help finding a breed

[jess6905]

Hi there I'm Jessica. I'm new here, and I have a question I hope you can help me with. When I was growing up my father had a small hobby farm with goats, my mini horse, and birds until for health reasons he had to give it up. He had like minded friends. One of these friends lived right up the road with even more variety of animals. My favorites were of course his big white mare, and the tinyest goat I have ever known named mouse. For the life of me I can not remember what breed she was or just a super small pygmy. She was no more than 10-12 inches tall. Yes she was fully grown. I knew this goat for about 5 years.
We are in the process of finding a home where I can have a few farm animals, and I would really like to find a goat similar to mouse for my two girls to enjoy. If any of you can help me figure out what I am looking for that would be great. If she just happened to be a small pygmy that's fine with me. Thanks in advance for your help.

[mygoat]

Sounds to me like a dwarf that did not receive proper coccidia prevention as a kid. Not something I would go looking for. If you get goats, practice coccidia prevention or get a normal sized goat if it's beyond the coccidia prevention years.

Also, get two goats. They are extremely social and need a 'herd' to thrive.

[Frosted Mini's]

Mouse was probably a pygmy stunted in growth from poor nutrition or parasite problems.

[jess6905]

Bummer he was always good about preventatives, but oh well. Looks like the girls will have a pygmy or two for pets while I have a few milk and meat goats of my own. I can't wait till everything is settled, and ready for them. The goats were always one of my favorites growing up.
Thanks!

[dozedotz]

There is a wonderful blog called "This Goat's Life" about a farmer in WA who raises Nigerians...she owns a dairy and is very careful about the care and feeding of her animals. Last year she had a Nigerian (pure bred) born that stayed VERY, very small. That little goat became an internet sensation and there were even T shirts sold in her honor...it can happen, accidentally...your childhood neighbor may have been the lucky recipient of a "tiny goat" that was perfectly healthy! YOUR best bet to get a reasonably small goat is to purchase a pure bred Pygmy (female ONLY...you won't get the pet quality with a buck...maybe a wether would be ok) or a Nigerian. Your kids will love a hand raised, very tame, sweet little goat even if it isn't quite as tiny as your playmate from years ago.

[mygoat]

I didn't realize you had other goats - in that case, then it will live with your bigger goats no problem. I started out with unregistered mini goats and through the years the original (now geriatric) mini goats have lived with full size alpines, lamanchas, boers etc. My first goat Daisy was a mini goat and she just had to be euthanized yesterday - but back when we had the boer herd she was queen of everybody despite being about 1/2 the size of everybody else. The only thing I have to be VERY careful about is the full size bucks. My minis are does, and breeding a mini to a full size buck can be catastrophic. We pen our does across the property from the boys, and in the breeding season we put the mini does in a cattle panel pen separate yet again from the bucks AND the does such that they are never together. That being said, we have had break out/break in incidents through the years. Either they never bred/weren't in heat at the time, or the lutelyse I gave a month later worked thus far. It is one of my biggest fears however. If you just want a pet without all the extra management, I suggest getting a wether on the bottle. Nigie breeders produce a lot of flashy little bucklings that aren't breeding quality, and will sell you one for a good price to bottle feed. He'll be friendly and make a superb pet just as a doe would, but he'll need very little extra care.