Goat's

Any of y'all keep any goat's? Were thinking about getting 1 or 2 small ones maybe dwarfs. We have grandkids so they need to be somewhat gentle. Any advice?

Build a high quality fence. Feed good quality goat mineral. Their milk is absolutely delicious. I could go on and on all day long. Goats are great for eating nonpoisonous weeds. Just pour liquid molasses on your most detestable weeds and turn the goats on the weeds.

And build it just a little higher (both in height and in quality) than you think is necessary!

Start with a minimum of two. They don't do well alone. And spend LOTS of time with them for a while. We have two small goats (a dwarf Nigerian and a pygmy) that are pretty much like our dogs now. They'll follow us anywhere and never leave the yard. Lots of fun, but make sure that fence is bulletproof. Our first one could, and would, scale a 6' fence when she was less than 18" tall. I finally had to build a pen with a roof to keep her in.

You definitely need at least two . . we have a dozen nigerian dwarfs on a 1/2 acre of grass and don't have to feed them anything, the 1/2 acre pasture is plenty . . the milk is super thick and creamy . . our fence is simply 4 foot high woven wire, no issues . . they're very friendly too, my kids interact with them a lot

in my experience, they won't test fence much if they have access to quality pasture

dont get billys

I agree there are a whole list of reasons I detest the things and wouldn't want then around small kids

We have Nigerian dwarves (bucks and does) also an Alpine doe and Lamancha buck. As already said the milk from the little ones is top notch. Nigerians can breed year round, the big breeds in the fall. Bucks can be just friendly as the girls, but can be a bit stinky but there's worse things, I don't think it's that bad. Wethers can be great if you just want pets. I think Nigerians are proof that God has a sense of humor, they can be really funny at times, or drive you nuts, plus I haven't had to have a lawnmower in years.

There just going to be pets, we have a Pyrenees pup also so they should get along I hope.

Get 2 and bottle babies. Mine are nubians and nubian alpine mix. They are like dogs follow us around, and will chance the gator when moving from one pasture to another. They are always easy to walk up to and catch. In fact w[b][/b]hen we move the goat pen consenting of premier one electro stop 48 we just take the fence down and let the goats out tell its moved and closed back up in the new location. They just follow us right in with little to no effort on our part.

I enjoy watching the young one play and yes our bucks even think they are a dog not livestock.

For young kids pets nigerian dwarfs would be a solid choice. But I'm really fond of nubians also. And grat milk as allready stated.

I didn't know people rotated goats much. My brother rotates dairy cows on pasture

When I raised fainting goats sometimes the kids would sleep on top of my pyrenees. Fainters are not really climbers.

Where’s a good place to go to read about getting started with them?

Yes! I had a Nubian-Toggenburg cross that hopped a 5 ft fence. (She was in heat and wanted to visit her boyfriend).

They are great at weed control as stated before but if they get out they can decimate mama's garden and/or flowerbeds! My neighbor got some to run lose on the farm as she hated trimming grass after mowing. Having a few foats around would solve that problem only to discover one day that the goats had eaten everything they could reach. It looked like a high water mark across the whole yard as anything about 4' and lower was eaten off, including the bark off her prized apple trees. She had gotten a few nubians and a few fainting goats. The nubians would crawl all over her car, tractors and buildings causing all sorts of damage while the fainting are less likely to jump up on things as the jolt will cause them to seize. She got rid of the nubians but lost the fainting goats to local traffic as they wouldn't be able to flee when on the road. Neighbors where happy to see them gone!

Local library.

You'll have more grass with goats. They only eat grass when starved. More brush the better and broadleaves. Very rarely did I have a thistle reach maturity. Multiflower rose gone. Yes they are fond of any fruit tree bark. They do very well on clover and brush. One fellow I knew in Mississippi would buy 40 acres of thick brush and turn his herd into that. They would clean everything up 4 foot and then he would sell the ground for a good profit then buy another one.

Mine eat grass every day. And they surely aren’t starved. Mine prefer a mix of grass and leaves.