One more time

One more time

What a great picture! Whenever I see animals with any type of costume, I think of they Jay Leno funnies where he says animals hate wearing them. LOL My kids torture our pets with all sorts of outfits!

biggered,
I just love these pictures! These pics have totally cinched it for me-I'm absolutely starting a herd back up this spring!! I love how goats can be so comical(dressed up or not) Thanks for posting them; you've made my day.
Sue

I just found out my neighbors have a goat they do not want. I have a lot of weeds and field I do not want to cut. Hmmmmm.

Well, a goat would surely do the trick. Just as long as there is a good fence around the field!

There is already a fence from the barn to the back fence and all the way around the back and side. That fence has the electrode things on it so it can be powered but I have no idea if those are good or if I'd necessarily want to use electric. I think it has barbed wire on top too. I could get away with putting one more fence up between the others to give it a large triangle or rectangle. The barn is also just a big storage shed now but it would be pretty cheap and easy to fence off the area under the loft. Wouldn't one goat be lonely? The kids said it's a big one (large dog/deer size) with no horns. That is about all I know.

Goats do better when they have a buddy. When we first started we bought two kids, a nubian and a alpine/saanan, the nubian had alot of medical problems right from birth and unfortunately she passed leaving our sandy by herself. We had her in a small barn in our backyard and every morning her face would be pressed up against the glass just waiting for us to come out and give her company. She only had us for the next 5 months and even after getting her some companians she preferred our company! So if you get only one be prepared to have a new friend which will follow you everywhere!!

We use a 5' cattle fence with a strand of barbed wire at the top(be careful of the barbed wire as the goats will put their feet in the fence and look over the top) make sure the fence is stretched tight. All gates have fence on them and latches are on the outside! Make sure there isn't anything the goat can stand on and jump over the fence.

if you want something to eat weeds, you better not select a "pygmy", like Larry. He and his famile of goats, {22 of them} eat nothing but alfalfa hay and it better be GOOD hay. So, maybe it would be best to invest in a weedeater.

Thanks biggered, I didn't realize that pygmy goats didn't graze like other goats.

Thank you for the input! I did read somewhere that Pygmy goats could get into much more trouble and not to be fooled by their small size. I was reading something to my daughter and she started laughing. Her friend's Pygmy jumps on the pig's back then right over the fence. LOL

I'm chuckling biggered. Your goats sound a bit spoiled rotten. ;)

I did also read that the larger goats don't need to be fed so much when there is plenty to graze. The comparison was made to a doe raising her young on only want she finds in nature. My thought of course, is that deer are not penned and run free.

With a face like Larry's how could you not spoil them!!.lol It's funny how they like different things to eat. I had mine in a five acre lot and out of 19 goats only one would walk along the fence and eat any bull briars growing. The rest of them ignored this treat! It can be difficult to get a goat to clean up a specific area for you since they like to browse. And tying a goat can lead to trouble as they like to wind themselves up in the brush and knock over water buckets so it's safer not to tether them.

:) That is precisely why I keep thinking of this goat. It's tied to a swing set if I heard right. Before I take on another mouth to feed, set of ears to scratch and the responsibility, I want to make sure I have a better, safer home for it. There are weeds and grasses, some as high as the door of the barn! It could be a mutually beneficial relationship. I have 7.25 acres and could quickly and easily fence off on acre to get us through winter. I could also easily ready the loft. I just worry about the cost of feeding and also it being lonely. We also have rabbits in the barn, but they are about 20 feet away. The cats also visit. I wonder if the mutt dog would drive it nuts as she wants to herd everything, including my kids! LOL

Sounds like this goat already has a lonely life being tied to a swingset. Goats like to be able to move around. But I know what you mean about another mouth to feed. With the fuel costs going skyward and corn being used as an alterantive fuel, grain prices have really gone up. A bag of grain should last for quite awhile for one goat. A good quality bale of hay should last about a week or so especially if you have a tray to catch the hay he pulls out! This also depends on the size of the bale. When we bale hay we make nice long bales while other people we know make them pretty short about a third smaller than ours(i try to give people their moneys worth!) Of course the more he eats outside the less hay you have to feed out and it sounds like there is plenty. I'm glad you are thinking with your head not just your heart. Alot of people get in over their head because of the 'ol heartstrings!

Hope it's okay to jump in here. I live about 3/4 of a mile from a place called Equine Outreach. It's a rescue place for horses, donkeys and mules that have been abused or starved because of people hoarding the animals and can't feed them. The place is real nice and from what I have seen of some of the animals they've rescued they're getting better and eating well. The only problem is they're now asking for hay donations as it costs them between $10,000 and $12,000 a MONTH to feed them. It was just established over the summer, I hope they don't start having problems with feed already as winter hasn't even hit yet.

A friend of ours adopted a pair of horses from NH that were severely neglected. They were skin and bones when he got them and it's been a year and a half now and they are doing fantastic.
There are alot of considerations people need to make before bring any animal home-proper housing, safe pasture, feed expenses, cost of vet bills/vaccinations and how long is the life expectantancy of the animal also can you give the animal the attention it needs and deserves. I haven't been on a vacation in over 15 years because I need to be here for my animals to make sure they are fed and watered every day. I just don't trust anyone else to give them the care and attention that I would give them. I can't just fill up the waterer and feeder and walk away. Animals need to be observed every day to make sure they are healthy. ok, ok I'll get off my soapbox!!

saanansandy, I agree. Other than our daughter, I wouldn't trust anyone either. About 6 yrs ago I asked what I thought was a friend if she would come and feed my dogs and cats while we were away on vacation for a week. I paid her to do it for us. When we returned home I discovered that the lid to the plastic garbage can that I kept the dogfood in had been chewed on. I asked her about it and she told me that she forgot to feed the dogs one night! I wasn't a happy person. My poor dogs went without eating only one night in their life because after that I made sure I was here to feed them.

It's terrible but I've even dragged myself out to the barn sick as a dog just to make sure my DH did everything right!! This was after he went to work; I wouldn't want him to think he couldn't do it right!! I would be thinking about them all day if I didn't see for myself-does that make me a slight control freak?....

I know what you mean. Before I had my total hip replacement surgery, I made sure my DH understood how much to feed my chickens, sheep, dog and cats. You would have thought I was a drill sargeant. But he UNDERSTOOD!! LOL Everyone survived quite well!

I know I received alot of eye-rolling and glazing over! But they're like your children and you feel no-one else can take care of them like you would! I think the hardest thing to drive home is the water even if it was 3/4 full needs to be changed in case of poo,ect and not just adding to it. What worked was my comment of you are what you eat!

That's a great comment! I'll have to remember that one! LOL

Hey all, you're not going to believe this, but my daughter called me this a.m. and asked me if I wanted an 8 month old puppy that my son-in-law rescued from a place where they live. She e-mailed me a picture of him and he's the most GORGEOUS German Shepherd you have ever seen! He's been tied up all of his life on a short chain and all they've been feeding him is bread and maybe give him some water. He's been out in the rain for a couple of days, his doghouse looks like it's big enough for a 30lb dog and he looks like he's about 65-70lbs. already! She said they went to the house where he lived and he was sitting in the pouring rain with his head down. They're going to bring him here for Christmas and our son-in-law is going to look at DH and say Merry Christmas! We lost our beloved Lab (Cheyenne) in Aug to bone cancer. My DH said he didn't want anymore dogs, but when he sees this guy I'm sure he'll change his mind as he looks like DH Sentry dog (Lobo) when he was stationed in Okinawa during the Vietnam war. It just FRIES me when people get a puppy and it's so cute and cuddly then when it gets bigger they ignore it! I would just love to tie them out in the rain and feed them just bread and maybe give them water.

This message was edited Dec 3, 2007 1:59 PM

This message was edited Dec 4, 2007 8:26 AM

Here's the picture of that Shepherd. I talked to my daughter this a.m. and she told me that our son-in-law and the crew he works with have been watching this dog for 2 months. The only thing they have ever seen the people feed the dog was bread. The doghouse in the background is the one I was speaking of. There's no way that dog can fit into that house.

This message was edited Dec 4, 2007 8:38 AM

Aw, he looks so sad :( Cudos to your family for taking him in!

Thank you, our sil had had enough. Now the crew is passing him around for now and taking care of him. I can't wait till Christmas now, I feel like a little kid again!

That's great that he is going to have a wonderful life now that he'll be in your care. Thankfully your sil noticed this poor unfortunate soul and decided to help him out. German Shepards are such wonderful loyal dogs, you are going to have a new best friend for a long time. :)

Thank you, l sure hope so. Yeah I know we used to have one when I was a kid, she was a great dog. My DH was a dog handler in the Army during the Vietnam war and he loved his dog. He wanted to bring him back to the states with him but there's no rehab for a Sentry dog. I talked to our daughter a little while ago and she told me that one of the guys on the crew aquired him after nightfall. I don't usually condone theft, but if it means the life of an animal that's a different story. The people just got up one morning and he was gone. Who knows they may not even notice him missing. She said he is a hugger, he wraps his legs around yours and hangs on then gives you a little nip if you stop petting him and he wants your attention.

Looks like he likes people! We had one when I was a kid, too. She would follow us kids everywhere. I can remember her laying down and me putting my head on her! She was a very gentle watchdog-would let us know when someone was around but never growled or tried bitting anyone. For awhile I think the german shepards were getting a bad rep but not our LuLu! Your soon-to-be new addition sounds the same way.

Yeah, he does sound like a gentle guy. I'm getting so excited! We had a small herd of deer in the yard last night which we knew there were deer around here but hadn't seen that many in the yard before. Our youngest cat was out on the deck wanting in but dh and I were so intrigued with the deer that we waited for awhile to let him in. All of a sudden he started walking towards the deer, when he got close to a yearling she reached down and LICKED HIS HEAD! We were amazed! Koregon (the cat) came up on the back porch and I slowly and quietly open the door and let him in, not one deer moved a muscle and there was one standing in the flowerbed looking right at me. After awhile the deer slowly walked away from under the light and into the darkness. DH went to bed and got up a few minutes later and said, "you know why they were in the yard don't you?" I replied "no, why?" His reply was "no dog." I told him that Cheyenne had slept in the house for a year and a half before we lost her. He agreed. My point is, remember in my thread about the Shepherd how I said dh didn't want another dog? I think he's beginning to change his mind as the deer were eating the Arborvitae and he's afraid they will destroy them. So I'm hoping that the Shepherd will be a welcome and accepted gift.

From the other side of the fence (or chain in this case) I have worked with dogs and there owners for many years. I have some big issues about what has happened to this dog.
First he doesn't look under weight and a dog fed only bread would loose mussel mass. I'm not saying that this isn't the case, but maybe the owners feed him at 5:00 in the morning, are those people who are watching him, watch him around the clock. Could it be that bread is a treat.
I don't condone chaining dog, but maybe that is what they had to do to keep him safe. Maybe just maybe there is more to this, and those who are looking out for this dog, "Well" Maybe they could have gone to the owners and tried finding out the facts and possibly tried educating them.
I would hate to wake up and find my dog missing because some vigilante group decided to take matters in there own hands and help without the facts. If indeed they do know, then I applaud those for stepping in.

Yes, they did know the facts and that's why they stepped in. The SPCA had been informed several times and didn't do anything to help. In the past several years there has been too many animals starving, living and dying in there own fecies, enduring the elements while their humans live in a house with a roof over their heads and most of all food in their stomach! As a matter of fact we just heard on the news Mon. about a place on the WA/CAN border where the owner sold his farm to an industrial plant and upon leaving his farm he also left 185 animals in their pens and by the time the authorities got there it was too late! THEY WERE ALL DEAD!!! That's only one incident! In my opinion 1 is too many! I definitely applaud the group. I wouldn't call them vigilantes!!

This message was edited Dec 6, 2007 10:20 AM

We had a bad deer problem when we lived in our other house. The deer were joyously chewing on the aborvitia everynight until we brought home our Pinky Lee(she's german shepard/bull terrier) from the pound. They stopped eating in the backyard after that! She had a dog house in the backyard but that only lasted a couple of weeks! She has slept the floor next to my side of the bed since! We couldn't stand the thought of shutting the lights off at night and leaving her outside! Even though she slept at night in the house the scent of her must have been enough because the deer never came back into the yard. Here's a pic of her with Maggie(springer spaniel pup)

This message was edited Dec 7, 2007 8:30 PM

opps! helps when you actually attach the pic!

Hey all, Want to get you up to date on the Shepherd. Turns out he is a she and our sil returned her as the people really missed her. So I won't be getting her after all but that's alright, becaaauuusse the grandkids are giving dh 2-10 week old black Lab PUPPIES (brothers) to grandpa for Christmas! Will send pics when available. Now I really feel like a kid again and am super excited!!!! They will be 12 weeks when they bring them over. I can't wait!

This message was edited Dec 10, 2007 7:39 AM

That's Great! Two are always fun! We have two springer spaniel pups; it can be a challenge training two but they have so much fun playing together. Here's a pic from a month ago:

And another from dec 1. All the straw you see strewn about is them helping me put it in the duck coop!

saanansandy, Thanks, I know as our daughter and I got Cheyenne and one of her sisters and they were definitely a hand full. They did play hard together too!
Your guys/gals are adorable!!

They are both girls, Maggie and Phoebe. Can't wait to see your new pups. Do you do crate training? Our girls have a large dog carrier that they sleep in and we've only had a couple of accidents when they have had run of the house. When they are tired sometimes they'll stroll into their crate by themselves and crash!

No, l've never done crate training but am seriously thinking about doing it. l do have a large dog carrier but from talking with our daughter l think it would be too small for the both of them and the carrier is a Vari-kennel intermediate! She has nicknamed them Moose and Brute, l think they're a couple of horses!

Boy do these puppies love this snow!! I called them in and they ran in and right back out again!
I wish I had a place for them to go swimming in the summer. We had a springer spaniel for over 12 years and she passed away. She would jump into the kids wading pool! I imagine your black labs will be doing the same if they get the opportunity. Labs are such sweet playful dogs.

We have a Chocolate Lab and she goes nuts for the hose. We can barely stand her if we actually need the hose because she barks relentlessly! And she's not happy unless you are blasting her full force. You are gonna have two times the fun. LOL