I GOT GOATS!

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ButtonsPalace

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Well this is a fun story! My boyfriends step-dad (We'll call him Jim) has goats. It started as 2 females, then not long after I moved in Jim added Pumpkin (our first male) Obviously they had babies, one set of twins from Buttercup, a boy ( Pumpkin Jr. aka Jr.) and a girl (Fluffernut), the other goat Lily, had one boy (Archie). Unfortunately Pumpkin got snake bit and it didn't take long for his body to fully shut down. Now Jim "tried" to sell the male goats (He posted crappy photos onto craigslist, once) So we still have the male goats and they're in a separate yard, there's a 6ft chain link between them. The first time the females went into heat, I'd say around August or September of last year the boys made a great escape, in fact they made a few great escapes while we tried to figure out what method was best for holding the gate closed without them being able to just ram past or through. As you can imagine, in one of the numerous times that these goats were left in with the females (for hours, and once overnight because Jim pee'd me off by saying something stupid so I decided, Ignorance is bliss and he can deal with baby goats (The goats are in our backyard, he has just as easy of access and view of them as I do.)) Now we have babies, 4 so far and more still to come. Fluffernut had hers first, Jim says they're Pygmy Dwarf Nigerians possibly crossed with a bit of Saneen, one boy and one girl, they look like their uncle Archie, which is good as they're not from Fluffernut's brother Jr. . Lily was next and she had two girls, we're still waiting on Buttercup, her belly has dropped, vulva elongated, belly dropped, the works, she looks like she's been ready to have them for almost a week.

Here's where it gets crazy. These babies are tiny, like super tiny and super friendly and I may have kinda sorta fell in love with them. I'm planning on keeping the two Pygmy Dwarves and I've named them Daisy and Dale. Here's the catch though, I know absolutely nothing about goats and I want to make sure once they start weaning and get onto solid foods that I do everything right to raise the happiest, healthiest goats. I want to know everything from how much I need to feed them to what kind of wormers I should use, etc.
 
Get both Storey's Guides to Meat Goats and to Dairy Goats. The dairy one has an excellent chapter on feed, and the meat goats book has two excellent chapters on herd dynamics and behavior. I have Nigerian Dwarfs and ND crosses here, and they truly are "cats in disguise" as well as escape artists (the smaller the goat, the better at escaping!) - but I just love having them.
 
MaggieJ":274z7853 said:
What fun, Buttons! :D

I strongly suggest you join a good goat forum such as TheGoatSpot.
https://www.thegoatspot.net/

They're nice folks there. I joined so I could ask some questions for my novel and they were super helpful, even though they knew I didn't have any goats.

I second the goat spot forum, really nice people and they helped me a lot with my first foray into goat ownership.

Have now had them three times and have to say, they are just not the animal for me. BUT I did find out the worlds BEST sound, the sound a boy goat makes when it can no longer escape into the girls area. Priceless! :twisted:
 
I love listening to the boys whine cause the girls are really in heat and they can't get to them as well lol. I'll definitely have to check out that goat forum. Don't know if I'll be able to afford two books right now. Kinda surprised the boyfriend lemme keep two goats, he says it's just adding to the already not cheap rabbit food bill lol. Well I should say animal feed bill of cat food, dog food dry and wet (we have one dog on strictly wet), rabbit and fish food lol
 
ButtonsPalace":2pwju0j1 said:
I love listening to the boys whine cause the girls are really in heat and they can't get to them as well lol. I'll definitely have to check out that goat forum. Don't know if I'll be able to afford two books right now. Kinda surprised the boyfriend lemme keep two goats, he says it's just adding to the already not cheap rabbit food bill lol. Well I should say animal feed bill of cat food, dog food dry and wet (we have one dog on strictly wet), rabbit and fish food lol

This is why we have public libraries, Buttons.
 
That is true lol, I'll go check out the library and see what I can find. Sometimes I forget things are so easy. Which I guess it's easy to forget as I'm 30 min from everything. I gotta get feed tomorrow so I'll hit the library on my way home :)
 
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