# How were YOU introduced....



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

..to the wonderful world of goats??!! In other words, what made you become the crazy goat-loving person you are today? Have you spent your whole life with these awesome animals, or did you recently meet a couple at a local petting zoo, and fall head over heels in love? I'd love to hear your stories!
I'll start with my goat intro story:

I was 12 yrs old and before I went to my friend's house, I didn't even know what a goat was. One day I had a sleepover at Kats house for the first time and found out that she owned every animal possible!It was super fun feeding chickens and petting cows, but then I saw the goats: 20 adoreable, rambunctious little kids hopping everywhere...It was awesome! And when she picked one up for me to hold, I was hooked. I knew right then and there that I loved goats and wanted to raise them. So Kat taught me everything she knew about them, and sold me my first two goats, a buck and a doe. 
It's been four years since that day, and I love goats all the more. Sadly my buck was killed by a cougar, but I still have the doe. She brings back all the exciting memories of meeting goats for the first time.


----------



## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I was 3 when my father mustered out of the military with full retirement. We moved to Oregon to homestead. I remember riding my tricycle down the ramp off the U-haul truck and I remember the doe and buckling kid he brought home for milk. It was a different world back then and that buck kid and I had many adventures playing in the forest, running up and down logs in fresh clear cuts, and bothering the neighbors horses. He was sadly, destined for meat, but, I never forgot my first goat friend. We moved when I was about 8 and got more goats to clear our new land. One in particular was Rosie. She was, far as I can tell now, a Saanen/Alpine/Nubian mix. She was the ultimate homesteading goat. She milked for years after having her first kids. She could be dried off and would start milking again just because you started milking her. 
With Rosie, I was constantly in trouble. "Jill, get that halter off that goat's head", "Jill, quit leading that goat everywhere, she won't milk tonight", "Jill, get your little sister OFF that goat", "Jill, don't you dare sneak that goat to the beach again", Jill, PUT THAT GOAT AWAY!!!". 
I truly believe that Rosie loved every bit of it.
Now my herd and I do everything I used to get into trouble for and so much more...


----------



## Everfree (Nov 15, 2013)

<3

Love that story, Jill.


Everfree Farm - Kiko, Nubian, and Cashmere


----------



## alikat72 (Jun 24, 2013)

I grew up on a cattle ranch. Thought I wanted a few of my own as an adult but that would require bigger trucks and a trailer. Every time I saw a boer herd I just knew they were so cute and I wanted some. I'm deathly allergic to horses sadly and didn't know about goats. Went to someone's house who had pygmies and held a baby. I cuddled and kissed on that baby and no asthma/allergy attack-hooray! As soon as she was ready to sell some I got my first three.
I think they have so much more personality than any cow I've been around and they are just so darned cute! 
Added benefit is that I can handle most of their care alone, don't need a bigger truck or a large trailer. 

Love both the stories already posted.


----------



## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

My brother got some nubian milk goats about....oh....30 years ago. I then bought some too. Loved them. Don't remember when or why he sold his. Mine left when I went to Virginia one summer to work at a national park. I came back, got married and had some very briefly then. Until my husband killed a couple of them (he was an idiot) roping them. It wasn't until my current husband and I came back from Germany and I had met another friend in the horse world...she bought a ND mama that was ready to kid. When she kidded, she sold the babies in order to milk mama. I bought one of those babies...My sweet Moon (the one who lived in the house, got on the piano, went to Dallas with us, etc LOL) The rest is history.


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Wow, I LOVE your story goathiker, you could right a book about that!
And same with alikat and kccjer, I like your "intros"!


----------



## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

It was set in stone from since I was a little nanny goat. That's what my friends called me. Nanny Goat.
There was a huge dairy farm next door & I went over there all the time to play with them.
Some of my favorite stories were the adventures of Billy Whiskers, which until maybe 10 yrs ago I thought my dad had made them up until running across a copy of it.
My older brother was in 4h & FFA with his cows & ducks & chickens.
I never got to do any of it.
After I had my own children we had a few Nubians for milk & meat for a few years.
We had to move so it all went on a back burner till about 8 years ago, children grew up & left home. All the old stuff came knocking at my heart again.
I was tired of working graveyard shift. Did some research on Boers, cashed in my company stock (hence Laughing Stock Boers). Started out with 3 full sisters from Leslie & bought a Nubian sight unseen from her a week later.
This black doe got the snot beaten out of her by the white meanies. Grace came next to me, pawed the straw & laid down & put her head in my lap & I was in heaven. She was the first to kid & from that day until the day she passed she was herd queen.


----------



## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

I was about 12 when I came back to MI just to visit my grandparents well they had bought a couple of babies and their mom (Rosie) me and my grandma were lactose intolerant. The next year I saved all the money I could and bought my first baby goat (Diabla Blanka) she stayed with my grandparents that fall when I went back to New Mexico. She was pure white and had a little devil in her (hence the name) unfortunately she died before I could get back to my grandparents the next summer. But I have loved goats ever since and was even glad to take a pair of wethers 4 years ago just to get back into goats again. Now I have 6 bottle babies and 12 does plus my buck to insure that I never run out of goat's milk again. My second doe purchased looks just like Diabla and almost acts like her too but she is the Queen of my herd she's my Cream.


----------



## ndwarf (Dec 23, 2013)

I was introduced to goats when my family went to margaret's farm one time for a reason I do not remember. We were little then and would ride the alpine goats. For a few years we would go over every once in a while. Last year, I showed at the NC state fair with them and fell in love with NDs. We talked it over for a while, then Margaret and I decided to buy one. After a long day of clearing pasture, the rest of her family came out to help and we were talking about how we were going to be a team and do great with the alpines. Margaret and I decided to ask if they wanted to be part of our ND plan. They agreed so we bought two does, Iris and Rebekah. They are doing great!


----------



## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I wanted a goat for a lot of years. I bought a Lamancha/Nubian doeling. That was in 1979. I ended up having to give her to a friend (dirtbag husband). I finally returned to goats in 1983 when I bought a FF American Alpine and her weanling (bred!) sister. Then I added a French Alpine, A French Alpine buck and so on and so on....... Have had standard dairy goats since. Had Nigerians and Pygmies and Boers also, but now just the dairy goats.


----------



## happyhogs (Oct 12, 2009)

When i was about six or seven years old, my mum took me to a petting zoo and there was a small herd of pygmy goats there. I was initially scared of them and it took mum a while to coaxe me into the pen with them. My fears were then realised as one of the young wethers butted me clean off my feet! 

There I lay, on my back, terrified of this nasty beasty who had knocked me flying when a dear old nanny goat came over, butted the young feisty lad right out of the way and laid down beside me, snuggled up tight against me on the ground. I rolled over and hugged her tight, said thank you and then spent the best part of an hour (a LONG time for a little kid!) talking to her, cuddling her and telling her my woes while she laid there, enjoyed the fuss and chewed the cud.

I loved goats from that day on....I even got up and hugged the naughty fella who'd knocked me over....he was just having fun after all!

I have never had suitable land to keep goats on but I work at a primary school where I am their head chicken keeper. The chickens have a HUGE free range pen in stunning surroundings. I was talking to the head mistress one day, telling her the goat story and saying how one day I would get goats when I had enough land to keep them on and she said 'Why don't you get some and keep them here, the kids would love it?'

Needless to say, she didn't need to ask twice!!!


----------



## shirley (Apr 11, 2014)

When my daughter was 6 months old we went to a petting zoo whih was the home of addorable pygmys  she instantly fell in love with them but i was a bit skeptical. Well i have epilepsy so i still live with my parents (this is important not random info) along with my brother and sister. My brother is a junior in highschool and decided he would like to join FFA and fell in love with the club. Well in the club you get to choose an animal to raise and he chose pygmy goats. He got a buck and a doe that were three months old and held them in the same pen so they could keep eahother company. Of course this resulted in a pregnancy and we soon had to seperate then. Well idk if its because of been pregnant but me and the doe are inseperable now. She is my best little animal friend. I believe she has 6-8 weeks left in jer pregnancy and icant wait for the kid or kids to get here. So i went from not being sure about goats to be obsessed all in about a year and a half


----------



## Chadwick (Jan 24, 2014)

When I was 5 I lived in NM and on the way to and from school I passed a guys house, he had a buck alone in a pen, and I would stop and pet him and then I started bringing carrots and handfuls of my horses hay. Before long he started escaping and coming with me to my house, we would play and hang out till the guy got home and came to get his buck back. That buck was hyper fun but gentle and he made me see and love goat attitude! It has lost been 30 yrs and I am two months away from getting my first goats!


----------



## OakHollowRanch (Jun 6, 2013)

I wanted to get an SAE project for FFA, but the usual market lamb, steer, or pig didn't really appeal to me. Then, I somehow came across the Fiasco Farms website and I was convinced! After about a month, we came home with our first two dairy goats. Now we are up to 5 dairy goats, three of which are currently pregnant, and we are getting 2 market goats soon. I am not ever going back now. Goat person forever and proud of it!


----------



## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

We bought our little acre in 1979. We were both City kids but always knew we wanted the country lifestyle. All I really wanted was a few chickens and a pig. (This many years later and we have still never raised a pig.)
Anyway, the weeds got out of control that first spring and the fire marshal was threatening us. I knew my father loved goat meat so we asked him if he would help us buy some to clear the weeds and then eat them. We went to the auction and picked up two bucks and a doe for $60. Having no idea what we were doing; we let them loose in the yard where they promptly set to work on my roses and fruit trees. There were hoof prints and scratches all over our car.
My husband put a rubber band around one of the boys testicles and when it swelled up and later exploded (RIP) we left Joey intact. He grew a lovely set of horns and was a great joy by fall. We worked and worked on a fence that would contain him and Missy and by the time we were done our back half looked like a concentration camp. Our neighbors were about to form a lynch mob. Missy got pregnant and had a single kid but little milk. (Might have worked out better if I had a milkstand instead of tying her to the fence.)

Fast forward a few years and both Missy and Joey had crossed the Rainbow Fridge. They were nearly inedible as we did not process them well nor feed them right. We bought two pregnant does each of which had a single. Poor Anna met an untimely death and Bridget's baby was early and died. She adopted Anna's orphan which was about the only good thing up until then. My neighbor took me under her wing and found me a bred Saanen who delivered twins and gave a gallon a day. I bought a bred Nubian from her and we had milk and meat for that year but could not get a successful breeding after that.
(8 year hiatus in Hawaii)
Back to our same farm and wanting goats more than anything. Our previous experience was worth volumes. Before picking up our Toggenburg herd of 2 does a doeling and a wether we fixed the fence, built pens, made a milking parlor and got a manger in the barn. We were so excited with the instant milk but it did not taste very good so we bought a Nubian/Saanen buckling to mix it up and he was so lonely we got a little wether to keep him company. (6 goats) We had always loved Nubians and when we found one who was due that November we snatched her up to keep the milk supply all year. She had two. (9 goats)
And Curiouser turned out to be an excellent breeder and by the following spring I had 8 fresheners!!!! Expecting twins from each but getting 4 sets of twins, three triplets and one set of quads...............well..........you can do the math if you want. TOO MANY GOATS :hair:
Whenever we talk about retiring and traveling it is like, *What about the goats?!!?*
Needless to say that as we have learned; our love for those darlings has grown. If only we had had the internet and public goat forums in the 80's. Love you all too as I have learned much here and hope to pass on to others.
Oh yeah, there is a goat stew in the crock pot. We had some for lunch and it was wonderful. We've come a long way.


----------



## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

You can never have too many goats!! Lol:laugh:


----------



## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

margaret said:


> You can never have too many goats!! Lol:laugh:


Don't we know it I have 19. 6 bottle babies, 4 milkers, 1 delivering soon, 4 to deliver in june, 2 set for the freezer, and 1 buck. Plus my sons doeling that is just a year that misscarried 1 month after she was bred.


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Great stories guys! And wow kc8lsk, that IS a lot of goats! Well, to me anyways, because I only have two


----------



## SMB_GoatHerd (Jan 22, 2014)

to start off my story, my sister and I are eight years apart... Probably useless info, I know. My sister started 4-H when she was eight following in my cousin's footsteps doing dairy beef (which are basically just Holstein steers raised as a beef cow) but that also meant I was in 4-H since I was born. My sister and I grew up on a dairy farm and we milked about 100 cows. When I was about 5 or 6, my sister, who was about 13 decided she wanted to expand her showing to lambs too. She showed sheep for two years at the fair, then moved onto market goats. She showed goats for two years before I was able to join and show my own. Obviously, I was already in love. I got my first market goat, Bahhhb, (whose name I just wanted to add and extra 'o' to Bob, which mom said I could put that poster up at the fair) and raised him. This was my sister's eighth year, where she showed wonderfully, and at the second biggest agricultural fair, in our state won both Grand and Reserved Champion Market Goat. Only the next year, her last, to get Reserved again. Well, we sold the dairy cows in March of 2012, after my parents divorced, and my dad decided that I needed something to do. So, we went to a friend of his who owed him some money but had a lot of goats and took our payment in the form of 7 Boer does. We borrowed a buck last fall and we had 14 kids born (7 does, 7 bucks) in February. I bought a buck, Sir Hallifer, and kept one of the wethers, Idzi, to keep him company and showing two, and sold the rest. Now, I'm looking forward to one day (soon) showing my goats in the ABGA circuit. I look forward to keeping animals in my future, and having goats in the future. Sorry, that was long, but now you know my life story.


----------



## kc8lsk (Jan 10, 2014)

Hey I sold 4 bottle babies and put 2 in canning jars already this year so I'm doing better than I could be.


----------



## twokidsandafarm (Dec 27, 2013)

As a little kid I've always loved seeing and petting the goats at our county fair. When I was 9 or 10, out of the blue, I decided I wanted a goat. Soon I decided to join 4-H. I knew I wanted to do dairy goats for sure. After doing lots of research I chose two different breeds I thought I liked, Nubian and Nigerian Dwarf. Later I found out someone in my 4-H group was selling some grade Nubian kids. At the time I was almost obsessed with Star Wars,(strange for a little girl), and I heard the kids' sire was named Anakin. I couldn't resist but to buy a grade Nubian doeling and her twin brother and name them Leia and Luke. I was hooked. The next year I bought a registered Oberhasli doe. My herd had built since then.

Last fall I made the decision to test all my goats for CAE. Any doe, including herself, from Leia's line tested positive. . Then I made the hardest and most heartbreaking choice in my life, to sell all positive does. I still had my Ober left and her wethered son. After I sold my first beloved does, I began replenishing my herd rapidly. This time with quality, disease free goats. I still am building my herd, but now I raise Nubians, Alpines, Oberhasli's, and soon to be LaManchas. I currently own 7 goats, some buckling's will be sold and some doelings will be bought.

BTW, everyone's stories are great!

Raising ADGA Oberhasli, Alpine, and Nubians for milk, show, and fun!
www.twokidsandafarm.com


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

^^ I can only imagine how hard it was to sell your beloved goats.I
Teared up just thinking about it .
But I'm sure it was a huge relief to start fresh with healthy, clean goats. Sometimes starting over and going again is the best thing we could do, and in your case totally worth it.


----------



## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

My husband and I never had any experience with goats until about a year after we were married and I dragged him to the Alleghany County Fair in western NY state. I wanted to see the demolition derby, but first we stopped in the 4-H barn. The first critter we saw was a goat who was standing on her hind legs straining to reach the blue ribbon hanging over her stall. We gleefully watched as she stretched her lips and tongue to their furthest extent in an attempt to pull down the forbidden fruit. After about five minutes of monumental effort she finally managed to snag the bottom corner, at which point she yanked that ribbon off the wall and ate it--to our very great amusement. 

At this point my husband turned to me and said, "You know, I'm not really an animal person, but I like goats. I could get into goats. They're funny!"


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Damfino, your story is the funniest yet! I like how your husband gets right to the point about wanting goats


----------



## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

I wasn't 'introduced' to goats - I jumped in headlong! I was raised around cattle and I raised bottle calves for extra money. After I sold my last calf, my mother suggested I take that money and buy some goats. I nearly fell out of the pick up, I was laughing so hard! Goats? What do I know about raising goats and why on earth would I want to get some? When I finally got myself under control, I asked her why I would want to do that? She told me about an article she had read in the High Plains Journal about goats. I was intrigued and did some research. After the research, I was even more intrigued. Not too long after that someone came to buy hay and it turned out that they had bought or rented(I'm not sure which) a property that came with 6 goats. The goats were eating the tails off their Arabian show horses and they ended up giving me the goats. I got my feet wet with them, talked to a few breeders in the area, and decided to go check out Centennial Livestock in Fort Collins, Colorado at the recommendation of a breeder in Nebraska. My folks came with me and we came home with 21 heavy bred does. Nothing like jumping in feet first with absolutely no experience in kidding out does! Dad and I spent the next couple of days making the cattle pens goat proof, the does we bought started kidding, and I was hooked. A few months later we bought another 43 bred does and a 3/4 Kiko buck. I lost a lot of kids that first year due to my inexperience, and there have been other problems along the way - including being slapped with a quarantine by the State of Wyoming for a Q Fever outbreak. I do not regret any of it, though, and I am hopelessly hooked. I cannot imagine not having goats.


----------



## margaret (Aug 30, 2013)

Well, next month marks 5 year in the wonderful world of goats. My grandparents got 2 does May 10 2009. My family and I came with them to get the goats and then went to see them in their new home. A few months later we moved out to the farm and have been here ever since. i was never sure what i wanted to do as an adult but a couple years ago I realized that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I have never looked back, I love the goat world and can never leave it. I have met so many amazing friends that I wouldn't have otherwise. I never want to go to college because I don’t think I could bear to leave my beloved goats for 4 whole years. We showed in 2010, our whole family loves it and this year we hope to take around 10 goats to the fair. We started out with Alpines but added Nigerians this winter. Right now our total is 23, hope to be down to 12 this spring. We will see how that goes Goats are such a blessing, they are the most wonderful animals in God’s creation. They can be frustrating at times, but there is NO animal that compares, cats and dogs don’t even come close. Goats are GREAT!!!


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

I feel the same way Margaret, I dread college and moving out because I have to leave my goats behind  .


----------



## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

I was not raised on a farm but always loved animals.I saw my first goat at a tailgate sale. I put her in the back of the Durango and took her home....lol...


----------



## Daisy-Mae (Feb 24, 2014)

We moved 3 yrs ago the kids go to a school that's mainly farmers kids. My daughter was in 7 th grade she joined FFA. She always came home from school begging for a farm animal honestly I don't think at the time she really cared what kind of farm animal she got just so she could have one. She done a goat judging contest for FFA and begged us to let her get a goat for 4h. My husband and I were both from the city so we instantly said no. That summer she was at her friends who had all kids of animals her begging got worse and worse and so did her determination. Finally we gave in and originally goat a doe she was 4 months old she named her blue jeans because every time Katlynne would visit her she chewed her jeans. We had her one night and realized she needed a companion so we went and got a little 2 month old buckling we named pepper. She showed blue jeans last year and won champion at the county fair. Are first time ever at a county fair. The excitement was through the roof. My niece and son decided they wanted to show too. We breed blue jeans and pepper and got a buckling his name is Levi he's 3 months old now. We just band him so my son is going to show him as a weather this year and we bought 2 more does one for my niece and my daughter wanted another one. We banded pepper too so we didn't have to separate them. Are goats are more of a pet then a farm animal. Who would've thought a few years ago I was set on no now we have 5 


Sent from my iPhone using Goat Forum


----------



## mayia97420 (Apr 22, 2014)

My first goat was a Nubian doe that I felt sorry for at a livestock auction- no one else bid on her so I paid $10- took her home and she was bred and had trips- lost one at birth but found goats and milking to be my Zen- We currently have 5 goats and 3 of them are pregnant does. - anxious but 1 not sure when is due- in may sometime- and the other 2 are due in June- My husband says I hog all the milking-lol


----------



## Artemis_MA (Mar 4, 2012)

I want goats because I met a few of them down on a farm in Virginia a few years ago, and have stopped by to see them (and their humans) on occasion ever since. I want meat, fiber and pack goats, not interested in dairy. The thing is, they are like cats, you can't herd them, and somewhere, somehow, I like that.


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Artemis_MA said:


> I want goats because I met a few of them down on a farm in Virginia a few years ago, and have stopped by to see them (and their humans) on occasion ever since. I want meat, fiber and pack goats, not interested in dairy. The thing is, they are like cats, you can't herd them, and somewhere, somehow, I like that.


Artemis you'll love having goats, they're so fun and enjoyable! I hope you get some soon and post pics for us. And I find it interesting that you think cats and goats are similar


----------



## Rhandi74 (Dec 6, 2013)

I have always been a crazy animal lover, my Mom hated it. I grew up in the city and was only ever allowed to have cats. I made it very known to my mother that I was going to have an army of children and animals when I grew up. My older sister proceeded to tell me how children come into the world and I told her I would just adopt. :lol: Needless to say I adopted 7 children and my niece and nephew live with us also. We decided last year to make a very big move for our very large family. We both wanted more land and better schools for our children. We moved to the country and decided that we needed to get some goats, well if I am being honest my Partner wanted them and I gave her a hard time because I knew I would end up being their main care taker and I was a city girl, what did I know about goats? Well after 2 months of asking and asking I finally gave in. We got our 2 Pygmy wethers in August last year. They were very timid at first but it only took a couple weeks to earn their trust. Well we were hooked and purchased 3 bred Pygmy mix does in October. They kidded in December and our herd grew by 5 more. We also got a young Pygmy doe in November. I believe that I was destined to be a country girl and have the farm life. I am told by everyone who is close to me that I am so much happier now. My family thinks I am crazy but my Mom told me it is what you always dreamed of.


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Just thought I'd give this a nudge, in case anyone else has stories to share  . That's a cute intro rhandi!


----------



## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

canyontrailgoats said:


> And I find it interesting that you think cats and goats are similar


Cats and goats are very similar. They are both independent and decide things for themselves. Trying to force a cat or a goat rarely works, and just annoys and irritates them, but if you leave them alone both usually end up in your pocket. What is that saying? Dogs come when they are called - cats take a message and get back to you. The same thing can be said for goats unless there is a grain bucket involved! :laugh:


----------



## jannerbanner (Apr 1, 2014)

Artemis_MA said:


> I want goats because I met a few of them down on a farm in Virginia a few years ago, and have stopped by to see them (and their humans) on occasion ever since. I want meat, fiber and pack goats, not interested in dairy. The thing is, they are like cats, you can't herd them, and somewhere, somehow, I like that.


I just have to say to learn all you can first. The best way is a mentor in your area. I have 3 mentors and they all do things a little different, but are well versed in the problems of our area, our vets and are always there for a call. Make sure to see the documentation that new goats are CAE, CL and maybe Johnnes free and it is a good idea to have them wormed a few days before bringing them to your property. I think many of us thought that goats were easy to raise and I now know that they can be very difficult. I do not want to dissuade you, but having your eyes open to worming, vit and mineral deficiencies, proper fencing and housing, birthing issues, predators, health issues and meds and feeding correctly beforehand can be very beneficial in the long run. A lot of info out there contradicts other info so a mentor is usually the best bet. It can be a rollercoaster ride with goats sometimes, but it's a ride I love and will never willingly give up!
Good luck,
janice


----------



## Crystal (Jan 20, 2013)

My first goat experience was at my sitters house a Nubian buck 
i believe. I just remember him very rowdy. I think I was around 9. 
Around 15 years ago I did a lot of rescue animals. Horses to ducks. Someone brought me 2 wether pygmies. I did not know anything about goats. They actually stayed with my dogs & they got along great. I lost one around a year later & a dog the same day. Goat Carmel he was the best. I think he thought he was a dog. He would even stay on my neighbors porch when I had the horses in the pasture. He lived for several years & was killed by stray dogs. 
Then my daughter joined FFA. She wanted a ND because she is 5'1" & did not want a big goat. I bought a doe & a wether. The doe was being bred & my daughter found another goat she just had to have. Well my sister went with & we both came home with goats. Now my sister & I raise them. Her 3 kids also show them now. We have the potato chip syndrome.


----------



## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

jannerbanner said:


> I think many of us thought that goats were easy to raise and I now know that they can be very difficult.


Really? May I ask what lead you to this conclusion?


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

I think we all suffer from the potato chip syndrome Crystal!  

IMO, goat raising is easy 99% of the time. If you go by the saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure", not much can go wrong.


----------



## dreamacresfarm2 (May 10, 2014)

mayia97420 said:


> My first goat was a Nubian doe that I felt sorry for at a livestock auction- no one else bid on her so I paid $10- took her home and she was bred and had trips- lost one at birth but found goats and milking to be my Zen- We currently have 5 goats and 3 of them are pregnant does. - anxious but 1 not sure when is due- in may sometime- and the other 2 are due in June- My husband says I hog all the milking-lol


not all the milking though now I have to catch up since when we only had the one in milk I didn't get to milk so now my hands get tired half way through. My first goats were a set of french alpine trips given to me because the previous owner had over 50 goats. I did enjoy them till I had to move back to the city and the apartment complex wouldn't allow goats. Now our little herd brings both my wife and I a great deal of Joy. Playful and obnoxious though they can be they are very much a part of life for us and don't know that we could ever be with out the again.


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

I know what you mean dreamacres, once you have goats you can't imagine life without them! They work their way into your heart, and before you know it you're hooked


----------



## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

My Aunt (Dolce Latte Farms) told my dad about the goats. My dad decided they sounded cool, and wanted some. So, we bought Pocket Sized BT Waning Moon, and End of the Line Busy Bee (the later is how I ended up on here).

:lol: Funny, my dad actually does go through phases of "OH THAT'S COOL LET'S BUY IT!" and then in the end gets bored of it, but we don't. :laugh:


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Well, thanks to your dad's "cool" phase you got some goaties!! Awesome


----------



## Chadwick (Jan 24, 2014)

And we got to know you too!


----------



## Dani-1995 (Mar 11, 2011)

I was introduced through livestock judging. I expressed an interest in animals and the club leader told me about judging so I started there. Then someone gave me a baby goat, and the rest is history! I started showing that fall with a different club and now 6 years later, we're still going!


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

My love for goats really flourished when I joined a 4-h group. It makes raising them even more fun and profitable...


----------



## nigies4ever (Sep 19, 2012)

We had just moved to an area that was big on agriculture and 4H. I wanted to do swine, but my mom told me pigs were too big to start with. Then, we saw the Nigerian dwarf goats at the fair. I was in love. Years later, I own Nigerian Dwarves and a full size goat as well.  I think goats have the best personalities out of all animals!


Sent from my iPhone using Goat Forum


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

I think they do too nigis4ever! And goats are SO much more fun than pigs :lol:


----------



## jannerbanner (Apr 1, 2014)

MsScamp said:


> Really? May I ask what lead you to this conclusion?


When I was a little girl my dad came home with a goat...a white goat we named Nonesuch. We fed her hay and water. She lived in a small pen with a truck canopy for shelter. One day she had two perfectly healthy, wonderful kids. My mom sent me up to milk her when she needed milk...which was a few times a week. We never wormed her, she never hurt herself, she had her kids by herself, she didn't need copper, selenium, iodine or any minerals for that matter. She let me milk her from the ground w/out being even tied up, I was 6..although she did kick the bowl of milk over most of the time....my dad trimmed her feet when she started walking funny, she never got attacked by cougars or neighbor dogs...to sum it all up, she was the easiest thing in the world to keep healthy and I loved her and her kids dearly. I yearned for the day when I could get goats again.
4 years ago... I got 4 doe kids and 3 months later two were killed and another bitten badly by a cougar. I bought LGDs and when they were a year old, I bought 3 more does and now have 17. I have had severe dystocia, abscesses, knot in teat, weird worms that turned out to be pinworms, mites,cocci, preemies, milk fever, pinkeye, bottle jaw from something that is still a mystery and was not worms (possibly copper overload), a newborn buckling was peeing out of his umbilical, possible poisoning, foxtail in the third eye, "poo rash", scouring babies, baby that couldn't maintain his body temp for 2 days, stillbirths and more. I have a fridge with 9 different medications in it and a cupboard that is full, too. I have learned how to whether, disbud, trim feet, tattoo, tag ears, drench, bolus, sort fetuses, perform fecals, give shots IM, SQ and need to learn IV and how to draw blood and butcher.I haven't had to deal with other multitude of maladies that have afflicted my friends goats...yet. Thank goodness my friend told me about CAE and CL as her good church friend had knowingly sold her her first two goats with CAE and she had to watch them die within a year. 
I love my goats dearly, but there is a lot to know about them and most vets are not goat savvy. Maybe I am wrong and most people on this list knew that goats were complex to keep healthy, but I did not. ::
janice


----------



## christinajh (Jan 24, 2013)

I've always had animals growing up likes rabbits, cats, dogs, and horses. I didn't really grow up on a farm, but we had a colt born in 2002 and kept him intact. I read you could keep a buddy with them if raised together, so we set off to get a Shetland Sheep because I thought it was a novel idea since I raised and showed Shetland Sheepdogs. We went off to a farm to get one, and my daughter begged me for a goat. We ended up getting a pygmy as well. Fast forward to 2011, and the sheep was getting ornery and the goat always escaped. Gave them away to a guy that kept goats and sheep to keep his rocky property down on weeds. I started getting into chickens and homesteading. In 2012, I really wanted to try goats again for making cheese (never even tried goats milk). I did some research and decided on some dairy goats. Found a nice lady locally with unregistered goat in December 2012, so I picked up two six month old does (nubian and a lamancha). Then I ran across a registered Nubian buck that was really friendly and seemed like a good first buck for my herd, so I bought him. A few months later I found a registered Nubian doe that was due to kid March 2013, and I was sick of waiting to start making cheese. Still hadn't even tried goats milk yet! The lady I bought the buck from told me about this doe. I was told she would go great with the buck and was from a clean herd like the buck, and her kids wouldn't be related to him either. Buy the doe and the lady was shocked I'd hadn't even had goats milk yet, so she had me try some and I loved it!!! I decided I wanted to do some meat goats that summer because I loved eating goat at Indian restaurants, so I picked up two registered Boer does. One ended up getting loose when a neighbor left a stall door open, and I had to end up shooting her because we couldn't get her back. She ended up in the freezer. I was not able to tame the original nubian doeling I bought, so I traded her for a ready to butcher wether. Well, I finally got around to testing my herd March this year, and I found out the registered Nubian doe was CAE + along with the doe I kept out of her kidding last year. The older doe was due to kid in a month, so I figured I'd just bottle feed any doelings. I sold off the buck and the other doe because I didn't want to deal with it. I ended up buying a 50% nubian/boer to replace the doe I sold, and I found a really nice older ennobled boer buck for a great price and bought him. I had bred my lamancha to a boer buck, and I ended up with two amazing doelings, who were supposed to be freezer goats. I'm actually keeping them instead of the mom. I am going to butcher the last Nubian CAE + doe if I can't find a decent home, and I did end up with a nice little bottle baby doeling out of her. So my herd went from mostly dairy to now mostly meat crosses! I love having the goats most days. Some days I wonder what the heck I was thinking! But I do love kidding, and it is fun to learn about how to improve what I have.


----------



## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

jannerbanner said:


> When I was a little girl my dad came home with a goat...a white goat we named Nonesuch. We fed her hay and water. She lived in a small pen with a truck canopy for shelter. One day she had two perfectly healthy, wonderful kids. My mom sent me up to milk her when she needed milk...which was a few times a week. We never wormed her, she never hurt herself, she had her kids by herself, she didn't need copper, selenium, iodine or any minerals for that matter. She let me milk her from the ground w/out being even tied up, I was 6..although she did kick the bowl of milk over most of the time....my dad trimmed her feet when she started walking funny, she never got attacked by cougars or neighbor dogs...to sum it all up, she was the easiest thing in the world to keep healthy and I loved her and her kids dearly. I yearned for the day when I could get goats again.
> 4 years ago... I got 4 doe kids and 3 months later two were killed and another bitten badly by a cougar. I bought LGDs and when they were a year old, I bought 3 more does and now have 17. I have had severe dystocia, abscesses, knot in teat, weird worms that turned out to be pinworms, mites,cocci, preemies, milk fever, pinkeye, bottle jaw from something that is still a mystery and was not worms (possibly copper overload), a newborn buckling was peeing out of his umbilical, possible poisoning, foxtail in the third eye, "poo rash", scouring babies, baby that couldn't maintain his body temp for 2 days, stillbirths and more. I have a fridge with 9 different medications in it and a cupboard that is full, too. I have learned how to whether, disbud, trim feet, tattoo, tag ears, drench, bolus, sort fetuses, perform fecals, give shots IM, SQ and need to learn IV and how to draw blood and butcher.I haven't had to deal with other multitude of maladies that have afflicted my friends goats...yet. Thank goodness my friend told me about CAE and CL as her good church friend had knowingly sold her her first two goats with CAE and she had to watch them die within a year.
> I love my goats dearly, but there is a lot to know about them and most vets are not goat savvy. Maybe I am wrong and most people on this list knew that goats were complex to keep healthy, but I did not. ::
> janice


Oh wow! Talk about your basic trial by fire! I am truly sorry you've had to deal with all of these things. Thank you for sharing, and I can certainly understand where you're coming from. I am also very sorry your friend had to go through that. That is wrong on so many levels! FWIW, all babies have to be roughly 48 hours to be able to regulate their temperature. I don't think of goats as being complex to keep healthy but, then again, I was raised around livestock. For me it was just a matter of learning about things specific to goats.

IV isn't difficult, but there are a couple of tricks to it. The next time you are out with your goats, run your fingers down their neck. You will notice that there is a recessed area between the front of their neck and the side of their neck - that is called the jugular groove and that is where the jugular vein is located. The jugular vein returns blood to the heart, so to draw blood or give meds IV, shave a small area - about 1/2" to 3/4" long - then, using your first and 2nd finger, push on the vein down towards the shoulder to temporarily stop blood flow. That will cause the jugular vein to 'pop' and stand out. Hold the syringe/needle at about a 15 degree angle to the vein and, still maintaining the pressure, slide the needle in about 1/8 of an inch. Draw back on the plunger and you should see blood in the syringe. Once you see blood in the syringe, release the pressure and either inject or draw blood.


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Good advice msScamp. I'm sorry you had such a tough time raising goats jannerbanner!


----------



## nigies4ever (Sep 19, 2012)

jannerbanner said:


> When I was a little girl my dad came home with a goat...a white goat we named Nonesuch. We fed her hay and water. She lived in a small pen with a truck canopy for shelter. One day she had two perfectly healthy, wonderful kids. My mom sent me up to milk her when she needed milk...which was a few times a week. We never wormed her, she never hurt herself, she had her kids by herself, she didn't need copper, selenium, iodine or any minerals for that matter. She let me milk her from the ground w/out being even tied up, I was 6..although she did kick the bowl of milk over most of the time....my dad trimmed her feet when she started walking funny, she never got attacked by cougars or neighbor dogs...to sum it all up, she was the easiest thing in the world to keep healthy and I loved her and her kids dearly. I yearned for the day when I could get goats again.
> 4 years ago... I got 4 doe kids and 3 months later two were killed and another bitten badly by a cougar. I bought LGDs and when they were a year old, I bought 3 more does and now have 17. I have had severe dystocia, abscesses, knot in teat, weird worms that turned out to be pinworms, mites,cocci, preemies, milk fever, pinkeye, bottle jaw from something that is still a mystery and was not worms (possibly copper overload), a newborn buckling was peeing out of his umbilical, possible poisoning, foxtail in the third eye, "poo rash", scouring babies, baby that couldn't maintain his body temp for 2 days, stillbirths and more. I have a fridge with 9 different medications in it and a cupboard that is full, too. I have learned how to whether, disbud, trim feet, tattoo, tag ears, drench, bolus, sort fetuses, perform fecals, give shots IM, SQ and need to learn IV and how to draw blood and butcher.I haven't had to deal with other multitude of maladies that have afflicted my friends goats...yet. Thank goodness my friend told me about CAE and CL as her good church friend had knowingly sold her her first two goats with CAE and she had to watch them die within a year.
> I love my goats dearly, but there is a lot to know about them and most vets are not goat savvy. Maybe I am wrong and most people on this list knew that goats were complex to keep healthy, but I did not. ::
> janice


Wow, I've had quite a few things go not as I'd like them to with my goats in the past couple years but this brings me back down to earth. I applaud you for sticking with it. Hopefully better things are in store for you and your herd. 

Sent from my iPhone using Goat Forum


----------



## jannerbanner (Apr 1, 2014)

MsScamp said:


> Oh FWIW, all babies have to be roughly 48 hours to be able to regulate their temperature.
> 
> This particular baby was 5 days preemie and I noticed he was going down hill when he was about 15 minutes old. I took his temp and it was 93. I put him in a trashbag to keep him dry and submersed him in really warm water...he was still dying. I made a tent out of heavy quilts and had my mom warm the air with a blowdryer. While my mom was warming him, I made kid saver formula and when he reached 101.5 he nursed some and I gave him 2 drops lugols solution. He had to be reheated with the tent/blowdryer method several times that first day but did get a healthy amount of colostrum from the bottle. I gave him 1cc nutridrench every 4 hours for first day and slowly weaned him off of it. I bundled him in a coat and took him down to his mother the second day and she wanted to kill him. I went and got his ....dead sister:sad: and smeared some of her birthing goo on him and the doe started licking him. It took several days of holding her foot up in the air, guiding the buckling with my head and putting the teat in his mouth to get them working together. I would love any insight as to why this buckling had to be reheated for 2 days to live...Lack of iodine was all I could come up with even though I have kelp out free choice. I am wondering if there are any other mineral deficiencies that may have caused this as 5 days early is not that bad....I thought.
> Thanks,
> janice


----------



## jannerbanner (Apr 1, 2014)

nigies4ever said:


> Wow, I've had quite a few things go not as I'd like them to with my goats in the past couple years but this brings me back down to earth. I applaud you for sticking with it. Hopefully better things are in store for you and your herd.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Goat Forum


I don't know if my poor husband would agree:think: but I can not see myself without goats for the rest of my life. I love the whole process of my herd. Yes, it has really been an emotional rollercoaster, especially this past 2 1/2 months, but I have solved many problems and that is satisfying, too. I have learned a lot and there are so, so many more questions to answer. I live to bury my nose in a healthy newborns fur and feel their warmth and smell their newness. And then they give me milk, manure, friendship and meat. What could be cooler than that?::
janice


----------



## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

jannerbanner said:


> I would love any insight as to why this buckling had to be reheated for 2 days to live...
> janice


Well, 5 days premature is and isn't bad. It isn't bad in that the kid is viable and has a very good chance of surviving. It's bad in that the smaller the animal, the faster they lose body heat. Couple that with them not being able to maintain/regulate their temperature and you have a train wreck waiting to happen. Not just in cold weather either - kids can easily die of heat stroke in the hot months of summer. I once made the mistake of kidding in August, and it was high 90's and 100's. I ended up having to take the kids for a dip in the waterers every 3-4 hours during the daytime until they hit a couple of days old to keep their temperature from skyrocketing.

Here are a couple of articles that might be useful to you.

http://www.luresext.edu/goats/library/field/hart03-2.pdf

http://kinne.net/heatstrs.htm


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Bumping this up, in case anyone else wants to share


----------



## animaldude888 (Jun 24, 2014)

My grandpa used to judge livestock and show and raise cattle and hogs for many years. When I was 10 he came back from a 4-h workshop. He started quizzing me about goats then. I reaserched them and tonight we got 3 more does.


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

^^ it seems most people are introduced to goats, and fall in love with them, through 4-h events


----------



## PygmyMom (Mar 3, 2014)

I was born and raised in the heart of Minneapolis MN. City slickers? That was me lol! Never saw so much as a live chicken. When I met my husband over 10 years ago I said my dream was to have two chickens. Id name them "Bonnie and Clyde". Over a decade later, for my 30th birthday I was surprised by my husband with three of my very own baby chicks. Knowing absolutely nothing about livestock I coddled and spoiled my beloved chickens. After a couple years with my chicks (2 of which are still alive) my husband said he wanted a goat. Yes ONE goat. So we sold our house and bought some land where we could have a goat. 

No more than a month after buying our new house my husband came home with a goat. A homely pygmy mix mutt of a buck with huge horns. It wasn't long after we realized as amateur goat owners that "bubbles" needed a friend. So we went out and bought a sweet little pygmy doe to be his friend. We stupidly let them live together all willy nilly not understanding breeding schedules. 5 months later we had a kid. 

We still have those two goats. They have given us some beautiful kids. Since then we have acquired lots of other goats. Even a gorgeous ND doe. "Peanut" is our only ND in a sea of pygmy's  

LOVE miniature goats and they are kind of like Pringles. Once you have one, you can't stop! Lol!


----------



## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

LOL, I love the Pringles comparison!


----------

