[Andy1982]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of buying a holding and Im after some information on goats other than they are browsers and can climb over most things no-matter what i build.

The info im after is how nice is a goat to look after? how is the milk compared to cows and in their looking after cause as our land goes it might be better to keep rather than a cow. We will have 2 bog style fields and i'm wondering what to keep on the other untill i manage some proper drainage. I know goat meat is good but if i was to keep a couple, one for table and one to milk and breed etc.

Sorry its a bit of an allround question but hey, I'm a noob and the advice fromthis site is the best i've come across so far.

Many thanks,

Andy

[plumseverywhere]

Hi Andy

I have 3 goats - one is for milk, the other girl will be bred from and Reggie is a castrated male that could have been for the table but instead is kept as a pet now (he's too cheeky and he's grown on us)
Not sure that boggy ground would be good for goats (or other stock with hooves) I could be wrong but I think you will end up with terrible foot problems (foot rot etc)
Milking goats are a tie. We will struggle to get away this year unless I can 'train up' a good friend to do more than just leave a bowl of food for the cats!! you have to milk twice a day, ensure the feed is right etc - takes a while to get into the routine but once you do its second nature 
Goats milk is great digestion wise, 3 of my 4 children are cows milk intollerant so we were spending a mint at tesco on goats milk before the herd arrived. personally I don't drink it as I need to have skimmed milk due to my curves lol but hubby, kids and other family peeps love it. It freezes better than cows milk too.
there can be a bit of a goaty taste but I dont' notice it as much fresh as I do from the supermarket cartons.
we now run a goats milk soap business as goats milk is fab for your skin too.
   

[powispigs]

I agree that boggy land would cause foot problems, goats are lovely but you have to have them very securely fenced as ours escape most enclosures! 

[Cinderhills]

Electric fencing is generally the only way we can keep ours in, unless the wall is higher then they are.   

[powispigs]

my three goats have fencing higher than them and 3 strands of electric fencing - I have just spent an hour rounding two of them up in my neighbours vegetable patch!! 

[jameslindsay]

I have 12 goats and NO pigs!

[powispigs]

Goats are lovely and I am so very fond of mine just not sure my neighbours are, our fencing just cant be up to the job!

[plumseverywhere]

oops powis pigs - your day sounds similar to the ones we regularly have here with our 3!! electric fencing does the job apart from when they REALLY want to get out, bless em!!

[powispigs]

Am so glad someone else spends days like me!  I am still sad that they are going to a new home on sunday despite the chaos they cause 

[ballingall]

I don't really understand why everyone has trouble keeping their goats in. We have 18 goats, 3 ft high sheep netting with a single strand of plain wire above, and no one jumps over that.

If the ground is REALLY wet and boggy, then it will not be great for goats. They do get foot rot, and in fact it is one of the reasons behind the boom and bust in the eighties/nineties of angora goats. That said, our ground is heavy clay soil, and is pretty damp and ours manage ok- but we keep ours in from December to March at a minimum, and they are not out a lot between October - December and March to mid April.

Beth

[Anke]

Mine have so far not got out except when I left one of the gates open.... and that was only one of them, the others stood at the gate and watched her...

Seriously, mine stay behind normal sheep netting and one strand of electric(mains) wire on top. So far no electric over the gates yet, even though they could easily jump. I think if the herd leader jumps they all do (and learn from her). I took in a new goatling in the spring and she jumped straight out of her pen... but now stays in with the rest of the herd.

Wet ground no good for any cloven hoofed animal, really I would try and drain as soon as possible before putting any livestock on it. Even pigs would make a real mess of it.

[Andy1982]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I have taken them all onboard and it will not be a first purchase granted and i would have to take into account all of these things but I will be fully prepared before taking the plunge with any stock.

The time that we are buying will give me a chance to run drains under the two fields in question over late Autumn and winter time to see how much improvement can be made before we get to move in properly .

Andy