Newbie goat questions

[jamiecatheryn]

My next door neighbor and I are talking about getting goats together, likely a wether and a dairy doe or maybe two does. She had pet goats as a child, my family wants milk and I'll give her some cheese. I've helped a friend build a stanchion and milk their goats before a few years back. We have 3 or so acres between us on very sloped land, it is just lawn basically. There are fields and forest across the street we can bring more vegetation to them easily, of course I'll give any hay or grain I have to as well. I'm trying to figure out how much we will need to spend on fencing and wondering how to rotationally graze them to give the land a rest. I expect I'll need electric fence if I am to set up a smaller movable paddock, and I'm thinking about a mobile a-frame little shed for their shelter, and a more permanent winter shed nearer our houses. One mini Nubian set is for sale now with a pregnant doe due to kid soon, but I don't think we'll be ready with the money and shelter in time to buy these ones. But we will have babies eventually. How do we house young kids overnight if we are trying to milk mom? A separate fenced area and another shelter I guess? If we don't have buyers for those offspring, are non meat breeds ok for a little meat anyhow? How large a pasture do two goats need if it is getting moved weekly? Will temporary hot fencing really hold them in? Oh and would it be good or bad for the land to keep them a while over an area I'd like to dig a new garden in the future?

[Deleted]

I can answer a couple of your questions. It won't hurt a future garden at all. Their manure would be good for it. Stocking rates for most areas, it completely depends on your land tho, is roughly 8 goats to an acre. Rotating pasture is good as it helps keep parasites down. Dairy stock can be used for meat, but the yield would be low compared to a meat breed like a boer. Also I would think a small enclosure like a dog kennel would work for keeping kids separated overnight.
Sorry I don't have more answers.

[Bear Foot Farm]

Sit down with some paper and a pencil and draw out some fence designs that show the perimeter and different ways of subdividing

Plan for lanes back to the shelter so you won't be moving it and the feed and water areas around..

Use wire for your perimeter fence, and "polywire" will be fine for dividers

Have enough sections so they can rest 4 or more weeks before regrazing

Cheap dog kennels work for holding kids

[jamiecatheryn]

The neighbor just had her family's goats on tie out, I'm not a fan of that idea, though maybe for short term while I'm outside it might work. But fencing the whole property is cost prohibitive. I think the best I could do is about a 50x100 area. Think I should rotate through there in 4 weekly 50x25 spaces, get small goats and give them hay in addition? I was hoping portable fence alone could work to move them to other areas but if they'd run off I'll have to rework that plan. It will be a few months until I get the money, I could tell my husband to stop mowing there to let it grow up some. Maybe plant some quick growing forage plants too, something tenacious like comfrey.

[Deleted]

No, no tie outs. That puts the goats in danger in so many ways. First, they cannot escape predators. Second, they can break their necks or choke themselves to death on the tie out. There are just too many ways for that to go wrong.

Check out Premier for portable electrified fencing. Not terribly expensive, and certainly a good way to handle rotating your pasture - which is also a good thing to keep down parasites.


Surprisingly, larger goats are less likely to try to run away. The little ones are very good at escaping. My full-size Nubians truly believe they cannot get out of the 4' woven wire surrounding their yards. Of course, all goats are different, and your mileage may vary.