Goats and Minis...good or bad

[Sandee]

I used to stable my big horse where they had a goat. He made the place nasty with his poo and ate any and everything in sight including nibbling on all the leather hanging where he could reach. My horse took a real dislike to him and a she would chase him whenever he entered the arena while we were working. He also would nibble at everyone coats. He was a real nuisance.

Just curious - WHY would you want to add a goat(s) to your place? I would think between your family and breeding minis and having big horses and working (sometimes 2 jobs) that you'd have enough to do!

 

[dmm]

We have had pygmy goats and mini horses plus mini donkeys for 11 years now. If we breed goats, we have them in a different area when the billy is here and then they go back with everyone else for the rest of the winter. We breed so we have kids around June 1st. About 6 wks. before their due dates, we move the mamas back to their own shed and fenced in area. We keep them separate until the kids are about 6 wks old. Never really have had a problem with them being together. Our goats all have horns -- no problem with that and also never had any tail or mane chewing either. We have cattle panels for fencing and put chicken wire or rabbit fencing around the bottom where the babies will be so they cannot get out. Also have a chain link fence attached to the nursery shed which works great! Our goats LOVE the horses. The horses can take them or leave them. Our goats have NEVER gotten out of our fences in all these years. We feed them separate except for hay and/or pasture, of course.

 

[bevann]

My experience with pygmy goats was mostly all bad, except for the little things being fun to watch.They would pee and poop all over the bales of hay if they got loose in the barn.Very picky eaters-wouldn't eat any weeds-just jumped in the feeders in the horse pasture and AGAIN-peed and pooped on the feed and hay.Wouldn't eat junk hay, only choice alfalfa.Didn't like whatever pasture they were in and were always getting out.Chased the horses away from prospective customers. Trying to clip the head on a pygmy goat to show at the state fair was like trying to clip an eel.(there were 4 of us holding her)She finally went in the ring with a very hairy head.I don't think I'll try goats anytime in the near future.

 

[Marnie]

I have a couple donkeys, a couple mini geldings, a few llama's and my buck Fainting goats all in one pen and they get along great. But and this is a big but - they are not getting grain right now. I can see trouble their. But the way it is, they eat their hay and share the shelters just like they think they are all one.

 

[WolfLady]

My mini is in with 3 goats,(2 nannys one young billy) 3 young bull calves and the chickens brave enough to jump the fence.As the calves get bigger they WILL be moved out but I nave never had any problems with mini and goats. Now donks and minis on the other hand Lost all mane and tail hair to donks LOL. Hope this helps

 

[bluerogue]

We have a alpine type wether (we don't know what his exact breed is, but he's a "bigger" goat) in with our open mares. Poor Frodo gets chased, but they do seem to be okay with him. He gets enough hay, and he has goat buddies that live next door that he talks with through the fence. He does have horns, but he's never yet offered to head butt one of our girls. He's very sweet and loves people. I've actually had to call one of our mares off of him once. Maybe she was having a bad day, I don't know. She was the lowest on our herd pecking order though, so I think she is just taking it out a bit heavy that he is lower than her. I feel bad for Frodo everytime one of the mares gets nasty with him, but he seems to be happy to spend time with them. We may get another goat at some point, either from the neighbor that raises them for meat (yay, and they dress them from trees right outside my sister's front door! In full view of my young nephews. Great!), or from her friend that raises fainting goats now.

We had another alpine type wether before that was hand raised, and we had major issues with him. Taco was very aggressive, and would head butt the horses. He hit our one eyed filly so hard she was out of breath and almost knocked her off her feet. I thought he had broken her ribs, but she was just bruised. We found him a new home with a great family that does big horse rescue. He also had horns.

I don't mind having a goat around. They are cute, funny, and do help with the grass and weeds in the back yard. However, I am and will continue to be extremely careful about goat personalities after Taco. Frodo is very sweet, and cohabits with the horses just fine, but Taco would try to hurt them so he could have all the food. Frodo doesn't get away with that, the mares quickly let him know that he is entitled to only his portion, and not any of theirs. We make sure he's got his own pile well away from them.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

How about SHEEP rather than goats? They tend to respect fences a little more?

 

[HGFarm]

Goats are great on the BarB!

I'm with bevann- I will never have another... they are into everything and if they can't get in somewhere, that's just where they want to be.... Mine refused to touch weeds... instead, it was the bark from trees, all my rose bushes, my vegetable garden that was just started to come up decent, the dog food- I could not take grain out to the horses as she would cram her head in the bucket so hard, even standing on her back legs, that she would about knock me down. Got into our feed stall one day and ate about 15 pounds of cat food, pooped all over everything, got into other stuff.... We lived 82 miles from town- one way, so went in once a month for supplies and really had it down to a science how much of what feed we needed, so that was a big dent in the cat food.

They will jump on your automobiles and anything else available that looks like a cool 'jungle jim' and destroy any plants you dont want destroyed and leave the weeds. And yes, the hay stack is so much fun, even when it's covered in goat poop... And it's even better fun to see how much fencing you can tear up, chew clothes and anything else (like the leather someone here mentioned) you can reach and just be plain obnoxious.

Our neighbors raise Boer and Boer cross for meat, and they have a horrible time with the fencing still. But they sure do taste good and make excellent shishkabobs too!!

 

[wildoak]

I don't have goats, but I had a neighbor with a small herd for several months. He had an impossible time keeping them in, and they were here more than there. Fun to watch for awhile, kept their distance from the horses but sort of followed them around. He would come round them up on the four wheelers......herding goats looks a little like herding water LOL, they just split around him and went everywhere but where they were driven! They unfortunately met a bad end - coyotes got several of them, on my property, so I asked him at that point to get rid of them (or fence them in!), and they were loaded up and gone within a day or so.

I've never had a coyote problem here, and hated drawing them in.

Jan