how many square feet per goat?

[tansyflower]

Is a thousand square feet big enough for two nigerian dwarf goats? It might be slightly more than that since its in a hilly area. But would that be a sufficant pen size?

[tansyflower]

Oh and it will be somewhat portable so I can move them around a bit throughout the year.

[CraterCove]

That's a hard question to answer without knowing what's growing there. I am planning to go with cattle panels and t posts for my mobile fencing and rotate pasture areas. For that I will be watching and seeing how quickly they eat down and moving them appropriately.

[mygoat]

It's big enough to contain them, but not big enough to feed them with pretty much any growth for very long.

Ideally you'd make several pastures that size and rotate them through. 1000sq ft is only about a square pen roughly 32'x32' - not very big.

Goats need a LOT of forage to feed themselves, daily. It's perfectly big enough for a dry lot situation where you bring all their food to them, but not if you expect them to find their own food. If that is the only pen size you can do as a portable, I'd move it every 3-5 days or so.

[tansyflower]

Originally Posted by mygoat

It's big enough to contain them, but not big enough to feed them with pretty much any growth for very long.

Ideally you'd make several pastures that size and rotate them through. 1000sq ft is only about a square pen roughly 32'x32' - not very big.

Goats need a LOT of forage to feed themselves, daily. It's perfectly big enough for a dry lot situation where you bring all their food to them, but not if you expect them to find their own food. If that is the only pen size you can do as a portable, I'd move it every 3-5 days or so.

Yes I know its not big enough to feed them, I was just wondering if it would be enough space to exercise and be happy in. I have a lot of space to pasture, but my mother was a hoarder so its filled will garbage, broken glass, metal and whatnot. My plan was to cut down the brush and weeds to give to them and then scoop up the unsafe dirt and remove it slowly over the summer then seed it before fall. Hopefully by next year I could have a large enough area to do nice rotating paddocks.

I was going to give them hay from my neighbor. Its not been treated. It has some alfalfa, grass and clover in it along with some other weeds depending on if the bail was from the edge of the field or not. Oh, and that Purina grain because they are already on that. I never really expected them to get all their nutrients from pasture, or at least it wasnt my initial goal. I just want them to be happy in their space :-)

[tansyflower]

Also will they eat dry brush or only green brush? Is there certain types of bushes they should stay away from?

[tansyflower]

Also if I am working outside can I tie them out with me in a safe place? Someone said if you put a dog cable through a piece of old hose and kept them away from high thing they could jump on, then it would be fine as long as they were never left alone. Would you use a breakaway collar or a regular collar? Has anyone ever done this?

[Doug Hodges]

Originally Posted by tansyflower

Also if I am working outside can I tie them out with me in a safe place? Someone said if you put a dog cable through a piece of old hose and kept them away from high thing they could jump on, then it would be fine as long as they were never left alone. Would you use a breakaway collar or a regular collar? Has anyone ever done this?

I think a lot of people will tell you break away collar if you are tying them out. However, Ive seen it done both ways. If you never leave them then either would work. If you are planning on bringing them all their feed then the 1000 sq ft is fine for a couple of goats. I currently have 7 or 10 per pen of babies right now. Pen size is roughly that size.

[CraterCove]

If you are working outside, I'd just let them loose... As long as there is enough around to keep them busy they don't wander too far and a quick shake of a bin with some grain in it should get them running back anytime you need. As long as they are socialized and not hard to catch, I'd let them hang out with me around where I was working.