anyone a semi experienced goat farmer?

We used to rent ours out to ranchers to clean out their corrals. Only problem is goats can easily escape most fences. Breed doesn't matter. Billies only stink badly when in rut, but they always have a smell to them. Dairy goats only need to be milked if they have recently kidded or have been milked daily since kidding out. They are grazers. They don't stop and eat in one spot for very long, bit will eat most weeds, even thistle and nettle. I would borrow you some of mine if you were close.

 

As for Boer goats, the name comes from South Africa and is from the term Boer, or farmer, in Dutch. It has two syllables: Bo and er, as opposed to boar which is one. They are a cross between European and domestic goat breeds. One goat is fine alone. My one neighbor has one goat in her pen and it is fine. It hangs out with their pony in the pasture next to it. You could also get sheep. They are better for grazing, as they do not knock things down like goats do. We ran about 200 ewes at the ranch I lived on. They will ram each other and girdle trees though. We also had llamas and alpacas, but I would not recommend either. We got them free, but that was not cheap enough.

 

As for raising Duroc pigs, we also raised them. We got two a year at first, because if you get two they will compete and eat more and put more weight on. But, they can and do get HUGE and they can and do a LOT OF DAMAGE. They root and charge and bang things and each other hard. They will also kill each other (and you) if given the chance. And they need a hell of a lot more food than a small pasture has to offer. We raised 4 pigs in later years, and we would sell 3 and get the 4th for ourselves. But then you have to take them to the slaughterhouses and get them butchered, line up people to buy the meat, and have a huge freezer. I would not recommend anyone raise pigs unless they have a bullet proof place to keep them penned up in, and a source of free food to feed them. My brother runs a pizza restaurant and I got all the tossed out food from there once a week. Pigs LOVE PIZZA! They would grab a half and drag it across the barn and try to hide it from the others while gobbling it down, while the others would give chase. My ex went into the pig pen once with a 3x3 box full of pizza scraps and they knocked her over and nearly killed her. Then they tore the box open, ate the pizza, and then they ate the box! The pens also get to smelling pretty bad over time. Pigs are clean, but their poop stinks bad. Pork is good meat, but... its cheaper to buy in the store if you have to buy their feed to fatten them up. They will eat anything though, including each other and you.

 

Sorry still didn't have a chance for pics, worked my 12 today then had to tinker with the new controller for the owb. Stihlhead you are a endless bunch of knowledge! I appreciate it, after reading what you've experienced I'm thinking goats are a better choice for my current situation, once I have Apple trees producing and all my other ducks in a row pigs wouldn't be so bad, goats sound like much more easy going and low maintenance, just what I need for now. A buddy from work might stop out this next week and help me figure what I need for fencing and such(what's left top fence in anyways) he has raised pigs and beef and chickens and is knowledgeable about what I need to know that you aren't able to help with as easily. I very much appreciate the input!

 

Now to figure out an end game come fall. What should I expect to pay for a goat that is old enough to be almost "maintenance free" and would you suggest a doe or buck? We live in the middle of fields with limited trees around us (outside of our 2.2 acres) once the goat has chowed down most weeds and grass in the pasture is it okay to leash up on a tree while I'm around during the day for it to feed on grass? Of course with water and shade near by.

 

Yes it is. A buddy of mine has kids and they just put on a dog leash and collar and walked the goats so much so they were very well broke. They also would use the dog cable tie out and move them each day for new grass.

 

I had pigs for 4H, they can be tough to manage if you don't have someone to show you the ropes at first, and they will tear up anything! Tough sod will be turned into muck in a week, as they love to shove their strong noses into the dirt and rip it up.

My sisters had goats, I think they were nubians. They're easier to manage, and really are like dogs and will follow you around and love human interaction. We didn't have problems with them trying to escape, and they did a decent job keeping the grass in the pasture low. The only problem we had, was they didn't seem very hardy. They seemed to constantly be getting sick, and if one died, it's companion would almost get depressed and wouldn't last much longer. I had to shoot a couple of them when they had been laying so long because of sickness their bodies were literally starting to rot, which wasn't fun. I have no idea what they paid for them.

 

One of our local elementary/middle school complexes installed a huge solar array some years back. The entire array is enclosed with a 6" chain link fence. Turned out, mowing around all the mounting brackets was a problem. They decided to rent goats during the growing season. It turned out to be far cheaper than paying people to mow it.

 

Well here is what I'm working with, I talked to the previous owner tonight and he said he would swing by thus week and show me the ropes, he claimed that with a couple scoops of grain and grass clippings and growing weeds I should be able to keep 4 our so "feeder"goats content until fall, I won't make any final trades until I talk to you guys about it all later this week. It's hard to imagine up to 4 goats in that pen though. Even with some grain. Thoughts on this anyone?

 

Roughly how big is the pen? I don't think it'll support 4, 2 maybe.

 

A very rough guess would be .25 acre. But grass clippings would come from all of an acre, and a few hay bales when it gets to dry.