, I'd probably be able to tell you all entertaining stories for a while until we decided to eat the thing!  We do need a mower, but I was thinking of just getting a small tractor with brush hog instead of a regular riding mower.

[Flutterby]

I've been wanting a goat ever since I discovered goat milk soap! I love the stuff so much that I want to make my own. I've been doing a lot of research on goats and they sound like a lot of work but a lot of fun too. I definitely want to at least try it.     Call me crazy.

I've been buying my goat milk soap from a lady over in Maud Texas. She has a web site called Rose of Sharon Acres. Her goat milk lotions and creams are wonderful!

http://www.roseofsharonacres.com/home

She has a really good blog site too!

As soon as Whitlock and I start building our house and move in, I'll be able to get a couple of goats, and my life-long dream of a horse too! In the meantime, I guess I can start making soap without the goat... I'll just buy the milk.

[glenn kangiser]

They make great nannies also.  Take wonderful care of the kids. 





Entire photo
https://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/tiedyeyoursin/goat-suckle.jpg

[Flutterby]

Nice of you to share one of your baby pics with us, Glenn!   

[Redoverfarm]

I didn't recongnise him without the beard. 

[glenn kangiser]

I'm not proud.  I'd do it if I was a thirsty child......