GOATS AHOY

[Farrier1987]

GOATS AHOY 25 Jan/16
Ok, so you think you might have built a goat proof fence. Time to see if the goats think its goat proof. Time to start looking for stock. The game is afoot.
First, and very important. Have a talk around the dinner table. What do you see for you and the goats six months down the road? Milk? Meat? Pet? Instant composter? Grass mower? Babies? One or a herd? Herd now or later? Commercial milk or meat?
In my case five years ago, I wanted to milk. I wanted a pet, and I wanted animals around on my acre. Course I already had chickens, and a broody hen on eggs. But I wanted more.
A cow would be too much and lonely. Lamas are mostly useless, and in my experience are not that nice natured, also expensive. Pigs would be fine, but they multiply quite fast and then the piggies have to be dealt with, and they need more shelter and care and can destroy gardens and things really well, and can be odoriferous. A horse is expensive; it eats a lot and needs vet and farrier care reasonably often and more grazing area than I have. (I am a farrier by trade, and I know that horses cost a lot more than most people think before getting them.) I love horses, but it’s an expense that I didn’t really have the space for or a real use for. Sheep are nice animals, but need sheering and are meant for butcher, and that wasn’t high on my list of favorite things.
So by process of elimination, I picked goats. I have been a livestock lover since birth, and am not ignorant about what is required. I had a fence, I had shelter. Now it was time to get goats. I looked on Kijiji and there was a nanny for sale for $150 fresh a week with two kids. I put the dog kennel in the back of the Ranger and went to the bank and went to the farm to see her. One goat with babies is pretty much the same as another goat with babies?
I lucked out really, as a beginner. I had never asked myself questions about why or what I should get, though I did want to milk and wanted a pet. I liked the place she came from. Farmer’s wife that had chickens and goats and cows and turkeys and stray cats and they all had names, not number tags and they were mostly free to run. She took care of that stuff, hubby took care of the tractor and the combine. I liked her a lot.
The doe had no horns, which I liked. And two kids, two girls, very cute. (There is no such thing as an uncute goat kid.) And they were nursing, so she obviously had milk. And doelings, so my future herd was started.
So they came home with me. This was her second set of kids, and she was three years old. Seemed quiet enough. She objected to the travel, but who wouldn’t with a big change like that? So she got named Blanca, meaning white in Spanish. We named the kids Capra and Sophie.
Got them home, and it was wonderful. Baby goats capering about. (The word capering comes from Capra, the Greek or Latin name for goat, Capricorn capricious capering etc. come from the same root.) Was going to wait to start milking till the babies were a little older.
And as well as being wonderful, they taught me stuff. Like that fence wasn’t good enough here or there, or that gate needed a different latch because they could get out.
And about a week later, disaster struck. Capra wasn’t right, started to walk stiff legged. Next day couldn’t get up. Got the vet out, gave her some shots, vet wasn’t sure. And she started to have seizures, kind of like epilepsy. Then come out of it and be ok for a few hours. The next day, a big seizure and she didn’t come out of it. Many tears and a sick feeling in my guts. But we still had Blanca and Sophie.
Then a day or two later, Sophie started walking stiff legged. It progressed more or less the same. And when it got too bad, I helped the end come a little sooner. I hate that, but I also hate seeing something suffer. I also have this thing in me that says I take care of my animals. I will not get the vet to put them down. It’s my job as their caretaker. (You ever read “Of Mice and Men”?) And when the vet does it, the body must be disposed of properly because it’s toxic. I also have a belief that what has been alive should be rejoin that which still lives. So I asked the neighbor if I could put the bodies out in his bush lot. The coons and coyotes vultures and nature need their bit of nurture too. (I do this with dead chickens too as required from time to time too.) The whole thing is an unpleasant nasty part of owning animals. May not be for everybody, but that is my way.
Best the vet and I could figure, it was tetanus. Didn’t matter, they were dead.
So now it was time for Blanca and I to get thoroughly acquainted. No kids, and she was in milk, and I planned on milking. The time was now, no choices.
I had made a milking bench. My first attempt, but it worked. Too narrow really, tipped over some times, head gate was a little too wide, she could pull out of it if she tried, and other stuff. I was (and still am) learning as I went along.
So I had milked cows by hand, but never a goat. How hard could it be? I was about to find out.
Blanca had had babies, but had never milked by a people. So Blanca and I started to educate each other.
I got her up on the milk bench, coaxed by grain, and helped along with some lifting. Clapped the headstall shut. Got it so she would stand there and eat.
Then go to reach under for her bag. Jump. Kick. Bench falls over with her still in the head gate. A lot of kicking and yelling. Blanca wasn’t too happy either. I got her head out and set the milk-bench up. Repeat the process, with several switch-ups and script changes as required. Took about an hour that first time to get enough milk that she wouldn’t be uncomfortable or get mastitis.
Over three or four days, Blanca and I got it figured out. Oh there were rodeos and kicking and spilled milk, but we got used to each other. One of her best tricks was not kicking or complaining, but to just lay down. It’s tough to milk when the goat is laying on her bag.
What I found that worked was an old seat belt. And no I did not beat her with it, though it was tempting. I put it around her middle just ahead of her hips and udder and tied in a loose knot above her back. Then a rope from that up to the rafters. Pulled it fairly snug. She could still stand comfortably, but not lay down. So I would let her struggle a little, no pain or real excitement, talk and pet a little and she would settle down. And I would get a few more squirts of milk.
So mostly the rodeo was over. Circus goat came next. With the old seatbelt suspended from above, Blanca figured out that if she stood on her front feet, that she could get out of the rigging. And then she could kick and lay down again. More adjustments were necessary.
I also had learning to do. Blanca was not an ideal dairy goat. One side of her bag had a very small teat, and never had more than one or two squirts of milk. And the other side, though always full, also had a small teat. So the milking had to be done with only the finger and the thumb, no room for the whole hand. Way different from milking a cow. About half a litre each milking.
So it took a while for us to get used to each other and get so that milking wasn’t overly traumatic for either us. And we became buds. She would baa at me when I came out of the house and I would baa back. Just saying hi to each other, and a scratch or a pet from me, and a lick on my hand from her. This was the kind of things I had wanted when we decided to get goats. But a bit more milk would have been good.
Goats are a herd animal, and can do ok with just one, but are much better with a group. That group can be other goats, or a horse or sheep, but they should have company.
So I phoned the lady back that we had got her from and asked if she had or knew anyone who had another goat. She said to giver a few days to work on it. Phoned back a few days later.
An older gentleman had gotten a pair of twin Saanens from her 8 months before. They had been bottle raised and were gentle and young and relatively healthy. He went for a walk with them every day, the cat, the dog and the two goats in a line down the road and around and about. He now had to go into the hospital, and couldn’t take care of them. They would be free to a good home.
So we acquired the two that are still part of my favorite memories about goats. They were ok, but not super healthy. I think maybe they had been a little short of groceries from the old guy, probably on a pension. And the smaller of the two had a runny nose and eye and a bit of a wheeze breathing. Oh, and the smaller one didn’t baa, it was a high pitched bleat of some kind, hard to describe, but sort of a squeak. So we decided to name her Squeak. So what could the other one be? Well, bubble and squeak was a meal my mother used to make, and so we now had Bubble and Squeak.
Blanca was not impressed. She bullied and pushed and butted them around terribly. Seemed like she hated them. Goats are like chickens, there has to be a boss, a second boss and so on. And this was Blanca, the older one, asserting her dominance. Took a couple days, and it was hard to watch, but a necessary part of things for the goats, and unless real injury is happening, you just have to let it go on. I didn’t know it at the time, but if you can have them on opposite sides of a good fence for a couple days it helps.
So now we had the terrible trio, Blanca and Bubble and Squeak. It was mostly what I had wanted. Friendly talkative animals around. And some milk. This would be the bunch for a while, and some really good experiences and memories about them, some that make me laugh, some that pull at the heart strings.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. What kind of goat to get? As I said, I did not, and I am not sorry. If starting again, I would definitely do this.
First question. What do I expect from the goat? What do you want them for? Answer that first, then there are different paths to follow.
I know, I said today would be horns or not, but I need to go do some stuff. Next post I go into that, along with some about breeds and characteristics and what you might look for.

[kenya]

Excellent post!!!

[Robbie]

These things never seem to be as simple as we think, when we get animals! LOL

[The Goatlady]

Beautifully written....ya must have a writer's background :wink:

[SandyM]

I have considered goats .. And I still do. But I'm scared of the chaotic livestock stories I've heard they are. Thanks for writing that!!!
I'm looking forward to reading more