Will goats eat my house?

[Willowdale]

Our farm house hasn't been lived in for decades and we're moving in this fall. The yard has been mowed and is lovely rye grass but there are lots of volunteer brambles, vines, and other undesirables.

We're going to fence about an acre around the house (2x4 welded wire with 3 offset electric strands to keep the dog in), and keep chickens and guinea there to eat the ticks (our farm is tick heaven). Later we'll add an exterior perimeter fence to make a chicken moat (it's also deer heaven).

Question: will a couple of nigerian dwarfs eat my house if we keep them in this acre, long enough for them to get rid of everything but the rye? Would it help if I spray the siding with cayanne or bitter apple?

Once the scrubby stuff is under control around the house we can fence different pasture areas for the goats, and also let them browse during the day in 20 acres of scrubby overgrown pine forest, or in the mixed growth by the marsh.

SECOND QUESTION: How long would it take a couple of little goats to eat up the brambles and vines in an acre of rye grass? Would we be needing to build the new pasture fences within a week, or would two nigerians stay busy for a season cleaning up an acre?

p.s. My daughter's not too excited about taking on goat responsibility, but she's even less excited by mowing... and she's very susceptible to cuteness...

[mpete]

congrats on the new house!!!! How exciting!!!
The goats and the house will not be a problem. I've had horses nibble on wood but never any goats. I would imagine that someone else who has had their goats for brush clearing could answer your other question, but I know my goats can clear a 20 foot "crop circle" when I tie them out for a day. Are the goats you're getting in milk?

[Willowdale]

Thanks about the house. It's not so new, been in the family for a few hundred years But yep, it's all new for us, moving in and starting to set up something of a homestead, a few slow steps at a time.

I haven't picked out goats, or even decided to get them (need DD's buy-in). At this point I'm just planning. I'll want everything set up correctly well before I bring in any livestock. Also I'll need to be sure in advance that we can find folks to care for the animals when we travel.

I'm thinking I'd get a doe with kid, or two does, so we have the option to breed and milk later. And if I can't get the logistics together, we may just end up borrowing goats from neighbors to do the clearing. :-)

[mpete]

That is so fasinating about the house...

I love my goats. I have about 4 acres and am getting most of it fenced soon. My goats (boers) do well on browsing and pellets. My milkers (nubians, getting them this summer) will be fed alfafa/grass hay, pellets and browse in their areas. They also get a bit of grain when milking. Starting out with a 'clean herd' I think is the most important. Buy from a CAE and CL negative herd and have your animals tested. Get their maintenace records and keep them on a schedule. I hope you can figure out how to get them. I think you'll enjoy them.

[Naturaldane]

My goats will try to pick at my wood siding, Im glad no one else has had that problem but I have

[Ernie]

Goats will NOT mow your yard for you. They will eat your trees, your bushes, your wood siding, and the trim on your automobile before they ever eat more than a handful or two of grass.

Goats are browsers, not grazers. They will only eat grass if confined in too small of an area and they can't get anything else they would prefer.

[MELOC]

i have seen goats lick the crumbling mortar from old masonry, but i have never seen them eat a house.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Our goats chew on the edges of the milk house and the milk house door.

[Willowdale]

Originally Posted by Ernie

Goats will NOT mow your yard for you. They will eat your trees, your bushes, your wood siding, and the trim on your automobile before they ever eat more than a handful or two of grass.

Goats are browsers, not grazers. They will only eat grass if confined in too small of an area and they can't get anything else they would prefer.

Hmmm, good point about them not mowing the grass. My major concern is for them to eat the brambles and briars and vines in the yard, but maybe I should get a goat and a lamb? Will those two be company for each other, or does a goat need another goat?

[Naturaldane]

From my limited understanding, sheep are easy to fall sick from eating the wrong things and are not the best thing for some one with casual education about them, hence why I dont have any.
Goats are herd animals and do better when they have another goat, however I like to have one on one time if its a young goat to bond then get another, if they are grown goats you want to buy then it really doesnt matter, it doesnt matter if they are babies really, just a personal preference.

[Starsmom]

My goats eat my barn, so I would assume they would eat the siding off a house as well...depending on the siding.

[Eunice]

"Will goats eat my house" - YES, if for no other reason than to make a liar out of someone.

[thatcompchick]

I agree with Eunice!!!

A lamb wether and a goat sounds like a plan. Or even two lambs of a primitive breed/hill breed (Icelandic, Shetland, Karakul, Black Welsh) - they tend to eat more scrub.

My goats chewed on my Trex decking for the copper when they were deficient. Wouldn't put it past them to eat wood siding, and considering it's old, it could be painted with lead paint...wouldn't want that.

I have two black welsh ewes and their offspring on lawnmower duty right now. Have to move them back to pasture before they pull up the roots of the grass!!! They've been eating the poison ivy and some honeysuckle and rosa too!

Andrea

www.arare-breed.net
www.faintinggoat.net

[crazygoatgal]

Originally Posted by Willowdale

Hmmm, good point about them not mowing the grass. My major concern is for them to eat the brambles and briars and vines in the yard, but maybe I should get a goat and a lamb? Will those two be company for each other, or does a goat need another goat?

I have to disagree with Ernie. Yes, goats do prefer to browse, but they do eat grass if they can't browse. Mine will not eat a car or house instead of grass and actually have never bothered my vinyl siding or my wooden barn or my pressure treated porch/deck. They seem to enjoy grazing over being stuck inside on hay all day. And yes, they will love eating all your brambles, weeds, etc. and will do a great job too. But sheep are the better grazers of the two, but why would you want something that is not as smart or cute as a Nigerian--by the way, good choice of goat

[Katey]

I raised a goat kid and a Jacob lamb together, and it worked really well. Of course the goat would figure out how to get out of the fence, but the lamb wouldn't follow, and then they'd start yelling at each other to get closer. The noise would alert me that something was up. It took the goat six months, but she did finally convince the sheep that climbing on top of their house was fun.

[xoxoGOATSxoxo]

You could get a doe and a wether lamb, and eat the lamb later if you breed your doe. Or a ewe lamb, or a ewe, and then get into raising sheep. They make amazing lawn mowers. We pen a few of ours in a little hog panel pen in a different place everyday, to cut down on lawnmowing!

Most people say that goats dont eat lawn grass, but the doe I have now loves it; keeps the grassy part of the goat yard down less than an inch!

[CountryHaven]

Actually, I have a herd of 16 that keep several acres well 'mowed'... I want so bad to fence in my front yard (money stops it, lol) cause they do such a lovely job on all the rest that is fenced in. Half of my acerage that is fenced so far (4 acres out of 10.. still working on it after all these years, lol) is tree and bramble, the other half is simply grass, and it's just lovely, well fertalized, and nicely clipped.

[tailwagging]

Originally Posted by Eunice

"Will goats eat my house" - YES, if for no other reason than to make a liar out of someone.

[lettermom]

Originally Posted by Rose

Our goats chew on the edges of the milk house and the milk house door.

Ours do this too!