What other animals do you have with your goats?

[christij]

The goats eat high - my fence lines are clean!
But, I still have a lot of grass right now. I only have 4 goats on 4 1/2 acres. I would like to add something durning the during the green months. I would like another beneficial animal that would be much bigger than my goats - AKA no cattle or horses.
Thus, I was wondering what other goat people raise with thier goats.

[Jyllie63]

We have alpacas with our goats and they all get along great. In fact my baby goats spend more time with them than their own mommies.

[Catbird]

We have our sheep and cows in with the goats,they seem to get along just fine

[DownHome]

We used to have our chickens and turkey in with them and they did just fine. You just have to make sure the goats can't get into the chicken food.

[Minelson]

chickens, horses, dogs, cats...we only have a problem with Gretta (mama goat) attacking the dogs. We are working on that

[christij]

I forgot to say that I do have chickens in with the goats! Their coop is right next to the goat barn. And barn cats venture where they please.
I have a LGD pup but she needs a lot of guidance as she has taken out three chickens and now that she is bigger thinks she can play with the does. It doesn't help only one doe has ever treied putting her in her place. Training Ave is my summer project!

Catbird - how do you handle the mineral issue with the goats and the sheep?

[deafgoatlady]

Hey Christie. U wouldnt believe it. I got a horse. LOL. He is HUGE. He is thorough bred. JEEZ. But we might buy couple sheep and two weaned calves. Soo Maybe it will help keep the pasture cut down. OH man. U are not the only one trying to figure out.

[lonelyfarmgirl]

I have chickens in with the goats, and the cats come and go. after I move, we are going to try putting weaner calves with them.

[steff bugielski]

We have two llamas, a mini donkey, a calf and a sheep. They all get along fine. The sheep is very old so she does not venture into the barn, where the mineral feeder is.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I have a rabbit in with my weanling does.

[Sasha]

We keep our sheep flock with the goats.

[myminifarm]

I have the Dexter cows with the goat & the chickens venture in to explore the pasture & lay their eggs in the barn.

[Shirley]

What other animals do you have with your goats?

All my animals graze together and get along great: 2 goats, 2 cows and a steer, 2 donkeys (mother and son) and 4 horses(riding size horses and two miniatures).
So the goats can pick and choose what they want to spend their time with and they chose the angus heifers. They are inseparable. Why not get a calf to raise for beef? That way you wouldn't be keeping it year round.

[ozark_jewels]

I know you said no cattle but......CATTLE! We have run our calves/cows with our goats for years. They do very well together. The LGD's guard all the animals and the cows and goats get along together just fine. The cows don't need a barn and should be blocked from the goats barn area due to the fact you don't want the larger animals with smaller animals in a small space.
Its very easy to block the adult cattle out and the calves go in and out of the barn freely with the goats.
Not to mention, the goats milk raises awsome calves. I have two steers right now who have been on goat milk from week two of their lives. They are now consuming 2 gallons of milk a day each and are quite large for their age. They grow just fine on a gallon a day but I have the extra milk so they get two gallons a day and soon will go up to two and a half gallons a day each.

[mygoat]

You need chickens. I love my chickens and would keep them even if they didn't produce meat/eggs. Why? Because they go into the barn and scratch through all the bedding, keeping it turned, dry, and smelling good. Just cleaned out the barn and there was not ONE single area of wet bedding in there! SO easy to clean! They also spread manure through the pasture or scratch around in the spent hay. I threw all the bedding from the goats into the garden, which the chickens can still get to - and they spread it around for us. LOVE them.

[Patty0315]

A donkey , sheep , lgd and sometimes poultry.

Patty

[jBlaze]

LLamas and alpacas. You can get a nice yound 'fiber-male' alpaca for cheap (free - $500). They need sheared once a year in the spring and you care for them about the same as a goat I have been told. They are pretty funny critters. I recommend having them gelded. The padded feet are nice on teh fields and the poo is good for gardening, they are fairly easy to handle, they are weenies, so you don't have to be real strong. Easy to trim toe-nails. Mine play in the snow.