[Pony]

I know this is an old thread, but in regard to the original question, a lot (not all) of the answers comparing the work of goats to sheep are comparing milking goats to meat sheep. I run both meat goats and meat (hair) sheep. I do keep a couple milk cows so my dairy is covered with that species. Sheep and goats are ran on open pasture as a flerd (flock/herd) all year round. During this last extreme cold blast, I did give them access to a barn with pine shavings for bedding.
Goat kids sell for more per pound than lambs do, BUT, the goat kids tend to be much more fragile and die easer. goat mamas are not the best (that's boer for you) but gets better every year as I cull the worthless mothers. Sheep (so far) have been excellent mothers and lambs are up and RUNNING with umbilical cords still wet. (had to chase after one last spring and couldn't hardly catch it!)
So, goat kid's bring more money, but I have more lambs that survive to sale making up for lost price per pound. I will continue to raise both critters though because the sheep are not people friendly and can't even be brought over to the dark side with grain. The goats on the other hand will try to trample me down if I shake a bucket with rocks in it. This makes the times I need to catch them a lot harder without the goats. Goats are just naturally so much friendlier. (or grain hogs).
Goats do need feet trimmed regularly (mine will get hoof rot at the drop of a hat) and copper. Sometimes I will give the goats a copper bolus. All animals have the mineral block I give the beef cows. I like lamb meat better, but I am the only one in my family who does.

I used to run both dairy goats and hair sheep, until a few years ago, when I sold off the last of the sheep and went to just goats.

Almost out of sheep in the freezer, and really, I miss the boring little ovine buggers.

I agree that goats are MUCH friendlier. Well, rams can be friendly, but that's just a ruse to get you to trust them so they can kill you.

 

[RJ2019]

Goats definitely keep life exciting. And by exciting, I mean I spend half my life fixing fences.

 

[Pony]

Goats definitely keep life exciting. And by exciting, I mean I spend half my life fixing fences.

What breed are you running, and what are you using for fences?

When we first started in goats, we did spend a lot of time mending fence. Then we learned that the way we were doing the fences ([email protected]$$ed) was not the way to keep goats in.

Thought we were pretty slick with our 4' woven wire for a few years (10 years now??!?), but this year, the bucks taught us a lesson.

2 mature bucks, on opposite sides of the fence, banging their heads together with the force of two locomotive engines crashing head-on at 90 mph, can bust a hole through good 4' woven wire fence.

Cattle panels patch the holes very well.

 

[RJ2019]

What breed are you running, and what are you using for fences?

When we first started in goats, we did spend a lot of time mending fence. Then we learned that the way we were doing the fences ([email protected]$$ed) was not the way to keep goats in.

Thought we were pretty slick with our 4' woven wire for a few years (10 years now??!?), but this year, the bucks taught us a lesson.

2 mature bucks, on opposite sides of the fence, banging their heads together with the force of two locomotive engines crashing head-on at 90 mph, can bust a hole through good 4' woven wire fence.

Cattle panels patch the holes very well.

Nigie mixes, scrub goats they call em here. And yes, cattle panels are the most successful fencing I have come across so far. The goats all have horns and over time they smash the cattle panels apart, bust the welds on them and bend em up pretty good. I'm beginning to conclude that the horns are the problem....the one polled goat never got out of her pen.
Edited: If I could afford it I would get some of those tube horse panels and have the cattle panels welded onto them. Except that stuff is very expensive these days, and welding is not one of my talents.

 

[Pony]

Nigie mixes, scrub goats they call em here. And yes, cattle panels are the most successful fencing I have come across so far. The goats all have horns and over time they smash the cattle panels apart, bust the welds on them and bend em up pretty good. I'm beginning to conclude that the horns are the problem....the one polled goat never got out of her pen.
Edited: If I could afford it I would get some of those tube horse panels and have the cattle panels welded onto them. Except that stuff is very expensive these days, and welding is not one of my talents.

My goats are all Nubian, and all disbudded. That helps, I'm sure.

When I did have a couple of Nigies and Pygmy, they were terrible for fence climbing. Physics keeps Nubians from hauling their big ol' bodies over the fence -- although a buck in rut may be able to fly!

 

[BadOregon]

Where the heck do you live that they call Nigerians "scrub goats"? Here they sell for way more money than they should because they are "cute" and make good pets. As with larger goats, certain bloodlines are expensive as well.

You must have some vicious goats to tear up cattle panels. I have full size Saanens (no horns here) and have never had issue with busted up cattle panels. Not even with 4 bucks in the same pen trying to get to the girls.

I did learn the hard way that horns are a NO,NO with cattle panels. Had a girl with one horn who had stuck her head through the fence. Neighbors dog went at her face and she jerked her head out, but left the horn. ICK! Emergency
trip to the vet, a month of bandages, a hole in her head that took forever to heal. NEVER again. We don't do horns here.
Not to mention, I like my eyes in my head, not the end of someone's horn because I was bent over and they jerked the wrong way.

 

[collegeboundgal]

for our parameter fence it's the 4" field fence with a strand of hot wire a foot or so inside to keep them off the fence. working facilities are the corral panels (with the smaller stock panels on them) with a tub sweep to get them down an ally. everything used is made to use with the cattle, goats and sheep. the goats and sheep have a different squeeze shoot than the cows due to size. but it's pulled out of the way unless we need it because we work the cattle (pulling calves, vaccinating, or treating animals). usually, if we need to treat the sheep or goats we just crowed them and grab the one(s) we need.

 

[BadOregon]

I found field fence too flexible for goats. They can push and bend the wire to squeeze through. And it does not work when they are babies. Those little suckers just pop right through. I had to make a special "baby pen" with the expensive sheep panels (4" holes) to keep the kids in till they were big enough not to get out of the cattle panels.

 

[Pony]

Where the heck do you live that they call Nigerians "scrub goats"? Here they sell for way more money than they should because they are "cute" and make good pets. As with larger goats, certain bloodlines are expensive as well.

You must have some vicious goats to tear up cattle panels. I have full size Saanens (no horns here) and have never had issue with busted up cattle panels. Not even with 4 bucks in the same pen trying to get to the girls.

I did learn the hard way that horns are a NO,NO with cattle panels. Had a girl with one horn who had stuck her head through the fence. Neighbors dog went at her face and she jerked her head out, but left the horn. ICK! Emergency
trip to the vet, a month of bandages, a hole in her head that took forever to heal. NEVER again. We don't do horns here.
Not to mention, I like my eyes in my head, not the end of someone's horn because I was bent over and they jerked the wrong way.

@RJ2019 said that their goats are Nigie CROSSES.

And no, I did not say that my bucks tore up cattle panel. I said that I used cattle panel to mend the woven wire when the two rutty bucks decided to play crash test dummies.

My bucks have very good temperaments, or they wouldn't be here. They did not hurt anyone but each other, and it was certainly nothing worse than a couple of bloody scurs. They're bucks. They were in rut. They each were with does, but they wanted ALL the does.

 

[Pony]

I found field fence too flexible for goats. They can push and bend the wire to squeeze through. And it does not work when they are babies. Those little suckers just pop right through. I had to make a special "baby pen" with the expensive sheep panels (4" holes) to keep the kids in till they were big enough not to get out of the cattle panels.

Oh, yeah. Flexible fence is not good for anything but chickens.

 

[BadOregon]

I was actually responding to the other poster RJ2019. They said their goats had bent up and busted cattle panel welds with their horns.
I wasn't implying anything, just that those must be some determined goats.
I must have missed the crosses part.

 

[Pony]

I was actually responding to the other poster RJ2019. They said their goats had bent up and busted cattle panel welds with their horns.
I wasn't implying anything, just that those must be some determined goats.
I must have missed the crosses part.

I'm sorry. I missed that.

You can probably tell that I pride myself on having friendly goats...

 

[collegeboundgal]

Well, I think all does have kidded. Most went during the couple days we had that were in the 60! woot! I did lose a few. either mammas walked away or only clamed one and left the other... who knows.
All kidded out in the pasture, and I had to do a LOT of walking. The weather took a drastic turn and dropped down into the 20/30's with snow. Got over to the farm and started walking. Found one kid dang near death with cold. All other kids looked cold, but ok. A few mamas had taken their kids to the barn, but most were just in the field with their mammas. Took the slightly alive/mostly dead kid to the car for the heat. Went back to grab up the rest of the kids to get them all into the barn, much to the distress of their moms, but the barn is the best place or such young kids. Out of the wind and snuggled down into the pine shavings.
Took the kidsickle🥶 to the house (my mom's house) and we tried warming with just a heat pad and after a few hours and no progress, did a hot water bath. Kid perked right up after 15/20 minutes. Realized this was a kid born just that morning (they all look alike) so was going to take it back to my house to bottle it some colostrum (why oh why didn't I bring that stuff when I came over???) when I stopped back at the barn and took it around to some of the does that looked like they might have just given birth. One doe actually claimed him! WIN!
Then, off in the distance, heard the cry of newborn kids. So made the trek and found two new kids. Watched for a good 30 minutes and made the decision to get them into the barn as well (temp in in the 20's with windchill). Momma fallowed (with a slight detour at the hay bale) and I finally got them all in the barn separated from the main herd since they seemed to be having a slight hard time. One kids hind legs kept buckling the wrong way, but they were both very energetic and... vocal. Both still hadn't nursed despite trying so got down (thankfully she is one of my older does and a little more friendly) and I checked her teats and both were plugged so hard that I had to really work to get the colostrum flowing. They had both nursed when I left (it was getting late and I hadn't seen my two two legged kids yet) and I will have my stepfather check on them and release the new mama and babies this morning as I had to work. (I get up at 430 to milk (cow) and leave for work by 530). Fingers crossed everybody is still alive because I will be at work till 7pm tonight and it's a 45-minute drive home.
Side note, I did have another doe kid, I am guessing, during the night or very early the morning of the snow and her kid did not survive. She was by it, so I think it was just too cold.
I hate kidding during the winter. It's always a gamble. But, as of right now, no bottle babies!
Sheep don't look like they will go for another month.

 

[Pony]

Well, you have been mighty busy!

You might want to give that slightly-lame kid a 1/4 CC of BoSe, just in case.

What's the final head count?

 

[collegeboundgal]

Won't know till tomorrow. Was told I had another today and she actually had it IN the barn. Probably the only reason it's alive as it 18 with the wind chill. 🥶 Fingers crossed that the others are still alive.
I just keep telling myself that at least the parasites are dormant in the winter. It'll be better for the kids in the long run.
My parents are too old to be out walking the fields in this weather. Probably wouldn't be safe for them walking in nice weather either honestly. lol. Don't need them getting a broken hip or worse over some goats. Love my livestock, but my people have to come first.

 

[Pony]

Won't know till tomorrow. Was told I had another today and she actually had it IN the barn. Probably the only reason it's alive as it 18 with the wind chill. 🥶 Fingers crossed that the others are still alive.
I just keep telling myself that at least the parasites are dormant in the winter. It'll be better for the kids in the long run.
My parents are too old to be out walking the fields in this weather. Probably wouldn't be safe for them walking in nice weather either honestly. lol. Don't need them getting a broken hip or worse over some goats. Love my livestock, but my people have to come first.

Yeah... I dread the day when I have to cut my herd way back to next-to-nothing. An older neighbor with multiple medical issues just dispersed her entire herd. She wanted to keep a couple, but her DH pushed her to completely get out of goats. She is heartbroken.

The day my darling man tells me that I can't have any goats is the day he starts to walk with a definite limp... Fortunately, I know that, as long as one of us is able to care for them, we will always have at least 2 caprine companions

 

[collegeboundgal]

well, final count is (at this time 14 live kids I think) lost one that I had on a bottle for a day to, what I believe to be, no colostrum a he was found stuck on the wrong side of the fence. went ahead and pulled him and his brother. His brother is doing well (had much more energy) but no mommy that was doting on him during the time I was over (several hours). it was late at night, and I couldn't wait to see if he was alive the next morning, so just pulled and am bottle feeding.

Saturday we harvested the two male ram lambs and got them hung up. I have no idea what they weighed out in the field, but holy moly they were heavy when we were dragging them out of the field! got them worked Sunday. we have never butchered lamb so were watching the bearded butcher on YouTube. those guys are so fast that we had to rewatch several cuts several times to see exactly how they did it. also slowed it down to 50% and we (my sister and brother in law came over to help and enjoy fellowship) were cracking up at how the guy on the video sounded like he was intoxicated every time he spoke.
side note, my husband, BIL, sister and I all agree that we will be purchasing a ban saw before we harvest anything else (we do all our own deer in the fall).

Now I can't wait to see how the ewes lamb out and if they require the amount of constant checking on as they lamb and how many lambs survive.

 

[collegeboundgal]

 

[collegeboundgal]

I just realized that I keep posting about goats in the sheep forum. Let me know if this bothers others and I can take it down.

 

[Pony]

I just realized that I keep posting about goats in the sheep forum. Let me know if this bothers others and I can take it down.

I don't think you have to take it down, but it would be nice to have some more activity on the goat forum.