Beginning to think goats

Wags · #21 11/17/10, 07:53 AM

The cheapest "toys" are the (usually free) wooden spools from the power or cable company. Toddler play structures also work. Some build wooden platforms and some put in piles of large boulders. Basically anything they can climb or jump up on.

Nigerians are small - and a good milker will give about a 1/2 gallon a day of very rich milk. At 6-10% butterfat you can just shake a half filled quart of whole milk and end up with butter. You can keep two of them in the space/feed of a single larger dairy goat. They come into heat year round so you can stagger breedings to keep a steady milk supply. And the other advantage to their size is that even the bucks are easily handled by one person.

You do have to be careful to purchase from milking lines and ensure that the teat size is something you can work with. I can milk my does with a whole hand, but some does you can only use 3 fingers on. I find the teats on larger goats fatigue my hands more and cause me more issues with the RSI in my wrists.

The Tin Mom · #22 11/17/10, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1too

I think I might barn them at night for extra security. The wonderful state wildlife folks have turned loose a mountian lion or panther loose in our area to help control deer. I have seen 5 does together. Currently am down to 3 on 2 are older larger deer.

What enviornment measures do you practice. Some seem to think you almost have to be sterile.

For toys, we have a solid metal outside table, some cement stairs that we weren't using and tree stumps that my FiL had cut down. The girls really like the stumps.

We muck the barn about twice a year. It has a dirt floor and is dry and pretty secure through the entire building unless we are getting tons of rain, then some rain seeps around the outside edges. The hay that gets wasted tends to cover the floor pretty well anyway and provides insulation during the winter when the ground is colder.

We also make sure that we keep the water buckets clean and the hay (to be eaten) and feed are off the ground.

I milk in a totally separate building and keep it clean.

I try to watch for signs of worms. Right now, Dh and I are talking about a way to rotate the girls. Last spring, when we had so much rain, I really watched for those and de-wormed on a regular basis. Since I have some recently bred, I am relieved that it is dryer now since I can't medicate if I do see any loose stools, etc. I did de-worm earlier in the fall.

We do have way more yard space than "required" for the number of goats we have. The barn is probably maxed out, I would need to calculate that again.

HTH.

The Tin Mom · #23 11/17/10, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1too

Tad off topic but I have a neighbor who has a dog that jumps the fence, one that digs under it and one who can open the gate. He ask me what can a guy do? We both laughed a little.

LOL! :smiley-laughing013:

motdaugrnds · #24 11/17/10, 09:07 AM

.... for pasture ....

First thing I would do is talk with your agricultural agent and find out what type of grass (warm & cool season grasses) do well in your location. Ask the agent what he/she knows about "endophyte free" grass. (Hopefully your agent will know more than ours did awhile back.) It may be that the grasses you have would work well "if mowed in milk stage" and "not" permitted to mature. (Just know it is always easier to maintain a pasture with local grass than it is to maintain one with foreign grass.)

Next thing I would do is take samples of the soil to the agricultural department to discover what it needed, especially what the ph lvl is. (We had to add agricultural lime as well as quite a bit of fertilizer prior to planting grass as nothing had been on this "sandy loam" except forestry.)

I cannot find the address for what we used here; but the link is on my site at http://motdaugrnds.250free.com/homestead/ (You can also see what a nice stand we got from that New Zealand grass.)

Remember, goats are "browsers"; not "grazers"; thus, it is good to add bushes and various vegetation they enjoy. We planted over a thousand trip-color lespedeza shrubs that are healthy and our goats love. Each winter we throw some bean seeds over the pastures too.

Creating a "browsing" pasture is a lot of fun, keeping it is a lot of work (unless you fence in small areas like we did); however, it is well worth it.

Good luck with yours.

.... as to dogs useful in protecting goats ....
All dogs need some training, especially around baby goats. We have trained 3 dogs (full-blood German Shepherd; full-blood Chocolate Lab; mutt mixed with lab, shepherd, chow, wolf). Best we ever had was the mutt! Without her help, training the other 2 would have been more difficult. However, there are hunting dogs all around us and not one ever comes onto our place!

am1too · #25 11/17/10, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Deer browse. It's a seed mix available at feed stores now.

That stuff is very expensive.

Alice In TX/MO · #26 11/17/10, 09:21 PM

Yup. Everything good for goats is expensive.:smiley-laughing013:

IndyGardenGal · #27 11/17/10, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Yup. Everything good for goats is expensive.:smiley-laughing013:

And yet we still try to rationalize why we need to add more goats to our herd.

The Tin Mom · #28 11/18/10, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyGardenGal

And yet we still try to rationalize why we need to add more goats to our herd.

What's to rationalize?

am1too · #29 11/21/10, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by motdaugrnds

.... for pasture ....

First thing I would do is talk with your agricultural agent and find out what type of grass (warm & cool season grasses) do well in your location. Ask the agent what he/she knows about "endophyte free" grass. (Hopefully your agent will know more than ours did awhile back.) It may be that the grasses you have would work well "if mowed in milk stage" and "not" permitted to mature. (Just know it is always easier to maintain a pasture with local grass than it is to maintain one with foreign grass.)

Next thing I would do is take samples of the soil to the agricultural department to discover what it needed, especially what the ph lvl is. (We had to add agricultural lime as well as quite a bit of fertilizer prior to planting grass as nothing had been on this "sandy loam" except forestry.)

I cannot find the address for what we used here; but the link is on my site at http://motdaugrnds.250free.com/homestead/ (You can also see what a nice stand we got from that New Zealand grass.)

Remember, goats are "browsers"; not "grazers"; thus, it is good to add bushes and various vegetation they enjoy. We planted over a thousand trip-color lespedeza shrubs that are healthy and our goats love. Each winter we throw some bean seeds over the pastures too.

Creating a "browsing" pasture is a lot of fun, keeping it is a lot of work (unless you fence in small areas like we did); however, it is well worth it.

Good luck with yours.

.... as to dogs useful in protecting goats ....
All dogs need some training, especially around baby goats. We have trained 3 dogs (full-blood German Shepherd; full-blood Chocolate Lab; mutt mixed with lab, shepherd, chow, wolf). Best we ever had was the mutt! Without her help, training the other 2 would have been more difficult. However, there are hunting dogs all around us and not one ever comes onto our place!

So I took my 80% endophyte fescue seed back to the store. The only other grass sold around here is bumuda. Seems everybody only thinks in terms of lawn. So I will be special ordering grass seed. What is your favorite souce?

Oat Bucket Farm · #30 11/21/10, 10:49 AM

My goats eat a mixture of buffalo grass,burmuda, and weeds.When they graze which they don't do a lot of.