Crazy idea about goats

[Buzz-sawyer]

I always liked to make jokes about "Goat farmer" what us hicks call what we consider a hick
Now I got this crazy idea to get a goat or 2 for milkin and weed control, Do those two things mix? Do they need a GOOD diet to make sweet milk.............AM I NUTZ TO WANNA BE.............

".A GOAT FARMER!"

[DanG]

Yup!

[Grawulf]

Buzz,
Sara and I used to raise grade dairy goats back in the late seventies. They're browsers so they would rather chew on your favorite tree than eat nasty weeds - they'll eat thorns - multiflora rose. They like comfrey. They won't give a lot of milk unless you feed them quality hay and good feed. They can be very lovable and the next minute really cantankerous. If you want low mantainance animals, goats aren't.............but.........once you start drinking goats milk, cows milk tastes REALLY weird    If you're really serious about getting some goats, PM me and I can give you more info.

[Gary_C]

crazy idea?  -----------    Not really
AM I NUTZ?  -----------    Probably, Yes

Seriously, cattle, goats, sheep, deer, and giraffes are RUMINANTS which means they have a four compartment stomach that can digest just about any fibrous material even wood. Metals and plastics, no!!!  In India, the cattle roam the streets of the towns and eat food scraps waste, etc. What they will eat may impart slight tastes to the milk, but the sweetness or fat content depends more on other factors. Just don't let them eat jimson weed.

Do you really want to be tied to one goat for 365 days/year like the dairy farmers are to their cows?

[Percy]

Had a goat that used to hang around the mill years ago. "Billy" was a she-male and very entertaing.  Climb anything, like A GOAT One day a custmer is loading WRC into his van and leaves the door open while Im makin out the bill and we B.S. of course. Well we can hear Billy eating somthing in the back of the van. We check it out and the goat is standind at a pail full of the yellow marettes(things for twisting house wiring together) and its chewing them up like they was candy.  The goat was allways loving and freindly, cept once when I was goofin with it, I pretended I was a goat and threatend to butt heads with it.....NOT A GOOD IDEA

[Texas Ranger]

There are so many one liners in there that I will not even attempt to post, even one. 

Jeff, say thank you.

[DanG]

Let me help ya out.

I yousta have some goats.  Somebody posted about some sort of plant that was poisonous to them.  I piped up and said that my goats ate that all the time, and I hadn't lost one yet.  This guy named Staples, that hung around here in them days ,  answered back, "Sorry about the goats, Dan. Keep trying."

I still chuckle every time I think about it.

[Tom]

I thought that I wanted some goats to keep the underbrush out from under my planted pines.  I was mentioning it to my "old-timer" buddy  'cause he was a dairy farmer in a previous life and had all kinds of animals.

He said "Do you know how to keep a goat from jumping over the fence?"

"No"

"You lay a board up on the fence and he'll walk over. "   

It took me a minute to realize that he was telling me that fences don't keep goats in the field very good. 

I have a neighbor who raises  little goats. They have field fence (what we call Hog Wire) and the goats will sometimes get their heads caught in the fence.  It seems that they would rather have the stuff that is growing on the other side of the fence.   If they get caught just right and you aren't there to get them out,, they will get tired, lay down and asphyxiate themselves on the wire.   Sometimes they can't figure out how to get their horns back through the hole.

Dogs are goat preditors too.  If you have many ferral dogs around, you need to keep a close watch on your goats.

[Ron Wenrich]

I had goats for a good many years.  They were used mainly for brush control and they did a number on the multiflora rose.  They also killed the ash trees, maple trees, and any other tree that they could strip the bark off. 

They are a pretty smart animal, and will be able to find the smallest hole in your fence and crawl under it.  At first, I put up barbed wire.  I was chasing goats, since they went right through that type of fence. 

Eventually, I just let them free range.  They stayed fairly local, but had one that took off for a week and then came back. 

They like company, so you're going to have to have more than one.  And they don't like wet areas.

Other than that, they were pretty good lawnmowers.  Too bad it wasn't always my lawn they were mowing.  You gotta have good neighbors with a sense of humor.   

[old3dogg]

Those goats sound like a pain to raise!
But a lot easier than teenagers!

[Patty]

Every once in awhile we consider getting a goat to milk. I really like the taste of the milk, and it makes really good cheese. Then I consider all that has been written above, and decide I have too many projects going now as it is. Maybe when I retire my day job, I will consider a milk goat.

[isawlogs]

 My brother raised goats at one time ... they where cute ... they are good mowers too ... they ate the lawn and every thing on it and or above it ...  Even had a few bites on the clothes that where on the line ...  Took the tractor seat for desert , trailer wiring ... for lunch ...   the bark off the yard trees for supper ....      Yep real cute in somebody elses yard ... 

[Ed_K]

 Our's liked the flower garden the best  .

[Furby]

Yup!

[thecfarm]

We had three goats.We didn't milk any of them.Didn't want to be tied down.We got the goats when they were small,they would fellow us around better than the dog.We had 2 does and a fixed buck.One of the does would stay by my side like glue.Even using the chainsaw or the trimmer.The only time they got out is when I forgot to latch the door.Our goats never climbed on anything or acted bad.We would speak sharply to them when they got in the garage,OUT,OUT,OUT or if they were chewing on the raspberry bushes and they would move on.I'm clearing some land and didn't they love the suckers that came out of the stumps.Just let them loose and we would lead them down there,they would have a ball.The one doe got to pushing children.We only wanted to get rid of one,but this real nice family wanted all three.Off they all went.We do miss them.We will get some more.

[Rockn H]

I don't know about the milk, but we had about 1/2 acre with junk cars and not enough room to keep cleared out around them.  It had field fence around it and four goats in it. They did a good job of keeping it cleared out and never did try to get out.  The goats liked eating the cars to.  They would come out from under one with a stripe of gease on their backs and a mouth full wires and hoses.  I did supplement their diet of wires with give away feed from the co-op, oats and corn mostly that had got moldy.

[etat]

I once had goats.  Most I had at one time was forty three head of them boar goats.  They're more trouble to fool with than you'd think.  I had to trim their feet every couple of months (not a fun job).  If you keep em in a wet area they're prone to hoof disease. You have to keep em wormed and occasionally change types of wormer so they won't get immune to it.  You have to be careful not to feed em too much grain, they'll founder, and DIE.  You have to doctor em when they're sick.  If you give em antibiotics you have to follow that with stuff that puts microbes back in their stomach so they can digest their food or they may die.  If they're really fat, young, and pretty, sometimes you have to help them give birth. If it's really really cold or damp winter time you need to have heat lights in the stalls for the little babies.  In MY experience the higher dollar the goat, the more susceptible they are to these matters.  It's not much fun having a goat that cost hundreds of dollars up and die on you.  They're aggravating to feed cause they'll follow you around and try to climb on you and in the feed bucket you're carrying.

That said, I enjoyed em and someday in the future will probably have some more. 

[tnlogger]

we used to have goats and the wife will again she takes care of um and their pets for her. we bought some sale goats a few yrs ago and with shipping fevor i layed the LA 200 to they when we got home.
That stuff will light a fire in them tails that wont quit try watching 8or10 goats fired up like that ya almost feel sorry for them.

[beenthere]

tnlogger
I missed that -whatever it was you said. 

[DanG]

It's ok if ya missed it, BT.  The important thing is that they missed you.  Just don't stand behind them, and you'll be alright.