What do I need to know about goats?

[LauraleesFarm]

We are moving to a piece of property that has two large sections which are completely fenced for goats. I won't have enough cows to fill the place for a little while and these two sections have plenty of brush and undergrowth plus some pasture areas. What do I need to know about goats?

 

[ANAZAZI]

Goats are social and intellegent, the climb like cats, and they eat trees.
Popular beleif has it that if a fence permits water to pass, it will also let goats out.
Goats will typically eat leaves, forbs and weeds, like thistles, and high plants like reed canary grass before lower grazing. And they suffer in the cold, where cows thrive.

 

[dun]

In this area the single biggest issue with Boer goats is internal parasites. Not unusual to have to worm them every 2-3 months or they will suffer from anemia and die. Being more arid in your area that may not be an issue.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

dun,
We are in a hot and humid climate here in east TX.

So do you have to catch them and worm them with an oral paste? Or can you do a pour on? Something in the feed? Trying to keep them low maintenance.

Would they carry diseases or parasites that would harm my cattle?

Husband wants to deer hunt that area so we would probably sell them each fall.

 

[dun]

dun,
We are in a hot and humid climate here in east TX.

So do you have to catch them and worm them with an oral paste? Or can you do a pour on? Something in the feed? Trying to keep them low maintenance.

Would they carry diseases or parasites that would harm my cattle?

Husband wants to deer hunt that area so we would probably sell them each fall.

The way that is most common here is to use an injectable wormer but given orally, seems to delay the parasites developing a resistence to it. Freind of ours tried the safegaurd blocks, had several goats die from needing worming. Nothing to worry about with them and cattle other then the cows maybe injuring them or possibly vice versa.

 

[Ouachita]

I have to agree with ANAZAZI 100%. Goats are social and very intelligent. Here is a picture of them being social, right after they changed the gearbox seal in the bush hog. Handy with a wrench. Fenced for goats????????? :lol2:

 

[chippie]

You will probably need a livestock guardian like a llama or Great Pyrenees dog to protect them from predators.

Texas A&M has online publications concerning goats & small ruminates http://animalscience.tamu.edu/academics/sheep-goats/publications/

The 4-H Meat Goat guide is helpful about what to feed goats in case you are planning to supplement them.

 

[rla442]

As Dun said, Injectable for the wormer unless you want to bury dead goats. We live in NE Ohio and worms very bad last year even though it was a hard drought. The wife has goats and she gives them a shot on a regular schedule now but also bakes goat treats/cookies with mollasass to keep them from going anemic. Found out the hard way how fragile goats can be with worms.
Other than that, goats are fun and sociable except for when the billy goat comes to age. He'll start to stink and can shoot urin like a rifle in most any direction. Accurate out to 20 feet or so! Nothing stinks as bad as getting "shot" by a billy goat. A smell you'll never forget.

 

[kickinbull]

when I first read you headline, I read, what do you know about goats? my answer, they are evil, it also answers your question. I see at the bottom of you message a bible script #. won't there be a seperation for the goats from the sheep, they are evil!lol

 

[TexasBred]

We are moving to a piece of property that has two large sections which are completely fenced for goats. I won't have enough cows to fill the place for a little while and these two sections have plenty of brush and undergrowth plus some pasture areas. What do I need to know about goats?

I'd worm every month. Only wormer I know of that comes in a feed mix is Rumatel and it is USDA approved for use in goats. Most other wormers given to goats are extra=label. They should do well on the land you describe. Think of goats more like deer than cattle. They prefer to browse rather than graze. If you ever need to supplement with a complete feed get a good one. A good place for Q&A as well as other good general information is http://www.goatworld.com

 

[LauraleesFarm]

Thank you all for your responses. Some of this information is making me wonder if a set of scraggly Longhorns wouldn't be less trouble and make more money. Nobody has mentioned whether a profit would be possible. They do sale goats at the auction in Longview. Lots of folks around here raising them but usually in prime pasture locations.

Another question--would goats be affected by spraying grazon and such?

 

[chippie]

goats bring good money because of the larger middle eastern population.

Have you figured how much the goats will cost you to get started?

goats are browsers. they prefer brush & weeds over grass
when goats were cheap, people would use goats to clear land & pasture. you wouldn't need to spray if you are going to run goats.

 

[Jogeephus]

I agree with what everyone said about the worms. Some good information on goat raising in a humid environment can be found through Fort Valley college here in Georgia. They have done a lot of research on them. Some of the best advice they gave was that what you see as great pasture for cattle is the worst thing to have for goats. If goats are allowed to browse and cleanup brush and "junk" you will have very little worm problems. If you are turning them out on improved pastures then you might look into getting some pig feed that has the wormer added to it - assuming they still sell it. This stuff works pretty good and will keep you from having the problems you might have with the Safeguard blocks.

You can make pretty good money with goats here if you don't try and raise them like cattle. Raising with cattle is no problem though because their worms are said to be different and they don't cross. (Pretty sure that's what Fort Valley said)

 

[shadyhollownj]

Put them on the driest worst grass pasture you got.
Have a huge bottle of wormer, BOSE, CDT
Have good mineral cause they have deficiencies if they blink wrong
Get a good shovel and dont have any type of feeling towards babies cause they would rather be dead. (Thats a quote from a vet)
You are in Texas so you may be fine but not here in the northeast. We get good money here for boers but you just cant keep em alive.

 

[papavillars]

Two great days at my farm, when I bought goats, and when I sold the goats. You will definitely need a guard animal to deter the coyotes. Spanish goats probably more suited for your area and that you might sell yearly.

 

[backhoeboogie]

If your fence will hold water, it will hold goats. (That's a quote of my father's)

He used to buy a trailer load down in goat country. We'd doctor them, worm them, and put them in the old pastures after the cows were rotated out. They'd clean it up and he hauled them to Fort Worth. Turned a profit every time.

I've never owned one.

 

[greybeard]

I owned one goat in my life, and that was one goat too many. A hard head and a stinky everything else. My dad gave it to my kids for a pet and about a week later, it got in the yard, jumped thru a window screen and tore the house apart while kids were at school and I was at work. The goat did not survive to see another sunrise.

 

[Caustic Burno]

We are moving to a piece of property that has two large sections which are completely fenced for goats. I won't have enough cows to fill the place for a little while and these two sections have plenty of brush and undergrowth plus some pasture areas. What do I need to know about goats?

They make absolutely some of the finest bobcat and coyote turd's in the wood's followed by your neighbor's dog from six miles away. Seriously neighbor down the road lost so dang many that I think it finally killed him trying to fight off the predator's. Yote's would dig under the fence, bobcat's along with feral cat's would go over. The bobcat's couldn't get the kid's over the fence so they would drag it to the fence and the kitten's would eat it there.

He finally built a goat coop for lack of a better term and would let them out about 9 in the morning and put them up in the evening.

I would get a few longhorn's at least they will raise a calf and they will clean up underbrush as high as they can reach.

 

[Alan]

Not much love for goats here! :shock: Add me to that list, I hate them. My wife has a herd and the have cost us probably 3 to 4 grand in fencing, I'm always trying to build the better fence so they stay in their pasture ..... Seems impossible.

 

[M5farm]

well.................................... it's a love hate relationship. this is the first year in 12 years I have not had any goats. I do miss the kids and the ability to keep the pastures/woods clean. I do not miss the fence work or the phone calls that my goats were out. I used safe guard blocks with good success. I always had Nubin crosses and they were very hardy.