"live" tractors??? (goats or anything else)

[Sigarms]

Just bought a house with alot of land.

At first, thought of a tractor for mowing at least 8 acres of grass.

After looking at what expenses are left after some "home maintence", a tractor will be out of the question this year.

But...

The 8 acres to be mowed actually is all eclosed by a barb wire fence. Even the driveway enterence and on our road and to our house has a "cattle crossing" gaurd.

My thoughts are turning to goats for eating the grass (indeed, I believe one previous owner used this area directly around his house for some livestock the way everything "is laid out".

There is a small barn in the fenced area to keep animals as well.

Any suggestions please?!

I would appreciate any feedback as to my thinking, and or any delimas that I may face.

If I'm not providing enough info, please ask.

Please keep in mind my wife and I are not farmers, she works full time at our home, and I'm on the road.

Thanks!

[Bird]

A barbed wire fence alone is not likely to keep goats in, but I know people who do it by adding a single strand of electric fence around the inside of the barbed wire about a foot and half off the ground. Another thing to consider is that goats are primarily "browsers" instead of "grazers". They'll eat grass if that's all that's available, but they prefer leaves, twigs, etc. If you have enough goats, and don't feed them too much other feed, they might keep the grass down pretty well. Sheep will keep it down much better, but personally, I'd rather have goats.

[Stoneheartfarm]

We keep our goats in with a 4 foot high stock fence without any electric. There are a few places where we've had to raise the height but that's mostly due to winter snow piling up.

Our goats are more interested in working gates than testing the fences. I've seen people keep them in with snow fence and one or two strands of electric fencing. The main thing to remember is they do like to climb and are quite good at it.

Bird is right, they don't eat all that much grass, they love hay though. The stuff I see them eating in the field is more sweet clover and leafy weeds than grass.

Steve

[Anjou]

My wife and I are in a similar situation. We've got 7 acres of hay around the house that I have no desire to spend countless hours mowing... especially since I only have a push mower. I've come up with the same idea as you, except I refer to them as "edible organic lawnmowers". I also thought goats would be a good idea, but was told that they prefer browse and will be forever escaping. I was never a big fan of sheep, but that was before I heard of Icelandic Sheep. The two biggest factors in me deciding to start a flock of them (this is still in the planning stage) was the fact that you don't ever need to feed them any grain, which is expensive, and the lambs reach market weight (80-100 lbs) in 6-7 months. The pitfall, of course, is the high initial cost of the breeding stock. Also, keep in mind with any livestock they require some daily work on your part (like providing water, or hay in the Winter). It's undoubtedly a whole lot less work to go out and hop on a Kubota 21hp, Zero-Turn, Diesel Mower with a 60" deck for a few hours. Then again, them things cost $10,000+ and you can't even use them for other tasks like plowing. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Sigarms, Goats have good ballance are not afraid of and can easily walk out right over a cattle guard. You'll have to improve the typical barbed wire fence to keep goats in. Electric is good and relatively cheap and easy to add onto an existing barbed wire fence.

There are designs where the electric fence is continued over the cattle guard or open gate area. It is in the form of dangling hot wires which prevent the animals from getting by without a "shocking" experience but an enclosed vehicle can drive right through will no ill effect for the occupant(s) or the car finish.

There is also a type with a couple "wands" mounted horizontally with dangling hot wires. The wands are light weight fiberglass and are hinged and lightly sprung to hold them in place. Stops the stock but doesn't hurt a vehicle (it is good to have the windows rolled up.)

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[itsmeCindi]

One more suggestion. I don't know how close your neighbors...roads are, etc., but we have a herd of close to thirty goats. They do not stay inside our fencing even with electric and modified barbed wire.

What we have done is trained the goats to come to us at a particular time of day by feeding them sweet feed or whole corn or something similar. At about five p.m. we go out and call to them and they come on the run. All thirty, young and old. Where one goes, the others follow. They spend from five p.m. to roughly one or two p.m. the next day inside our pastures, overnighting where they feel safe. The balance of the time they flow over onto the surrounding properties for the little tidbits that they have exhausted on our property.

On three sides we have nothing but cow pasture and on the other side we have a very grateful neighbor, because what they eat, he doesn't have to control. If you have plenty of space between you and the highway, your goats "being out" is not the end of the world. Depending on your neighors of course. Our cattle neighbors don't care, as what the goats eat, the cows don't and vice versa. Remember...goats travel in a herd. Always.

If you can control one or two, you can control them all. Naturally if you offer them feed twice a day, morning and evening, even just a few pounds, you stand a better chance of keeping them in for good and all. It takes them quite a while to eat scattered feed or whole corn.

Of course if your neighbors are close by and have extensive landscaping or vegetable gardens then you have a problem. In many instances though this arrangement works out just fine. It wouldn't hurt to talk to the neigbors first though and find out how they would feel if your goats wandered onto their property. Most people don't care, and obviously the ideal arrangement would be to keep them at home. But sometimes with goats, that's easier said than done. Sweet feed makes it a lot easier though. The trick is to scatter it so that they are kept busy, and to be consistent so that they anticipate and stay close by for the feedings..

[Bird]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Sweet feed makes it a lot easier though. The trick is to scatter it

[/ QUOTE ]

I had my goats in a pen with a fence they never got through. But I started with one young nanny that was a pet, then I got one billy goat, and later at an auction, bought 3 nannies, one of which had young twins at the time. Then 2 nannies had kids, so I for awhile I had 9 goats. And I'm sure I made plenty of mistakes. They really liked that sweet feed, but I put it in one, and sometimes two, feed pans. It was hard to believe the pecking order. That blasted billy goat would not let another goat near the feed until he'd had his fill. Only then would he allow any of the others near the feed pans, even if it kept him running back and forth between the two pans. And when he'd had his fill, that first nanny I got did the same thing. She wouldn't allow any of the others, except her own kid, near the feed until she'd had her fill.

The goats I bought at the auction had been almost starved to death; so skinny I wasn't even sure they would all live, so I bought them cheap. So, to be sure they all had enough to eat, I quit using the feed pans. I had one of the automatic feeders into which I could dump two sacks of that sweet feed at a time so it was there for them all the time. They sure got FAT, and I had to mow the grass in the pen because they didn't eat any of it. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

Obviously, Cindi, I think you've got the right idea. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[itsmeCindi]

If I have never learned anything of any value, I have learned that most any herd animal will do pretty much what you want them to do if you have a feed bucket in your hand. [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]

I know exactly what you mean about the pecking order. That's one of the primary reasons we went to scattering the feed. The fact that it took them a long time to find and eat it all was a bonus.

It somehow really hurt my feelings to watch the dominant Billy and Nanny ram the others to keep them away from that feed. I know it's the natural way, but I couldn't handle it. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[spunkey22]

Hello, I thought if I had my garden fenced in all around , I would put about 4 little pigs in it to get all the weeds, fertilize it and dig up the soil.. But when i get ready to plant what would i do with the pigs? [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[roho627]

Dah, Spunkey, plant something that goes good with pork and remember which little pig went to market! As they say, don't name em and don't play with them! After crops come in get a couple more for next year!