need some advice

brierpatch1974 · #1 09/28/05, 11:04 AM

Hello everyone I am new to these forums and need some advice. My son managed to win 2 pigmy goats at a local town festival. Right now they are at my father in laws farm which is 4 hours away and my son wants them to be closer to home. I plan on building a 8 x 12 foot shed for them but not sure if the area for the yard is big enough. It would be a fenced in area of 15 x 30 feet. Also would this be big enough for them if they had babies? Babies would be sold as soon as they are weined so it wouldn't be crowded for long. My questions are these.
First, what type of fence should I use and how tall should it be? I would like somthing with the smallest squares possible so the babies can not get out or the adults can not get their heads stuck.
Second, What is the average price of fencing now a days? I read some post about cattle pens being used but I sure have never seen a section sell for 10 to 15 dollars around here... More like 40 and up unless I am looking at the wrong thing wich is possible

... What I have seen looks very simular to farm gates.
Finally <at least for right now> If I have any babies to sell how much should I sell them for? I don't want to get rich but would like a fair price so I can let my son have it as some extra spending money. <a little reward for him helping take care of them and feeding them>
Thanks for all the help and please let me know If i left out anything I should know before bringing them home. I want everything to be set up just right before I bring them so I can avoid as much trouble as possible.

Rick

TWOGOATS · #2 09/28/05, 11:43 AM

i use 5' chain-link for my regular size goats. for pygmies, it would not need to be that high, but, as i do not have pygmies, i don't know how high that is.
will you be botlefeeding the babies, or are they weaned? if botlefeeding, there is a lot of stuff you have to get.
if you were willing to walk them every day, they can stand smaller spaces.

word of advice, get your son into 4H. they can help him alot

Goat Freak · #3 09/28/05, 02:32 PM

You will also need to get them CD/T vaccinations, baking soda, a mineral block, and I am sure I forgot some stuff. If you really want to learn a lot go to google and type in fiasfarm, it is a website with lots of helpful information. By the way, it sounds like you live in a neighborhood, correct, you may want to find out what the laws for your area are. Hope this helps, by the way you may want to build it a little bit bigger because baby goats are VERY easy to get attached to, especially with kids. Well by.

trnubian · #4 09/28/05, 02:37 PM

Properly stretched chainlink fence should work well for you. Make sure you have the top support bar also. I would think 4 feet high would be tall enough. (I have full size dairy goats and our fencing is only 4 feet tall.)

An 8x12 barn is plenty of room for 2 pygmies and their babies for about 3 months. The outside area is big enough for them too. Just make sure they have toys to play on. Like cable spools or big rocks to play on.

You will have to feed them free choice hay year round because that is not enough room for them to browse in the summer. You will only need to feed grain when they are nursing or pregnant.

Are these pygmies that you have registered? if they are and you breed them to a registered buck you could get anywhere from $100-$300 depending on if they are show quality or not.

If they are not registered, the kids will $45-$75 at the local sale barn, or if you get lucky and can sell them as pets.

Lots of fresh water, a clean, dry, draft free shelter that is well lit, a good sturdy fencing with toys, and you are good to go. Lots of attention is appreciated by them.

**mygoat** · #5 09/28/05, 02:47 PM

i dont know what would be more expensive, chain link, cattle panels or rolled fence, but we use a type of fencing called goat fencing. it has small squares and costs about 300.00 for a very large roll, i think 300 some feet. the more room the better for them. they would probably eat that size pasture down to nubs within a fairly short while, and then you would have to feed extra hay and more grain. the kids really dont graze too much untill you wean, if you wean under 3 months. Cattle pannels are like thick wire, not the large farm gates. I dont like the cattle panels because i dont dehorn my goats and they would get thier head's stuck in the panels. if your animals have horns, make sure they cant stick thier head's through the fencing, or u will have tons of fun on a cold winter night trying to convince the goat that it has to cooperate with you to get it's head out. the pasture should be as absolutely large as you can possibly make it, or make it easy to move around your yard. the more room the better, and the healthier they will be. find a good livestock vet nearby, get some good goat care books, and stock up on hay for the winter. do you have just does? if you do, where are you breeding them at? the average for grade animals around here in MI is does 75.00 and bucks 50 or so and wethers 25-50.00, but that is for grade animals (unregistered). you could always sell the does to me..... im looking for doelings next spring/summer.... where are u located? what color are your does? also if you need a buck to breed to, i have one here. some of the best advice i can offer is to stick with this forum. i love it here, and people are genearally really nice here. you learn so much, and get a bunch of opinions and get new ideas and plans for building things and reasources of info and and and..... lol
welcome to the goat forum!!

brierpatch1974 · #6 09/28/05, 02:57 PM

Yes I live in a small town. House use to be my wifes grandmothers. Our house is last house up in town. The lot area I mentioned is grass but I could make it bigger by fencing in some of the wood land. Property has 5 or 6 acres total.
I don't mind spending money but chain link fence is just to dang expensive to use in a large area lol. Was thinking of some type of feild fencing with small squares. Also not sure if I trust those metal fence post to be strong enough to hold the fence up if a goat is putting wait on it.. They look flimsy to me so I will probably gather up some old locust post.

Rick

**mygoat** · #7 09/28/05, 03:02 PM

use the steel t-posts with the panels or goat fencing. dont get the fencing with the rectangles and the skinny wire; that will cause problems. 4' high. make sure to brace corners though! and make fence posts wood posts. actually, the goats would prolly do better in a wooded area as well, so fence off most of that for them. they are browsers, and like woody and leafy things alot more than grass. There is alot more info in my post above too.

TWOGOATS · #8 09/29/05, 12:17 PM

you might want to make sure that none of the plants are poisonous.