I "may" be getting a Goat it's a nanny and it live's in a chain link dog enclosure (only saw it from a distance).
She gave birth and had 2 and they died.
This person mentioned they thought they were going to have to give her away and i said i would take her if they made a decision to do that.
Should i do this i have plenty of room i would have to build an enclosure?
Are goats fairly easy to keep and how much room would she need?
She is leash trained and they take her out to eat grass.
Goat Question
Hi Harmony,
Remember I am new to goats but here is my 2 cents.
First, goats are herd animals naturally and do not like to be alone. There should always be 2 or more goats. At worst, though, some goats interact well with chickens and maybe she would not be lonely if you gave her some chicken company.
Yes, goats generally need an enclosure because they do not like to be wet in the rain and they need a comfy place to sleep especially when it is cold out, and they like to sleep on wood shavings or hay or straw. Ours are very easy to keep and they are in an enclosure about 3/4 of an acre but we have 17. One goat doesn't need that much room but she will like to have an area she can graze. If you have her leash trained you can set her out in different areas to graze down the weeds and such.
Claire
And grass is not the best food for goats! Brush (raspberries, multiflora roses, locust, stuff like that) is far better for them than plain grass. A goat can live on grass but it won't thrive as well as on brush. It should also have hay (weedy is good, timothy is good, a little alfalfa is okay -too much can give them scours) and grain. Minerals are necessary too. Fresh clean water at all times. Shelter from wind and rain. A dry floor with good bedding too. Mine have hay and straw. My does have bales of hay which they like to lie on and nibble as they rest.
One problem with a goat that's been kept alone for a long time is that psychological problems may already be in place. Problems you won't be able to cure. On the other hand she may not have any problems. Be aware that there are many goat diseases so you should find a vet who is knowledgeable about goats (not sheep or cows or horses!) and have her checked out before you take her so you don't find yourself with huge medical bills. She lost both kids so there may be a physical reason why she wasn't able to raise them or conditions where she lives may have been too bad for the kids to live.
You should ask yourself why you want a goat. Milk (is she a dairy goat btw), a pet? Other? How old is she? Goats in good health can live 15 years or so with some impressive exceptions out there. By age 10 she should not be allowed to kid anymore. Look at her lower jaw. Adult teeth erupt in pairs. One pair per year. That will tell you her general age.
A dog enclosure is way too small an area to confine an animal like a goat to! It borders on animal cruelty!!
If you have any questions at all. Just holler! We'll all chip in with what we know.
MollyD
This was a conversation i had the other night with the owner and the goat is a subdivision goat i guess a pet.
I don't think these people really know that much about goats and answer to the other questions it was a kind of like i been thinkin about given that goat away and i said i'll take it and they said they would be in touch!?:
I really feel for goats in situations like that. I'm sure the people aren't being intentionally cruel to her. For farm management purposed they teach us to allow one acre per 1000 pounds of goat. The average doe is slightly under 100 pounds so that's about 10 goats per acre of land. One doe (full size breeds) should have at least 1/10th of an acre of space. Compare that to the kennel she's in!
MollyD
That's a good equation Molly - makes me feel good about the setup we have for our goats! I think we're doing the right thing. My concern is that right now we don't have 2 pastures and I read that they are supposed to be rotated from one pasture to another, so now I feel like we have to double our setup.
In your case Claire wouldn't that be 4 pastures?? Two for the CL goats and two for the others?
Can you divide a large pasture up and let them browse on one part shutting off the other section. Then later move them there and shut off the first part.
MollyD
Interesting, around here they (cnty ag office) say 7-8 goats/acre max.
I'd suggest using a lightweight electric fencer to subdivide pastures if you can do it. With those easy plastic step-posts. We make smaller divisions during the growing season and try to save up for the end of the season like right now when very little is growing. the longer a rest period (up to a point anyway) an area has, the better the eatin'. If you can move them around in a way that leaves a the whole pasture available by the end of September or so (think quartering pastures and a clockwise rotation) you will have much healthier goats and pastures. And a lighter feed bill come winter.
I just ordered half the feed I'll need this winter. One ton bagged for $305. which is far cheaper than what I was getting at the feed store!
MollyD
Yes, 4 pastures, or ideally 2 subdivided ones. I could use the electric fence for the subdividing I guess. How often do they really need to be rotated between the pastures. Unfortunately the barn and lean to areas are at one end of the enclosures. We'd have to build second barns and lean-tos.
Claire no need for more shelters! Just put gates between the sections and move your goats to the section you want them to browse. Don't let them stop in between.
Another way is to leave a narrow alley with gates to each section off this alley. This works when you have one herd to move around. Gets harder when you have two.
Don't let your clean herd eat or even walk where your CL herd has been!
MollyD
Claire, we just added access doors to the barn. And separated stalls. The rotation depends on your growing season more than anything else. When things are really growing well you can sub-divide and get a really lush patch growing where it's goat-less. Move them when they start to get it eaten down. They catch all the creepie-crawlies from eating too low or from too much dust so that's the main measure.
We've been toying with the idea of a portable goat shed. That could be pulled by tractor or truck, or disassembled and reassembled in different locations.
Hay folks, I don't want to bust anyones bubble, but if you have CL affected goats and non CL positive goats on the same farm, doesn't matter how far away they are from each other the CL will eventually contaminate the the clean herd. Once CL gets in the ground it will eventually affect everything.
Back in Kentucky we had the largest midwest farm of Boar goats and the herd was huge over 1,000's of goats, the farm across the street that started out with all clean goats ended up with CL on their farm. I know both farmers and it was devastating to the second farmer as she eventually went bankrupt from all the medical bills and sick animals. She has since moved and no longer in goats. too hard on the heart strings. The first farmer is still at it as she sells meat to the middle eastern that come to her farm. She doesn't care about the fact that she has so many sick animals. I personally can't understand anyone wanting to eat meat from a herd that had CL. In MHO just something else that down the road we will find out is causing health problems to humans.
Janet
former Meadowyck Mini Farm
Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats
They are not meat goats - they are pet goats. And we have chosen, with veterinary consultation, to take an aggressive treatment approach rather than a euthanasia approach.
CMoxon
There are two breeds of goats, Dairy and Meat, either breed can be pets. If you are able to keep the abscesses from hitting the ground then you still might have a chance of keeping the others from being infected.
Wishing you the best as when dealing with this disease you will most certainly be on your toes in trying to stay ahead of it.
do you have any pictures of your goats that you can post?
Janet
Sorry, forgot to say they are dairy. Nubians.
Our uninfected goats are 1 Nigerian dwarf, 4 pygmies, 1 Nubian/Toggenburg cross, her 2 offspring, and 2 six-month old nubians, although one of those has just been diagnosed with deer meningeal worm, so we are rushing to treat it asap. They get that from eating infected snails or slugs, which are secondary hosts.
The vet that we discussed CL with at Iowa State University (the clinic is part of the vet school so their goat expert handled our inquiries) said that a lot of dairy herds have it here. He said people who show goats and people who have meat goats tend to euthanize, but dairy goat herds tend toward management. It is apparently not a problem with the milk and you can breed infected animals as long as they have no external abscesses at the time of breeding. He said that when internal abscesses get bad, they generally begin to lose weight and have other problems. The external abscesses he said we can lance, clean, and then isolate those goats from the usual pasture area until the wound is well healed. He has told us that the primary means of transmission is abscess fluid or infected items like shears, food dishes, etc. We do not share those items. He said as long as no abscess bursts on the ground they are on, we can even keep infected and uninfected goats together. As soon as an abscess shows up, isolate that goat, lance, wash, treat, isolate until healed.
My goat pictures are here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/909182/ (these are uninfected)
and here (infected)
starting around post Post #5552601
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/882957/
Claire