wanting to learn about goats

[MtnCows93]

i pretty much know nothing about raising goats, im trying to figure out a simple way a guy could raise a few. i was thinking leave a billy and 10 nannys together year round and just sell the kids off the mama goats when they get big enough. is there anything that would go majorly wrong other than not being able to keep them in the fence?

 

[ddd75]

they die.

 

[MtnCows93]

they die.

more so than cattle?

 

[Ebenezer]

Getting out, worms, dogs and coyotes and taking more care than expected. Dreaming that livestock ventures are like Lonnie on "Of Mice and Men" and the rabbits and alfalfa patch are going to end poorly. It can be done but it needs to be a managed part of the farm.

 

[JMJ Farms]

they die.

more so than cattle?

Yes. Yes. And HeII Yes. Filthiest, nastiest, wormiest, stinkingest critters I've ever fooled with. Couple that with almost no will to survive when faced with adversity. BUT, if you want some good advice on being successful with keeping them alive, PM BootJackBulls. She is a wealth of knowledge on goats. Probably someone else here that I can't remember right now.

 

[MtnCows93]

well goats sound like a losing proposition

 

[Caustic Burno]

Getting out, worms, dogs and coyotes and taking more care than expected. Dreaming that livestock ventures are like Lonnie on "Of Mice and Men" and the rabbits and alfalfa patch are going to end poorly. It can be done but it needs to be a managed part of the farm.

Neighbor had a small herd of some high dollar goats. If they weren't committing suicide, they were becoming some kind of turd.
Bobcats were wicked on the kids.

 

[greybeard]

I think Callmefence has maybe raised some goats in the past...maybe has some now...I can't remember.
I know they pizz all over themselves intentionally, climb on and tear up everything they can, smell all to be dang, and as far as I'm concerned, the only good thing about them is I don't have any, but there's more of them in Texas than anywhere else in the US. Cabrito cooked right, IS hard to beat but still can't hold a candle to even a select ribeye. and then they die.
For what they are, they do seem to bring good $ at the local salebarn..and a gawdawful smell if you're sitting too close to the front. and then they die.
Some breeds don't have as much trouble with worms as others, but I think all of them, the males can get some kind of stones or some sort of urinary trouble that is all but impossible to get rid of. and then they die.
I did have one once, (and only once) to try to keep the grass down in my yard 30 years ago. SOB wouldn't eat a single blade of grass but ate everything else in the yard, jumped thru a window in the house and after eating all the wife's nice potted plants, started on the sofa. It met with a bad end when I came home that day. Yep, it died.



I saw H-E-B was selling goat meat this week. $10 and better/lb..imported from Oz.

 

[Kjfred]

We bought two young goats at the sale barn years ago. Mrs wanted some. Caried em out to the car cause I didn't bring the truck and trailer. Durned things wont die, I'm convinced it's only because it doesn't matter if they do. Heck one was was in the bale ring under a bale for a good half day and survived.
They stick with the cattle pretty well now days but the first years they mostly survived on the flowers in the yard.
I do have to give them credit for cleaning up things like buckthorn and cocklbur etc.

 

[farmerjan]

I am not a goat person. The ones I had one time did all the stuff mentioned; climbed on everything, ate everything you didn't want them to eat, the males do pee on themselves as part of the "mating rituals".... traded them to a guy who tilled my garden that year and was SOOOOO glad to see them leave. But I didn't have the fences and infrastructure to have them properly.
If you want to learn about some goats, go to, Backyard Herds. It's a forum for "homesteader" type people, but there are alot of goat owners on there.... and some own and show some real nice dairy goats. I farm sit for some friends that raise Boer meat goats, but other than doing some feeding if they have weaned kids penned, and counting heads and checking fences, I don't have to do much. They do get real good prices for the kids at certain times of the year for the different ethnic holidays.... but they also have to worm them alot, and run llamas to help protect them from predators.

 

[Aaron]

No, you really don't want to. I can tell you that every goat person I have ever met shares similar personal characteristics and hygiene as them - look odd from a distance and smell like billy goat p!ss up close.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Wow! I'n not going to waste too much breath on this, because this subject has been beat to death on here. Having said that, we have almost none of the issues mentioned above, win at a national level, make money (better than cattle any day of the last 5 years!) and I can assure you, I do not stink of goat urine....

Find a reputable breeder, a vet who knows that a goat is NOT a lamb, and be prepared to do a ton of research!

 

[Aaron]

I do not stink of goat urine....

You're sure?

 

[A.J.]

well goats sound like a losing proposition

Some people have them and do well
With them in the right setup. Boot Jack has some excellent looking goats and has the proper set up for them. That being said, as a general rule, Goats are a lot more work than most people think. If you decide to get some, make sure to have warm facilities set up for them if they will kid in the winter. When they are newborn, and get chilled, they will get down and not get back up. A lot can vary by the individual animals, but in my experience I've never seen animals that can go from appearing fine and healthy one minute to dead the next as quickly as a goat can. I would definitely recommend checking around with some local folks in your area and see how they are set up before buying any.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

I do not stink of goat urine....

You're sure?

Given my "day job", I'm fairly certain it would have been mentioned to me at some point if I did....

 

[Ky cowboy]

We purchased some dorset sheep couple years ago. Haven't sold any yet keeping all of the ewes building up numbers. But I do like them gives the smaller kids something to mess with. My brother has some goats in the barn and I hate them because you can't keep them in and they stink up everything.

 

[Redgully]

Next door has goats and they are tough buggers. Never see any dead ones in the paddock and he gets a good crop of kids every year. He has boer crosses. Mind you doesnt get
that cold here. He has a good set up but they can jump like no other animal i have seen. He has 6' fences and one buck used to clear this with ease. It ended up as dog meat. The Muslim people buy them mostly, usually have a good wrestle and kill them where they catch them, seen some funny chases. But he feeds them good quality feed and doesn't expect them to thrive on weeds. The bucks can stink real bad, wonder if a.i. is easy to do on them. The one thing i hate about goats is the best age to kill them is really young and they are such happy playful creatures it just seems hard. Maybe i am just softer than i used to be!

 

[callmefence]

We've had goats or hair sheep pretty much my entire life up until the last few years. All the talk about them falling over dead and being impossible to fence in is pretty much bs. People regurgitateing what theve heard someone else say.
At times we had as many as 200 head. lambing or kidding can be quite a chore as many have twins and may leave one if given the chance. Very few birthing problems though.
I run bulls in my cattle year round. Not so with goats. Kids don't handle cold wet weather. We tried to kid around mid to late April. March would be better to get the right size lambs to market by Ramadan.. but we fish in March..... you need to make sure there is a good reliable sale close enough. We live in sheep/ goat country and it's 70 miles to auction. They need to be penned at night. We've still got the 2 acre pen behind my old house..my son's house now. It's easy enough to train them to come in at night. Their kinda scared of the dark..lol.
Don't castarate, cut tails, notch ears etc.
Most Muslim holiday, funerals etc call for unblemished animals. You can be docked heavily on young stocker kids.
Plenty of money to be made in goats and hair sheep. Just a little higher maintenance, which is why mine are gone. They'll be back someday.

 

[greybeard]

Not so with goats. Kids don't handle cold wet weather

The ones I've seen around my area aren't exactly crazy about rain of any kind, cold or warm.


My b-i-l has hairsheep about 6 miles from me. He's buried lots of them. Dogs, coyotes and/or just up and decided to die.
I can't stand lamb or mutton so I have no use for them.

I took this from the roadway 2 weeks ago. He spent a bundle of $$ on a fence good enough to hold sheep and goats, and he still has dead ones. All his posts are that size & 10' spacing.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Not so with goats. Kids don't handle cold wet weather

The ones I've seen around my area aren't exactly crazy about rain of any kind, cold or warm.


My b-i-l has hairsheep about 6 miles from me. He's buried lots of them. Dogs, coyotes and/or just up and decided to die.
I can't stand lamb or mutton so I have no use for them.

I took this from the roadway 2 weeks ago. He spent a bundle of $$ on a fence good enough to hold sheep and goats, and he still has dead ones. All his posts are that size & 10' spacing.

You need Fence that will hold water for goats.