How did you get your first goat?

My family moved to the country when I was in 5th grade, and we took on a herd of five Saanens in milk for five months for a retired couple that went south for the winter. Then my parents bought a Nubian, as we needed milk for Dad with his ulcers. Sold the Nubian a year later when we moved. Then bought a Toggenberg and maybe had her for two years. Then years later when I had my own family, my children asked for goats. I bought them two Alpine doelings. Children have grown and moved on, but I still have one of those Alpines, and she is 11.5 years old, milking and had 22 live kids for us. I am milking four does, and it could be five in the spring.

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Eunice

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

I was in the market for chickens that were already laying and found an add on craigslist. I soon discovered that the woman's husband, who was the animal lover, had recently passed and she wanted rid of the pests. As I made trips into the coop to retrieve chickens to put into the truck she stood by watching. On the last trip when I returned to the truck there was a goat in the back of the truck The lady says "UMM do you want a goat?" I asked how much, not because I wanted a goat but I had talked with the lady quite a bit and she had expressed her absolute hatred of these "awful beasts" she had been left with and knew the animals would suffer with her caring for them. Her reply was "It's in your truck it's yours"...I gladly paid her for the chickens and drove away! I didn't even know the sex of the goat NOTHING! I knew it was goat with horns. When I got home I open the door on the cap of the truck and was promptly met with a goat kiss....as if to say thank you! I put the tailgate down and the goat hopped out and at that point I figured out it was a doe and quite skinny. She quickly made herself at home and followed me around like a puppy dog, stopping only eat ALL of the flowers blooming in my garden!! She had what a rather large udder and I was concerned that she was bred and that soon I'd be faced with babies I had no area on the farm that could contain her, she would inevitably be right back on the deck looking in the door at me, she would sleep there until I came out, if I left she would run back to where the horses were and hang out with them until I returned home, at which point she would come running and screaming for me. My dad teased that it was like my grandmother (who had recently passed away and whose farm I was resurrecting) had sent her to keep tabs on me....from that day on she would be named Nana (that was what we called my grandmother). She turned out not to be bred, thankfully! I was able to get her health in order and put weight on her and find out that she was an Alpine....oh and buy some more goats!! Which she thoroughly hated because I also put up a fence that contained them. As they say the rest is history...I now have herd of 30+ and will forever be the "Crazy Goat Lady" of the neighborhood!!

Thank you for making my day! I have enjoyed all your stories.

Minelson-I seriously started to cry!

Oh, for the love of a goat!!

I loved horses and wanted property and to be away from the city, so we bought 7 acres of weeds! Built a house and ended up getting zero horses. I live/lived near a horse boarding place and riding distance of a few others and quickly lost my love of horses.

But the weeds kept growing and some were over 6 feet tall. My neighbor had a field and trimmer mower, a pretty heavy duty one and I had an accident with it and was banned from using it again. So I got goats! lol

There was an ad in the paper for a set of four pygmy goats complete with guard llama $75 for the herd. So I asked my neighbor if he could take me to get them, once we got there there were only 3 goats, one had died from heat stroke the night before when they were trying to contain them in a small shed. I had to give the llama to a rescue the next day since the boarded horses in the pasture next to me were freaking, so my neighbor was freaking.

Anyway the goats were all does, but they were mixed with Nigerian or something since they were not pygmy size or color. So bought a buck to breed them, then the lady gave me an actual pygmy doe as well.
I sold all those goats in about a years' time and ended up with Nigerians, Nubians and some minis. I like these guys personalities much better and I no longer have any tall weeds my place looks nice and mowed.

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I just did everything wrong when I brought Salma and her wether buckling Babu home. I put them in the paddock and Babu glided straight through the yard fence like a ghost and made for the orchard where he ran me a merry chase and destroyed several 3yo apple trees. Salma did a rodeo show each morning at milking time and they both bleated day and night. Then I put them in the chicken coop, Babu pushed and climbed the chicken wire until it hung in tatters, then made for the orchard daily. There were tears of frustration, and Babu ended up tethered a lot of the time, which wasnt kind but a last resort.

So we butchered Babu and sent Salma on holiday to get bred. While she was away we re-thought all our goat facilities and set up properly with decent fencing, gates and shelters. She came back and was a spoiled pet goat until she had her babies, now gives me over half a gallon each morning and browses pastures happily for hours with her babies. Ahh, keeping goats is great when you know how!

Ive always been a milk drinker. As a kid Id have one TALL glass a day. (my momma rationed me) Then as a teen and young adult I found I didnt like it as much anymore. (I assume its the processing or something related, did it change? I dunno) then I tried some organic milk one day for a recipe we had bought it for and, huh, I still like milk. But organic is to expensive.

Unfortunately I was stuck "homesteading" on a 1/4 acre lot in a small town. We have 5 acres WAY out of town but it was to far. Then we found this place with 2 acres that was out in the mountains like we wanted but close enough to town with decent enough roads. (although still dirt much of the way) Not much goes for sale here smaller then massive ranches so even though it was less land then we wanted we jumped on it.

Anyway... thats the backstory. Three days or so after we had the keys to the new place I bought 2 goats. I couldnt stand them! I dont know if they were abused or what, but I decided goats must be to crazy to deal with. They would ram you and scream all day. No fun at all. I did love the milk though.

Then I was buying rabbits one day and got to talking with the rabbit guy. He had tried goats and given up as well, but then found a guy that had nicer goats. He gave me a number, and I bought a few mini nubians. That was about the time I joined this forum. I still have one of those nubians. Found some even "nicer" goats since then as well.

Im a full convert to goats now! LOL. I have lots of gardening friends, always trying to sell them on goats.

Its a near perfect homestead animal imo, especially for the high desert. Will take time to grow in, but trees and bushes etc are much more productive and reliable here then grasses. It lets me use the trees to get those deep minerals, feed that to the goats who give me milk and manure and meat. In this way I can pull nutrients and the rest from the deeper soil layers and concentrate it in my gardens all while Im growing things that are more reliable here. Soil building is hard here in the high desert. With a long term approach and goats, this is much easier. Ive seen years here where the grass barely ever gets green! Ive never seen a year here so dry that trees and bushes didnt bloom. Plus I know how to maximize an area really well for perennial things like trees. Goats fit the high desert homestead like a glove.

Sorry for the long post, but that is the full answer... LOL

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I have a high desert arid mountainous climate. Working towards self sufficiency. The potentials of plant breeding and building micro climates amaze me. We must learn to ride the wave.

This is such a heart warming thread. I grew up on the farm and we had just about everything but goats. We sold all the animals slowly as we kids grew up. Then I went off to the big world and tried to make it the corporate way. Just this year I got sick of the rat race and at 22 moved back home to help care for my ailing mother. This year I collected chickens, two cows, 2 pot belly pigs, guinea fowl and just in the last two weeks two saanens girls. I traded my goat/border collie trainer friend 65 bales of hay for them. I actually bought them for my mom as she has a dream of using their milk to make soaps and lotions to sell. Since they have been here my little farm seems complete. I love their happy little bleating when they see me each morning and night. They are bred back to my friends black and white nubian buck and will kid in march. As a kid I went through many a lambing season, but never kidding. I am nervous and excited for marc,h to come and thanks to the kidding thread I have compiled a list of things to get before march rolls around. I am a total goat convert!

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“If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as a sorry state as the souls who live under tyranny." ~ Thomas Jefferson.

I was never raised with goats, but a neighbor called one day and asked if I could take care of his goat, Miss Lilly. He was having knee problems and the next thing I know, I said yes to taking a goat home with me. Then, I'm getting another one to get Lilly a friend. I never thought I would ever have Goats, but I do love having them.

As many of you know, I commute from Missouri (summer) to Texas (winter.) One summer, my elderly friend and I were at the salvage lumber yard in Koshkonong, Missouri. The owner had two mini goats of undetermined breed in a dog pen. He said, "Do you want a couple of goats?" We had to drive home and back to bring a trailer (60 miles), and brought home a doeling and a buckling. Probably siblings, but we didn't know ANYTHING about goats, so who cared?

We made ALL the rookie mistakes. We had no fence, so we tried staking them out. After going out to untangle them fifty times a day, we tried hot wire. After increasing to SEVEN strands of wire and having the buckling get out whenever he wanted, but being unable to get back IN, we gave up on that and discovered electric net fencing.

The doe kidded on the day we had intended to drive back to Texas (after the vet said we had a week or more to make the trip.) The goats made the trip with us a few days later. In Texas, the buck got obnoxious and went to the auction.

The doe and her doeling were wonderful entertainment, and I tried milking just for the novelty. She stood perfectly!

When we returned to Missouri, we made two trips to Emily's farm to see "big" goats. I was completely intimidated. They were SO big.

Then, Emily called me when she was doing a herd reduction and said she had a few goats who wouldn't make it in a new herd, and did I want to buy them. YES! So, my Quirky Goat Farm was born. Orange, an Alpine who had only one teat due to an injury. Princess, a LaMancha who self sucked. Pumpkin, a Nubian who was an open long yearling.

We still have Orange, who has been herd queen the whole time. She's eleven now. The other goats are kids from the original BIG goats, and we brought in bucks from a variety of sources. We have registered LaManchas, mini-Alpines, Saanen crosses (thanks to Ray Adams who loaned me bucks), and registered Alpines.

In both Missouri and Texas, I have been able to get neighbors/friends addicted to goats, so we have substitute milkers if anyone needs a break or goes out of town. My goats are in several herds locally in Missouri and one in Texas. It's wonderful to be able to see your goat family expand!

Goats are my serenity. The process of feeding and milking twice a day, the personality of the goats, and their antics have helped me through some tough years.

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