Well...Guess Ive got goats now

[nathan104]

Was just sitting here wednesday when it happened. Buddy calls and asks if he can borrow my livestock trailer. A friend of his is in the hospital and needs to unload his 7 goats he cant care for. I go with him just to help out. My buddy was going to get two of them for himself and auction the rest for him. So, I think to myself, Ive got an 8 acre pasture that is completely fenced with field fence topped with a strand of barbed wire, it has two small ponds, and is all grown up with weeds, vines and everything else. Dont think there is much grass at all on it. So, I decide to go ahead and bring the other 5 home. Halfway here, my buddy changes his mind and gives me his two. (He didnt want them in with his Nubians)

SO, now Ive got 7 goats! They are Boer goats. 4 males and three females. All males are intact with two being full grown, one medium size and one little one. The females are made up of one older females and two young ones. None are sucking. All have horns and the males have pretty impressive sets. They are all semi nice and will run up to you with feed. The older males and older female dont exactly like to be petted but will let you touch them. The younger ones are a bit more skiddish. All seem to be healthy although most of them are pretty bloated up. They were on a wood lot that was stripped of vegetation including the trees as high as they could reach and were eating some very green hay. Maybe thats it. Hopefully it goes down. Apparently they have been getting wormed and vaccinated with something on a regular basis. they sent a bunch of med supplies with me.

The older female is kind of a turd and will nip you to get your attention and gets slightly headbutty. The three older males get pretty physical with each othe when I bring out some feed. Apparently they have been all togather for sometime already though so hopefully it will be alright keeping them all together. Right now I have them in a one acre pasture, until I fix a few spots in the 8 acre fence this weekend. Out of the 7 goats, apparently only one of them is head through fence stupid. I have had to pull her head out of the fence three times already in just two days. Im thinking of tieng a stick across her horns that sticks out far enough from both sides to keep her from getting her head through the holes. Any ides if that will work or any other ideas?

The 8 acres they will be on has not has any animals other than wildlife on it in years. Although on the rest of our farm, we have freeranging cows, chicken, dogs, cats, and a pig. But, I will admit that we know nothing of goats. I had thought about it before but just hadnt gotten to the planning phase yet. So, I just skipped all that and got straight to the part of "Oh crap, we have goats, what now?" I want them to help clean the fencelines and get rid of a bunch of the underbrush and such on the 8 acres.

How do goats do with ponds? Not wanting to have to fill a water barrel over there, but will if I have to. Will let them forage but do plan on giving them a little feed every now and then just to keep them coming around us. Planning on letting them breed when they want, but not sure how great of an idea that is. Also, should I get rid of all but one male or should it be ok since they have been together for so long already?

Any words of advice or things to watch out for? Sorry for such a long read, thanks for any info/advice.

[rootsandwings]

the stick may work.

the females are probably already bred, although the young ones (how young?) may not be and shouldn't be if they are under (this is a guess because I'm going on dairy goats) 70-80 pounds.

I would separate the males from the females. It is much better to know when they are going to kid for prenatal care and to keep an eye out for kidding problems. bred does need more than just forage.

they won't go in the ponds. they will probably drink from them.

there are a LOT of other things you need to know. Read a lot of threads, ask more questions!

How does the poop look?

[Backfourty,MI.]

There are alot of folks that run their boer herds all together, males & females. Although the male to female ratio is a little off. If it were me I would get rid of 2 or 3 of the bucks. You could always have them butchered for the freezer for your family or if you feed your dogs raw or sell them.

The stick across the horns may work or you can try a peice of hose, like for watering around the yard & duct tape it so it will stay on.

The more time you spend with them the friendlier they will become. Animal crackers & apples cut in slices are good treats or at least mine think so.

Welcome to the world of goats. They can be alot of fun & we really enjoy ours.

[BarbadosSheep]

Get a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe, stick it behind the horns (not touching the head) and tape it on with electrical tape. that will keep them from getting stuck in fences.

[pookshollow]

Chances are they aren't "bloated". A lot of mature Boers look as if they've swallowed a couple of watermelons whole.