Jogeephus
Well-known member
dun":1u5ufjx6 said:
Dun, you wouldn't by chance wear a beard do you? :lol: Or is that just your wife doing some name calling.
Using Goats for pasture clean up
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Dun, you wouldn't by chance wear a beard do you? :lol: Or is that just your wife doing some name calling.
Jogeephus
Well-known member
dun":1d8pd51f said:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: You're killing me! :lol: :lol:
Tod Dague
Well-known member
Once you have a good fence up they aren't much trouble. We don't have much trouble with the goats getting their heads stuck. Seems we always have one dummy that will repeatedly get their head stuck. Unstick them and ship 'em. I've seen goats fenced in with barbed wire and electric. I personally use field fence which does a good job of keeping out predators. We haven't lost any to predation sense we've had goats (about 2 years). They prefer brush but will graze. Don't feed them and sell the poor doers and they won't be so picky.
Gale Seddon
Well-known member
I don't have goats, so please take this with a grain of salt, but I know that wethers can develop urinary problems and Bio-Chlor may be recommended to help prevent problems. Might be something to consider?
S&S Farms
Well-known member
We ran goats for a nieghbor one summer. They love sumac and poison ivy. The biggest problem was it was dry and there feet are so small we could not get a good ground to shock them. If I ever get my own I will run a third wire as a ground around the pasture between the two hot ones. Used a castrted llama as a guard animal. Our pasture is all sandhills. We had then on 80 acres and they never found the north half for three months.
Jeff
Jeff
You are looking in the right direction. If I may I'm going to suggest to you my operation whichs works good for me. I think the way you are talking about doing it is least productive. Dont run the goats with your cattle. If I understand you right you already have cross fences. Run your goats behind your cattle. You dont have as much of a worm problem this way. Matter of fact running goats or horses etc behind cattle and each other is a worming program in its self. Simply put goat worms dont infect other animals and other animals worms dont infect goats. So the cattle eat the goat larvae while the goats eat the cattle larvae. The cattle eats what it wants and then leaving the stuff you want the goats to clean. At this point the goats are a "yardage cost". Its your worming expence and you will have to fix stuff and fences to keep them also. So change this to an investment. Buy bucks and does. Boers are a good choice in my opinion. Buy as many as you can afford. Let them breed and sell the winlings. Your cleanup crew just became your 2nd income and did'nt even know it. Now it doesnt hurt so much when making inprovements around the place.
dressageophobia
Active member
I agree that goats are a PITA and cause more trouble than they are worth, but I have never tried hogs to clean up weeds. Will they eat Black berries? Do they get along with cows (I only have two)? I have one large 8 acre pasture at this time with two Hereford Heifers. They are about half grown. Would the hog be the boss or the heifers?
andybob
Well-known member
Pigs will clear most types of unwanted plants, and will dig and manure the ground at the same time ready to be harrowed and re-seeded. They should be penned seperatly from other stock, and moved to a new area as they finish clearing. I'll post a link to some outdoor pig pictures I posted last year.
http://www.ranchers.net/forum/viewtopic ... g+pictures
http://www.ranchers.net/forum/viewtopic ... g+pictures
dressageophobia
Active member
Andybob, I am impressed with your pig setup,,,like pig apartments or condos, just plain amazing.
But what if I just had one big pig out with the cows,,,what would happen? Why do they have to be separate? I read Animal Farm in High School, but I forgot who was boss! :lol:
But what if I just had one big pig out with the cows,,,what would happen? Why do they have to be separate? I read Animal Farm in High School, but I forgot who was boss! :lol:
andybob
Well-known member
dressageophobia":tu52si88 said:
It was the pigs that became the dominant animal in "Animal Farm" (typical) ;-)
Pigs are very unpredictable and a large pig can easily injure a cow if it decides to bully or just turns aggressive.
One occasion when my landlord's sheep got into the pig field and made a mess of my fences, a half grown lamb ended up being killed by the pigs in one paddock and almost entirely eaten! Over the years, smaller animals have been killed, and most of them eaten by my pigs including; a fox, a semi-wild farm cat and several free ranging chickens and bantams. The pig will also make a mess of the grazing if kept in the same paddock as the cattle.
