Would you say two, or three?

[jen74145]

We are going to take a look t some N. Dwarves this weekend in hopes of findind a doeling to be a buddy for our current lonely goat. Would it be better to have a pair or trio of the little guys? Does it matter? Just looking at it from the happy goat aspect at this point, so d'you think Molly would be fine with one friend, or would a trio be better? If we had only two, would there be potential for more bullying?

[momofmany]

When I got my first goats I got two. The only thing that didn't work out was when one of the does gave birth...opps breeding at the farm....it left the unpregger goat with no one to be with. I would say have a minimum of three only because then if one needs to be isolated then the other still has a buddy.

[Freeholder]

I've been letting my does kid in the doe pen, or on pasture when we have some, because I found that it bothered them too much to be separated into a kidding pen. The does have all done fine with staying in the doe pen, and I haven't lost any kids because of that, either. Even when I (rarely) leave kids on their dam, they do fine. The older ones seem to be pretty good about not stepping on the babies, and the babies learn pretty quickly to lie down in an out-of-the-way spot.

You need to have two goats. The third one is up to you. Just remember that if you breed, you will very shortly have babies of your own that you will want to keep -- it doesn't take too long to get overrun with the little darlings!

Kathleen

[momofmany]

Yeah, I did separate mine for a short time since the herd queen (unpregger) was so hard on the new baby.

[Zorro_Bones]

I would get three and that's because I like goats and having three means more milk with the does and more redneck outdoor tv.