Thinking about buying a milk goat... fencing questions

Hey, I will HAPPILY do a Google Image War! ~grinz~

Here is a German Dairy Farm, interesting way to feed: http://www.ziegenhof-stumpf.de/hof/hof.php

And besides, I can do absolutely nothing but cede you a point, Alice, that in the U.S., most *Dairy* goats are disbudded or de-horned.

However, I have to say that neither of us can say, one way or another, what MOST readers of this board have or will have.

MOST of the goats in the U.S. are not Dairy Goats...and therefore, MOST of the goats in the U.S. have horns.

In Dairy Goats, MOST registered Dairy Goats are, indeed, disbudded or dehorned, however, not ALL of them are. For un-registered stock, I cannot say one way or another. I have seen about half-n-half of un-registered dairy goats, horned or not...but I can't put down what I have seen as evidence of fact. I am pretty sure there are geographical indications also...those states that are less likely to host goat shows probably are more likely to have horned goats. ~shrugs~

As it stands, I think that most GOATS in the U.S. are not disbudded or de-horned....however, I would agree that most DAIRY goats are.

How is that for debate nightmares?

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Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

An interesting thing on goats and horns....and something I have seen. Pygmies are very popular around here, as are ND's. Some folks have both breeds.

I have seen herds of disbudded Nigerians grazing in a field, and the next field over, was a herd of horned Pygmies. Same owner, same kind of fencing, same management, pretty much, except that a few of the ND's were family milkers. (The owner dam raised a lot of kids, but milked a few of her favorite ND's)

I asked, specifically, why the ND's were disbudded and received a horrified look.

"Because if you DON'T disbud them, they will get their horns caught in the fence and predators will get them! And they will injure one another with their horns! You can't have horns on dairy goats!"

I looks at the herd of ND's, then looked at the herd of Pygmies. Then looked at the owner who OBVIOUSLY fully believed what she had just told me and did NOT get the irony of the situation.....

.... and let it be. Some people, you really can't talk to.

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Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

I forget about Boers, ND, and Pygmies. <rolling eyes at myself> I think goat---> dairy breed. How's that for tunnel vision!?!

Sometimes I can't even talk to myself!

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

~laughs~ And now you are forgetting about Angora, Pygora, Nygora, Cashmere, and Spanish! The Fiber and Meat breeds have fewer than 1% that disbud or dehorn, and they REALLY outnumber the dairy goats, even in this country.

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Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

My ND buck has no horns(spurs though) and my ND doe has horns. I like the looks of the horns myself

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I don't even chase my whiskey, what makes you think I'm going to chase you?

Quote: I was just trying to show that not every dang country, has goats that are not disbudded. As far as Germany is concerned, http://www.andechser-natur.de/biopro...affen_zukunft/

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I don't really care if it has horns or not, depends on what kind of a deal I can get. I think that I would prefer no horns to start with though, simply because it is one less thing for it to intimidate us with right off. :P
I was visiting a farm today and he had chickens out in a portable electric netting fence. He said it was for goats and chickens. Does anyone use something like this? Does it really work? I couldn't find the exact thing, but I google it and found something similar here- http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.h..._content=30619

Oh I just realized that one was for sheep, but still, I think it gives an idea of what I am referring too. Maybe that ones ok for goats to anyway?

We have this one: http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies...1_+108076.html

There are places to get it cheaper though, we just didn't know that when we bought ours. Had it almost a year and very happy with it. Just be sure you get a fence charger with enough joules to convince goats to stay where you want them.

-Sonja

Fence:
http://www.premier1supplies.com/deta...0226&cat_id=53

Charger:
http://www.premier1supplies.com/deta...=398&cat_id=0&

__________________
Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

We have a 15 mile fence charger around 1/4 acre of 2 strands of hot wire. We have 1 strand of ground in the middle. My goats stay very far away from my fence. I'm looking at movable alternatives right now. The t posts are to hard to move.