I have 9 acres, currently about 6 of it is brush. I have a Ford 9N tractor with a rotory cutter, but am unable to keep up. I have thought about a goat or two to help me. I have tried to read up on it, but cant find any info that really lines up with what I want to do. I cant even find out how much a "regular" goat costs, only stuff about special breeds. Any one care to share their thoughts?
jtcweb,
I have been thinking along the same lines. My problem is some areas are way to steep to cut so a goat would be just the trick. I have some friends that have a few so I will tell you what little I know and hopefully others will chime in.
You can get goats for ~$100 at the local live stock auction. Price depends on quality of animal, etc.. Be careful not to buy some ones elses problem.
Fencing is the biggest problem for me, and maybe for you as well. The 5 strand barbwire fences I have are setup for cattle not goats. The goats would get out in a heart beat. Most folks around here use mesh wire fencing. Some folks supplement this with an electric wire across the top to discourge escape.
You also need to provide a shelter since they can't handle bad whether without it.
Phred
Any one else have any input? I have also been thinking of getting goats. Some people say they love to eat poison ivy, and I got a ton of it. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] How much work is invalved with goats? Whats the day, to day work invalved? Any thing people are not telling us about them?
Paul Bradway
We just picked up three goats about 2 weeks ago, so I hardly qualify as an expert...my guess would be that if you ONLY want the goats as roving grass-mowers, that you'll find them more work than justified...after all, you still need to erect and maintain fences, provide shelter food and water for them...
We got ours as pets, but with an eye towards breeding them and perhaps selling a few here and there to offset the cost of keeping them. Keeping some of the fields down is a side-benefit. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
I haven't found them a lot of work so far, but then again, I haven't setup permanaent fencing or housing for them yet. I do find them quite enjoyable to have around, and, while there is grass on the ground, do not need to provide much in the way of food.
BTW: We paid $75 dollars a piece for the three of them from a local guy I know down the street...he said the going rate was about $100 at an auction, but selling to us saved the hassle of bringing them in.
My guess is if you buy them and it doesn't work out, that as long as they remain healthy, you won't have much trouble re-selling them or at least fidning someone to take them.
Good luck [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
<font color="red"> We got ours as pets, but with an eye towards breeding them and perhaps selling a few here and there to offset the cost of keeping them. </font color>
Oh, we would also have them as pets. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] We love animals, and just like having them around. Also I would like to bring my daughter Danielle up with some animals around. Teaching her responabilty, by caring for them.
Paul Bradway
I say go for it...think of them as pets, and any additional work they do around the house is a bonus [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
I find that the more animals we have around, the more animals I want to have around [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] ...so far chickens, rabbits and goats...(plus one dog and one cat) more farm animals to come.
Getting a couple of pigs in the spring and maybe a lamb...none of them are going to be pets if you know what I mean... [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
We have two goats right now. An angora and a pygmy. They're great animals, and they're VERY smart. If you get them as a baby, they become very attached to you, and love to follow you around. They love to climb things, and you have to be careful of that. They do need shelter, and need to be penned to keep them out of mischief. They are very good at getting out of most pens also. Ours got out so much, that they became used to staying around the barn. I eventaully was able to take the pen down, and they just hang out by the barn, they woon't stray more than a few hundred feet, but I don't know if you can count on all goats to do that.
Goats also get along well with horses. Our goats love to play with our Belgian. They love to try to get her to chase them, then they turn around and run under her legs. It's alot of fun to watch them all together.
We're enjoying our goats (these are just pets) so much, that we're looking into getting dairy goats. A friend of ours who is a dairy (cow) farmer offered to get us started, and even knows where we can get a used goat milking parlor. We're researching it now, but we are very serious about it.
Rich
"What a long strange trip it's been."
Sorry, I don't have much time to post, too much time reading these posts! There was a thread at tbn you might want to check out:
Click Here
to see it.
Dob
FKA Dobber30052
The herd instinct in goats is so strong that having just a couple will not yield the brush-clearing you desire. They will establish a small "safe" area and will be reluctant to expand their range into overgrown areas out of fear. Goats purchases as singles rarely survive because they'll back themselves in a corner and starve to death for fear of venturing out to eat. I believe 6 to be a minimum herd size for effective brush control. And the billies REALLY stink, like cat spray x 10
I was thinking about building a small shelter I can drag with my tractor, get two goats and try them to it. I could then move it around to different areas. Plus my 3 year old son loves animals so he would have a ball with them.
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