Anyone have city goats?

Well we have two nubian does from ozark jewels and two pygmy bucks we want to start kinders. The only time they make noise is at feed time and they are not near as lound as the hunting dog in the kennels at the end of the street or the bratty kids across the street. I know a lot of peopel say nubians are loud but these are not.

aas far as legal well we didn't ask and no one has said anything. There are other farm animals in town llamas and some calfs for beef and things like that.

Ms Judy, I really enjoyed the video she has linked on her local harvest page. I'll definitely be keeping her contact information. I couldn't find an email, but maybe I can call her later this week. Thanks so much for that!

Sasha, I PM'd you!

Prairiedog, sounds like people are pretty relaxed about animals in your area. Unfortunately I know that a guy rides his bike all over town and turned someone in for having a pot belly pig and another person for having a duck, seriously, a duck. Of course, we plan to keep them in the back yard only, and will be growing vines over our fence so there's very little chance he could see them even now, I don't think he'll be seeing them when the vine takes hold.
I honestly don't think our neighbors will mind at all, but it's hard to tell. Maybe I'll get a couple hens too and bribe them with eggs LOL

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Crunchy mama, country girl, and homestead dreamer trying to work it all out.

Rosabell gave two quarts a day for her first lactation, which was pretty good considering she was with other first fresheners who all decided to play rough and all ended up having still births within a couple of days of a really rowdy game of king of the hill that my friend (who's boarding her) had to go out and stop. He spent a lot of time kicking himself over putting new spools in there when they were so far along. First good weather+new toys+first timers=
She is just starting her second lactation and is starting to give a lot.

When you go to get your goat, choose for a really mellow personality. Rosabell is very laid back and doesn't do a lot of "typical" goat behaviors. You can really see a lot of personality in a three day old kid. We picked her because I knew DD wanted to show her in 4H, she's small, quiet and laid back..not your typical goat!!! But a personality like that would be good in your situation. Finger's crossed her kids are the same!!!

Morning glory and sunflower are good for screening, but goats will be very happy to eat them. I'd invest in a solid wood fence between goats and street traffic.

Maybe this will help! Here's a picture of our house from behind. You can see that to the left of the picture is the driveway and a house is very close. I don't imagine anyone from the street would see the goats unless the goats were right at the fence and the cars were gone. To the right is an acre of open ground that is fenced with 4X4 field fence. You can see in the second picture that someone would have to bee looking accross that property to see into my backyard. The sidewalk is also on the other side of the street. The idea is to fence the entire back yard in 5' fencing (which we need for the large dogs we want anyway). The fence would hit the house on the right corner and the garage on the left corner. What you can see would be fenced in. (by the way, if they have access to my whole back yard, does anyone see issues with that?)

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Crunchy mama, country girl, and homestead dreamer trying to work it all out.

Otter, that sounds like a crazy situation over there! All still births must have been pretty stressful. Thanks for the tips on picking out a goat, my natural inclination would be to go for the cutest, most playful. Of course, you are right, quiet and laid back is what I need.

By the way, check out the job my 20 year old ($15) reel mower did on that grass! Not bad, eh?

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Crunchy mama, country girl, and homestead dreamer trying to work it all out.

I'm gonna give this a bump in case anyone has more to add.

:banana02:

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Crunchy mama, country girl, and homestead dreamer trying to work it all out.

we had up to 15 in the city for 6 years. they weren't a problem because it used to be a wheat field a block away so they were supposedly grandfathered in. They didn't know we hadn't had them for the past 15 years, when the houses started going in, but now we're out in the country on 2 acres and it's a lot better. I wouldn't have them in the city because you run out of places to put your poo if you don't have country friends to take it away. they poo way more than your garden needs!!! they don't have a lot of room to pasture and may kill your backyard too.

The goat will eat the vines! You may need a smaller fenced area inside the yard with a 6 ft wooden privacy fence.

Vines can be poisonous too.

Because our yard is so huge and it would take some time for us to be able to disguise them we decided to go with a 32 X32 fenced area behind the garage. We're putting up lattice all round the outside of the pen and on the side closest to neighbors we're putting 6' of trellis.
I'll post pictures when it's up!

Regarding the poo, we'll be growing some of their food so I'll be able to use it to fertilize that area as well. Our garden is brand new this year as well, so we'll need lots of fertilizer!

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Crunchy mama, country girl, and homestead dreamer trying to work it all out.

There is a lady who does videos of rasing the animals in the city. She usually posts links on the poultry fourm. She has goats and practices civil disobedenice. She is in a large city on the East coast.

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Christie
http://fischercreekfarm.webs.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sustainablemo

Are you talking about Pattie Moreno the Garden Girl?

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Crunchy mama, country girl, and homestead dreamer trying to work it all out.

Yes that's here.

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Christie
http://fischercreekfarm.webs.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sustainablemo

The other thing to consider, though, is that if your neighbours move and new ones come in, they may not be as forgiving. You may end up having to get rid of your goats if they complain to the county.

Be sure that you tell the neighbours everything about goats; don't be vague. Your welcoming neighbours might not be so friendly if you live pretty close and upwind from them. Think about how stinky bucks in rut get! And you need bucks to get your does bred to produce milk, unless you have someone that will lend you a buck for servicing purposes.
I wouldn't assume that because one person does it, you will be able to. Some people are under other conditions such as grandfathering clauses. I can think of a couple of large farms that are smack dab in the middle of large suburban areas.....but they have the law on their side, they were there before the newer laws took effect. If their neighbour tried to put up a horse stable, they would be filed with an order to remove the livestock.

I know someone who had a small yard but technically lived "in the country" (ie, big farms nearby). However, their neighbour's house was less than 1/2 acre away. They thought they would be ok, and built a little mini barn for their miniature horse in the back. I doubt there was any smell with such a small setup; you could see it from the road, it was not messy. BUT the neighbour complained within a year and took them to court. Horse owner lost---even after begging for an exception on compassionate grounds (her deceased husband had bought her the horse). Ended up selling the horse and tearing the barn down.

I wouldn't go the illegal route. You may get away with it for awhile, but who would want to worry about that all the time, wondering when the ax might fall. You could put a lot of investment/money into goats and then have to scuttle it all when the county inspector comes calling. Even if you dont have any enemies that want to cause trouble, some people are just busybodies, looking for something to complain about.

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"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap."