Let us know how it goes.

This was on today's news:

https://www.weau.com/2023/07/14/goats-help-get-rid-unwanted-foliage-new-subdivision-augusta/

Every year I am hearing more & more about goats.

I'll probably get a couple but haven't decided yet.

I'm headed to the county fair in a couple weeks to learn more about goats.

I have my first 4 goats. I have two locked in a small pen with no feed near the house, I'm cutting thistle and Buckthorn and feeding it to them, trying to teach them to target my main issues, not sure if what I'm doing will help once they are out on pasture or not. The two goats in a larger pen are eating some Thistle but mainly eating grass, not impressed with the amount of grass they're eating VS weeds so far.

You need to find someone using goats for what you intend to do and visit them instead. Reality and the show ring seldom meet here, it may be different in other places.

Good point Okie. I haven't found any individuals yet that are using goats.

I signed up to attend this goat demo:

I've been at the Fair the past 5 days..an excellent opportunity to learn about goats

I think the problem your going to find is unless you fence them in tight you won't get the weed control you want, they'll eat what they like and leave the rest if giving them too much room. The flip side is if containing them in a small "paddock" they'll end up eating everything and leaving a wasteland. You need to rotate through the area to avoid that, so you may get some control over the invasives but probably never eliminate them unless you go the wasteland route.

It will be a balancing act. I agree there is no perfect solution.

I'll probably get pygmy goats instead of the boer meat goats. For my 5 acre homestead.

They make shoulder harnesses to mitigate the risk of a choking/entanglement hazard from a neck leash. I would hate to have 1 get into bees though. I haven't heard of a goat w/ an electronic collar.

I now have 29 goats with more on the way. I'll post a before and after. I would strongly advise towards boer or nubians if anyone wants goats. They're larger but easier to handle and they don't test fences as much.

I'm glad yours are working out.

That's interesting b/c I talked to several goat people & they said boers are more aggressive than pygmy goats. But maybe pygmy are more known to jump & eat bark.

I plan on ordering a couple soon for my 5 acre homestead. 'Not sure what type yet. Some use Kiko's.

I toured a farm with some pygmies the other night. My dad held some green foliage in front of 'em & they didn't seem interested. I held a couple buckthorn branches into the pen & they went wild over it.

I heard boers are louder, which wouldn't be good if their bellering wakes a person up in the morning

I haven't ruled out boers, but 1 downfall is I think they would require more supplemental food in the winter

If I need to transport a pygmy I could maybe put it in my large Bobcat cage

TTT.

It's not too late to sign up for this event.

Today's event went great. Here's a picture from Kyle of Diversity Landworks




https://www.diversitylandworks.com/

Glad you enjoyed it. I wouldn't get to caught up on goat breeds, I do prefer the bigger boer cross goats, they reach higher and push down larger buckthorn. Having good easy to catch goats is more important than anything.

Good info so far, thanks.
I'm getting a couple of female pygmys next year. Hopefully I can keep them from geting parasites

I feel like if you keep them on browse you can keep the parasites down. The problem is with feeding hay and dry lots.

I don't know if I will feed 'em hay. In the winter I'll give them 'All Stock' pellets & maybe some sort of mineral block. I bet they would enjoy table scraps too

Pretty soon the native plants will have lost their leaves for the season, leaving goats to focus on buckthorn probably more than ever