pasture size?

[patarini]

How much woods for a couple goats would be a nice pasture? And will I be better to do several smaller ones - say an acre or so each or one bigger 3 or 4 acre parcel?

[stacygoats]

Do you really plan on just a couple goats or is there a chance the herd will grow in size? My experience has been that most folks can't stop at just two (sounds like a potato chip commercial LOL).
I've divided my big pasture up, so I can rotate the goats when one section gets eaten down and it's nice to be able to seperate animals at certain times (breeding, kidding, quarentine for sickness/medical treatment, even had a seperate "for sale" pen....).
The more you fence in the less feed/hay you will need to buy, but with just a couple goats 1-2 acres would be fine depending on the browse type.

[mpillow]

I have 8 goats(mostly Nubian) and a calf on a half acre pasture...I feed a bale of hay a day and have 4 inch tall grass in the pasture Its good quality hay so apparently they dont feel obligated to graze...but sometimes they do especially if a low pressure weather system is coming...

[topside1]

Numberous small fenced pastures/woods are better from a rotational grazing standpoint, however cost is always another factor to consider. Do you have any pasture or just woods? If pasture and woods are available then attempt to incorporate a portion of each into paddocks/fields large or small, this way you increase the animals food variety...John

[lgslgs]

We have 8 goats and a heifer on 15 hilly, mostly wooded acres.

On the 7 - 10 acres closest to the house, they've cleared out all of the brush and understory. On the other side of the ridge they've thinned quite a bunch but there's still plenty of good munchies. None of it is bare anywhere.

The are able to get most of their food themselves. We went through 6 square bales of hay over the past year. (That's for everyone, goats and cow.) They also all share about 2 cups of grain between the lot of them each night.

In the leanest part of winter, though, we did bring them down a pine tree or two to snack on. We also cut a bunch of 4 - 6 inch diameter trees down to use for fencing and they stripped all of the bark and twigs off of those. They need to work pretty hard during the lean part of the year to harvest their browse.

We're clearing the land a little harder than we originally planned but we're not too overstocked. We've got a pretty good balance going and it looks like we should be able to sustain this. We do have a backup plan for hay in case we get a harsh winter or prolonged drought.

One thing that's nice about a herd this size on this much land is that the goats are not always in sight. It's always enjoyable to go down a path and come across the herd doing their her business or to watch them come hiking back to "base camp" by the house. I also think it is good for them physically and mentally to have to go off and have herd adventures together each day.

Lynda