Single and Goats

billooo2 · #21 09/25/08, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by picklespickles

one thing you can do to save money, is invite your neighbors to toss tree limbs or shrub trimmings over the fence into their area, or just make a pile in your front yard. i know that i fed mine for the first eight months treats from a chopped down tree from when i first moved in. they loved it. they will eat the leaves and twigs. let them keep the larger logs or branches, though, and they will chew on them forever. this is also good in case you have other things back there with them that you dont' want them to chew!

besides letting my neighbors throw weeds, branches and such for the goats, i also accept things like when people clean out their pantries or fridges. that can go for chickens too. vegetables and grains are their favorites. well, no, doritos are their FAVORITE.

my goats love most things. the only thing i ever offered them that they turned up their nose at was coffee grounds. they love wet tea bags as a treat. i have gotten in the habit of buying the kind without the staple so i dont' have to worry about pulling it out.

they are very curious so anything you can do to change things up like offer small amounts of new things keep them happy and better behaved.

i have had several people want to hire me (their idea) to have the goats clear the land. when it came down to it though, it never actually happend. so that may be an income source in some areas, but was not realistic here.

people will buy goats as pets, milking, feed and to keep their own yards free of weeds. around here, mostly it would be meat or weed control.

One word of caution about feeding tree trimmings, shrubbery, etc. A good friend of mine was trimming some shrubs around her house. She occasionally lets her goats "hang out in the backyard, and they often would munch on her shrubs. When she trimmed the shrubbery, she threw all the trimmings to the goats that evening. She woke up the next morning to find 4 dead goats.

She called her vet. the "culprit" was some yews that she had. The vet said that if the goats eat them while they are "live" it does not bother them. But as soon as they are cut they undergo a chemical change so that they become highly toxic.

And there is the infamous wild cherry that as soon as the leave start to wilt, the leaves contain cyanide......VERY TOXIC!!!

jill.costello · #22 09/26/08, 05:57 AM

That's a good "rule" to adopt, I think....If YOU don't know what it is, then don't give it to the goaties!

I always have DH show me what he's cut back around the place; I can identify maple, oak, spruce, thistle, various weeds, all our fruit trees, etc. But if he shows me something wild that I don't recognise, it's not to go into the goat pen.

picklespickles · #23 09/27/08, 12:12 AM

i guess i was trying to answer the original question in her post, that is, being single and being able to afford goats. i am single and i afford goats. no offense, but feeling single and being single are financially two totally different things. lol. been there, done that, both ways.

i have lost a goat and she actually died from eating something she'd eaten a million times before. so, you really just never know. in my area, the fact that i FEED my goats is considered absolutely hilarious. people let goats roam on their property to eat weeds. any extras get eaten, plain and simple. goat bbqs are very common. and, if there are a lot of weeds, fat goats. in the winter time, skinny goats.

Laura Workman · #24 09/27/08, 09:37 AM

Two things:

There are mid-sized goats that eat less and produce less than standard goats, but eat more and produce more than Nigerians. See the "Miniature Dairy Goat Association" for details and a breeder's listing.

Also, if you decide to have one milking doe with a wether for company, I STRONGLY recommend you get a tiny wether, like a Nigerian or a Pygmy. That way, if anybody winds up out in the rain, it will be the wether, not your nice dairy doe, and possibly her kids. Also, a wether the same size as or larger than your doe will tend to hog the feeder. I had a wether that would fall asleep with his head in the feeder so nobody else could eat. And eat he did, constantly. He put away an AMAZING amount of food for a non-productive animal. Well, 'nuff said, I guess.

Oh, not quite. I needed a companion for my buck goat this year. I do intend to end up with two breeding bucks, so the companion need isn't going to be a long-term thing. At first, I thought of getting a small wether, but I don't like the taste of goat meat, and didn't want to be stuck feeding an unproductive animal once I had two bucks. So I decided to get a wether sheep. I DO like the taste of sheep, and sheep are generally companionable with goats, especially if there's only one sheep and one goat. Again, though, be sure to get a sheep smaller than your goat, and without horns. Soay are tiny (but skittish), and some of them come polled.

QoTL · #25 09/27/08, 11:09 AM

My thought- having goats as a single might be easier than having goats in a marriage..

At least you won't have to ASK!

Dh and I have totally opposite opinions on the use for the goats right now. I bought them for milk- which means they have to be bred. I lined up a boy.

He is having a fit about having a whopping *3* (I didn't tell him they could kid multiples...

) goats to feed come spring instead of just the two. ARG!

And I get zero help with the goats/chickens/house pets, either. I just shrug and figure that's my thing, not his. That doesn't bother me so much, since we only have them because I wanted them, not him.

Meghan

bstuart29 · #26 10/17/08, 08:31 AM

Thanks again everyone for your input, I really appreciate it. I need to sit down and really think about it. Then the next decision will be if I do decide to get some goats is wether to get bred does or raise some kids

Freeholder · #27 10/17/08, 12:26 PM

The easiest and least expensive way to start (with good animals, not auction purchases) is to get kids in the spring and early summer when most breeders are over-run. But then you have to raise those babies for at least a year before you get any milk from them at all. You MIGHT find a bred doe for sale that was good quality, but usually breeders want to see what they have before they sell. It's more likely you'd be able to find a doe in milk after she's kidded in the spring.

If you can find Kinder goats, they are a medium size, easy keepers, and give excellent milk. They can be hard to find, though.

It is a bit tough to afford to keep the animals on our income (my daughter's SSI, plus my part-time job), but they are an insurance policy of sorts against supply interruptions at the grocery store. And, when you raise it yourself, you know what the animal has been eating.

Kathleen