# Free-Range, Minimal Care Herds



## Whinny (Feb 7, 2011)

Some of you will begin jumping up and down screaming at the screen...I'm glad I can't hear you!
I am free ranging my herd with little upkeep. I don't want to raise pampered goats (although I do give treats when they stare at me!). I want them to be hardy and capable. Are there others out here that raise their herds on open pasture year around? With little to no hay or grain and only simple shelters? With minimal interference in the kidding process?
Free range does NOT mean that I never check them or play with them, I'm out there about every day petting, hugging, playing and such with them! Most of my herd is very friendly and loves scratches. But I'm also raising animals for meat purposes and because of that they need to be healthy with minimal upkeep to be profitable. And I'm not talking about keeping 10 goats on 2 acres...I'm talking 50-100 goats on 50 acres.
If you do this kind of operation I'd love to chat with you! Either on here or PM.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Sounds great to me  Your being responsible, checking them, and taking care of them when they need cared for. I don't see anything wrong with that at all.
We can't do that, mostly because we do only have 2 acres, and our goats are our pets as well as breeding them so the kids can have goats to show in the fairs during the summer months. We don't have top quality show animals but they've done well & competitive 

We've talked about one day owning enough land to free range meat goats like you are doing, for the purpose of selling offspring for meat.
Then having another herd of decent quality animals we can breed for showing/selling for breeding replacements/showing/etc. 
It's a dream right now, land in this area is very expensive 

What kind of goats are you raising?
We have a kiko/mix doe that we absolutely love, she's never sick, needs little hoof trimming done, she's an excellent mom, and other than having a HUGE baby this year, she typically doesn't need assistance kidding. But, this year she had a 13lb. single doeling and I had to pull the baby, or lose them both, but she was bred to a boer buck w/huge shoulders and her doeling looked like her but had her sire's shoulders.

Anyway, I'd love to have a herd of kiko's like our herd queen, or spanish goats, I hear they are very hardy.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Yep that would be me, just its 80 goats on 800. Im trying to 'stay out of it' the best I can but still am there if in need. I have to tell you its a hard thing to do if they are purchased goats but we are starting to get the hang of it


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

I know of ranches like this that have done very well. I drive by one ranch that has such awesome land. The property backs up to the Sacramento river. The goats have free range food, pasture, browse, herd protectors of a sort and they have an enormous barn set up to come into for kidding season. I have read of some in the cold north climates not far from us that just let the herd go and kid on their own. They seem to have done well and have bred hardy goats. The less hardy ones ended up into a separate herd. I have read of this ranches philosophy and well.. they are cattle ranchers and have tried to raise cow(goats) in a similar fashion and by breeding a hardier herd have managed it evidently.


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

But.. I have also seen some awful neglected herds that made me so sad. The goats had no care- there were several bucks free to run with the herd and small doelings.. some of the bucks were beat up so badly. There was nothing much to eat in this field. Over in the corner under an oak was a huge dead hog with buzzards eating it. The goats had been thrown some large amounts of dry moldy bread all heaped up on the ground. We drove by this ranch by accident and had to turn around .. when the goats saw our car - they came running out to see us.. thats when we got a good look at this neglected unhealthy starving herd.
Sounds like you will do well and have good knowledge to do this and be successful at your herd.


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## Shellshocker66 (Mar 19, 2012)

I don't have a hearty meat breed.. Well let me rephrase that, I have pampered spoiled Nigerians, but I found this Kiko breeder who has a minimal involvement approach and think they have wonderful animals. http://lookoutpointranch.com/ I also think it's great if you can rock dread locks while being female? Have to watch the video on their website to understand :laugh:


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

I own 20 acres of rocks with some dirt. Last November a Boer doe wandered past thehouse and happily followed me into my fenced vegetable garden, which reallyneeded to be cleaned up. She clearly wasraised on a bottle and was a very friendly girl from day one. Unable to locate the owner I kept her. Since then we have built a quarter acreenclosure and local goat ranchers have given me 5 more kids abandoned by theirmothers. I have set up sprinklers tokeep the weeds growing during dry periods, but let everyone out to free rangemost days. The only days they are not let out is duringbad weather or when no one is home. Nowthat the goat enclosure is finished I no longer have to buy hay as they haveplenty of weeds and trees to munch on. Ido buy pellets, as a bucket of pellets and the words "Go Home" guaranteeseveryone will run to the goat enclosure so I can lock them in. My goats seem pretty healthy and are happilyspoiled. There are a lot of healthygoats living out here who are part of huge herds who are only be raised for thecommercial meat market. Those ranchers need to keep their expenses as low aspossible and so just let the goats graze for their sole source of food. Those goats are wild and are scared ofpeople. I know, when they get out andare in danger of being hit by a car, all I have to do is pull over and get outof the car to convince everyone to jump back over the downed fence, they runaway as fast as possible.


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## mhoward2 (Jun 30, 2012)

We raise our goats free range with minimal interference when they are kidding. I check on them everyday to make sure there are no problems. We have several acres and plenty of grass, woodlands and a creek. I only feed them grain in the spring, summer and fall as a treat. They are given hay and some grain during the winter. They are happy and healthy goats.


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## sunshinegoat (Feb 7, 2012)

We have land on and old, drained beaver pond that used to be (supposedly) hay fields before the beaver came...We have a portable electric fence that we move and the goats eat the scrubby stuff and I do supplement a little with grain to the preggers...they also get minerals. As we move them off the scrubby land they have just eaten green grass grows where they have eaten and pooped... The goal is to have lush pasture and grow our meat goats as hands off as possible. This is the first years since the pond is gone and everyone seems to be doing pretty good...If all goes as planned we wont have to grain and our hay bill has been almost nothing since this spring (that darn horse, lol ♥)


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## Whinny (Feb 7, 2011)

Thanks for all the wonderful responses! I raise Boers with a mix of Kiko, Nubian, Alpine, Spanish, LaMancha and my newest additions Savanna goats! The dairy girls are NOT as hardy and do like their shed! I have them for milk to drink and make cheese but the majority of the herd is Boer. The Savanna buck I just got will be crossed on everyone as well as the Savanna doe I have. Right now I have a Boer/Kiko buck in with them. I plan to maintain two separate herds in different pastures and swap the doelings to the opposite herd. So my Savanna x doelings will go to my Boer/Kiko and their doelings will go back to the Savanna. 
I love watching the 'Goat Channel' as I call it! And spend as much time with them as I can because I want the easy to handle if something goes wrong and we need vet care or help with kidding. Other than that we don't do any shots or even worming unless someone (Dairy girls!) needs it. The hooves stay good and I put out mineral every so often along with baking soda. I'm not planning on feeding any hay and only a little grain if they need it. Sounds like others are doing the same and doing fine!


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## packhillboers (Feb 2, 2011)

Your goats look great! If you have the land.. you don't have to do much for them. Our butcher wethers last year, made it to butcher time on no extra food - just browse and pasture- -no de-wormers and they butchered out big and almost too fat. (rich dark meat too) -lots of blackberries really helped them.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

You are very right the dairy breeds are about the worse on up keep. (not talking down on any dairy people). But they are worth it to keep around. I like to have a few mainly incase something happens and I end up with a bottle baby, but right now am in love with the lamancha boer cross. The one I have was born in march and is as big as my yearlings and not because she was a single since she got a half of a bag and I got the other, but the kid will be worth what ever up keep is needed .


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

I'd like to breed my dairy girls to be as hardy as possible. The two senior does I have are very hardy for a dairy goat. Fat on air. If we had good pasture they wouldn't need hay. I do give them alfalfa for calcium and minerals. I have them on an herbal dewormer. Some does need "more" than an herbal but ours have done well.

My wether only gets hay and browses on pine trees and blueberry bushes. He is a chunk. :laugh: Those wethers pack on the pounds.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

I'm so jealous. I am on about an acre so unfortunately my diary goats are in the front and the boers in the back. Which equals more of dry lot situation so I'm feeding all the time. I was hoping to divide off each dry lot plant it and swap them back and forth but I don't think there is enough room w/o leaving them in a too small area. 
Hopefully some day we'll have actual property to run more pasture and browsing. Sounds like you have it working pretty well for you all.


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

A lot of great responses!
If you want healthy, low-maintenance goats, you have to make sure they get the right amount of minerals.
If you want healthy, low-maintenance goats, you have to make sure they get the right amount of minerals.
If you want healthy, low-maintenance goats, you have to make sure they get the right amount of minerals.

I said that three times because it's so important! I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend setting out Pat Coleby's basic stock lick instead of any commercial mix. As long as your goats are not dairy goats (which when being milked have a much higher mineral demand), the levels of copper, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and trace minerals in Pat Coleby's formula should prevent worms, mastitis, external parasites, and just about every other disease.
Her mix was developed in Australia. If you live in the U.S. or somewhere else, the levels may (or may not) need to be adjusted. I would start with the basic mix and adjust only if the goats started having problems.
Buying Pat Coleby's "Natural Goat Care" may well be the best investment you can ever make. It was for me!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

clearwtrbeach, I was told about this guy that would plant oats (or what ever) in burlap sacks. I guess he would just put straw in the bottom and put seed in it then after it got to where it would need to be 'harvested' would hang the sack out for the goats to eat. He would have a lot of these sacks and rotate them. During the summer since everything is dead and not that much protein in what they eat I buy the big tubs of protein from tractor supply, I am thinking about cutting them down and planting oats in them then putting it out for the kids to kinda finish them off before I sell them. I just dont know where to do it where the chickens cant get to it lol.


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

Last summer I read an article in a magazine about using bags of garden soil to grow vegetables for those folks with little room for gardening. You just cut holes in the bag and plant your vegetables. A cheap easy way to do container gardening. Of course, one could grow goat food instead of vegetables. Today I fenced off the pots of herbs I am growing and do not want the goats to eat. I then threw open the gate to my garden and the goats ran in there happy to clean every thing up for me. They have been trying to sneak in there all summer anyway. It is so nice not to have to clean up the garden after the season is up, a task I really hate but my goaties love. Since their enclosure and the vegetable garden share a gate, I just propped the gate open so they can get to their shelter when necessary.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

Shellshocker66 said:


> I don't have a hearty meat breed.. Well let me rephrase that, I have pampered spoiled Nigerians, but I found this Kiko breeder who has a minimal involvement approach and think they have wonderful animals. http://lookoutpointranch.com/ I also think it's great if you can rock dread locks while being female? Have to watch the video on their website to understand :laugh:


 That was a cool video.
They had some high dollar equipment there.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

mhoward2 said:


> We raise our goats free range with minimal interference when they are kidding. I check on them everyday to make sure there are no problems. We have several acres and plenty of grass, woodlands and a creek. I only feed them grain in the spring, summer and fall as a treat. They are given hay and some grain during the winter. They are happy and healthy goats.


 This is how they need to be managed, of course I will add loose salt and minerals.

Goats need roughage(hay) sometimes, for rumen health. They may need their hooves trimmed at times, so watch that. If a goats feet are crippled from no trimming, the goat won't be beneficial to your program.

Worms and other issues may come up as well, so be prepared.

Always watch their condition, if they are skinny, you will have to find out why.

Free range, really isn't free range, there can be things that come up or need tending to. Or the goat(s) will parish, if we just allow them to roam with no intervention at all.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I guess you are right toth about the free range, and I have to admit I am not 100% not messing with the goats. I give vac. If they are sick I doctor them, and when they kid I am right there with them. The way I look at it with the kidding is so many things can go wrong and I am not going to lose a animal, feelings a side, that I have time and money in for a min. of a year. And yes worms is something that everyone should take seriously. My main goal is to just have hardy animals, this one ladys goats if they get a drop of rain on them it seems they are sick, and I went to Nv. once and this lady just had a roof over her goats even though the wind blew like crazy and was cold and they were ok. I think a goat can adjust to how ever you raise them, its just hard if you purchase a goat and try to get them to adjust to what you have. I figure in 10 years i will have the herd I want. Packhill is right, there are so many people that let them kid in the pasture no matter if its hot or cold and the kids are just fine, I had a leak in one of my kidding houses last year and lost a kid so Im sure if my goats were to lay down in the cold and kid the kids would be dead.


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

toth boer goats said:


> Goats need roughage(hay) sometimes, for rumen health. They may need their hooves trimmed at times, so watch that.


I am in a very rocky area. No one here trims hooves. And I mean no one. No need to. The goats take care of it themselves walking on all those rocks. I just spent a few hours this morning picking small rocks up out of the goat enclosure to use as road fill. I probably gathered 2 gallons worth of rocks and I didn't even make a dent in the rock supply. One of my goals is to remove a lot of the rocks currently in the goat enclosure so there is more soil area available for growing goat food. Of course goats who live in an area without lots of rocks or other means to naturally trim their own hooves will need a human to do that job.

What goats need is different in different areas. If my goats want roughfage they just go eat some Mountain Cedar. Vet says it doesn't provide much nutrition but it would provide lots of roughfage. And the goats love it.

I just paid for a soil analysis so I now know what the soil is like that the weeds/grass is growing in. I plan to try to improve it in the future and now I know what to concentrate on. I also just threw out a lot of burmuda grass seed in hopes of providing more food in the goat's enclosure. So hopefully someday my goats will need little intervention to be healthy happy goats.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

Texas, I like the rocks and not trimming, although it doesn't apply to us. 
I do have a ton of small rocks and really cruddy sandy, fine dirt; really nothing but a few weeds grow. I'm trying to leave some of the left over hay on the ground (while still cleaning up poop) to help mulch down some. I wanted to throw some grass seed also, but our dirt is so sandy and hard compacted, and rocky I dont know that it would grow with out a lot of amendments. I was also worried about them just eating seed or new sprouts. What do you all think about that?


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

clearwtrobeach, I am taking a multi-long-term approach to making the goat enclosure a healthier place for my goaties. First, while the fence was still going up I bought and planted some bermuda grass seed. The feed stores around here sell tons of it because it is hardy, drought resistant, spreads and it difficult to get rid of. Some of the seed took and I do have some grass growing, but not much so yesterday I threw a bunch more seed around as it is going to rain later today and tomorrow. Second, over time I am picking up rocks so there is less rocks in the area and more soil to grow food. I do have a huge pile of medium size rocks that I piled up (rocks to big for road fill but to small for building with) and I have placed some huge rocks around a giganic rock that is impossible to move. I was hoping it would make a fun play toy but I have never seen them playing on it. Maybe it just needs more big rocks on it. Third, I want to slowly increase the amount of soil in their enclosure. The land has a slight slop towards the goat enclosure so rain does push some dirt in that direction. I also have several compost piles inside the enclosure. I just took chicken wire and left over fencing to form a circle to keep the contents inside. The goats love to jump on the piles and eat my produce scraps, so I now have a 3rd location where I throw food scraps, etc. They eat what they want to eat and the rest should one day turn into soil. I figure if I keep removing rocks and creating compost I should have more soil in about a decade. Fourth, the oak trees are finally dropping acorns. I gathered a few and planted them outside the goat enclosure but close enough that one day if they should sprout and actually grow the goats will be able to reach over the fence to nibble on the yummy leaves. As I learn more and get more ideas I will implement those that will work here. For now, we let the goats out to graze most mornings (when we are home) but we also have bought electric fencing and once we figure out how to make it work we will be able to move the goats to areas away from the house where they can spend their days eating away. As for not having rocks for your goats to maintain their own hooves on, you can buy stuff. I have seen videos where folks bought cement blocks or rocks for their goats to use. One video the goats had to step up onto a cement block to get to their feed trough. Not sure what he did for the hooves on the back legs. As for your sandy dirt, if I was in your situation I would of course buy hay so they have something to eat now but I would also work on that soil. If you have money, you can always buy a dump truck worth of garden soil to spread out and then plant grass/weeds, or whatever. I have purchased a dump truck of garden soil for my garden so I know it is not cheap. But with all the straw and food scraps, etc. composting is possible. Also, what grows naturally in your area that would make good goat food? Get some of those seeds and start throwing the seeds around and if possible let nature do the watering. The goats will eat the seed if it is piled up in one spot (as evidenced when a storm knocked our bird feeder over), but if the seed is scattered they might not notice it. Almost forgot--I am fortunate enough to have access to running water at the goat enclosure so I set up an irriatation system. I have 4 long hoses with sprinklers to water the different areas. The enclosure is only 1/4 acre so watering is possible. So now even during periods of dry weather I can keep the weeds growing for the goats to munch on when I cannot let them out. I hope this helps and gives you ideas on how to improve the situation for your goats.


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## Texas.girl (Dec 20, 2011)

Even if you don't think your dirt will grow anything--here is proof you can grow stuff anywhere. Our goat shed was destroyed last month when a microburst hit us. The straw remained but the shed flew away, literally. Underneath that straw is caliche and solid rock. Caliche is basically a type of clay that is abundant around here and used for road beds, etc. We basically dug out all the dirt and rocks until we hit a solid sheet of rock, upon which we built the goat shed and piled lots and lots of caliche to form the floor. We then put straw on top for the goats to sleep on. They love it. There is no dirt for anything to grow inside their goat enclosure. The straw was exposed to a lot of rain before we finally were able to start rebuilding our goat shelter. Yesterday we went out to finish the walls in preperation for the storms moving in. No idea if the green stuff is grass or sprouts from the straw. I can say we never expected to see anything growing in the dark, without soil, and inside our goat shelter. At least when it is raining hard and the goats get hungry they can just graze inside.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

Texas, I would have never thought of my compost being in the goat pen! Mine is right out side so I could pitch the paddock raking right over the fence. I think next week I'll modify that! We are on spring fed water, so there is a main line that is right next to my does pen so I water there, and drag the second hose to the other pen.
thanks for the tips and pic


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## AlecBGreen (Jul 7, 2009)

I free range 25 goats on about 15 acres. Its about half weedy pasture and half cedar. There is a lot of honeysuckle, blackberry & multiflora rose - all goat favorites! Its is enough to get them through the year with leftovers. 

I will start putting out free choice hay year round. I think roughage is like minerals; if its available they will eat a little and keep themselves healthier. 

I do not assist kidding. They have an enclosure they are put into every other night. Once kidding season gets here they will have 24/7 access to the enclosure. Its a simple structure: 40 x 14, plywood walls, metal roof. It isnt totally sealed but a lot of goats in that area make it much warmer than the outside, plus its dry and not windy. 

I deworm as needed. Most of the herd is Kiko or Boer/Kiko and they are pretty resistant so I havent head to worm hardly at all. The few 'problem' animals who always get worms first are being sent to freezer camp in a few weeks. I have no room for wormy goats in my herd.


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## AlecBGreen (Jul 7, 2009)

p.s. I have trimmed one hoof in 5 years of owning goats and thats because the doe came to me that way. For whatever reason Ive been blessed with exceptionally good feet in my herd. There arent a lot of rocks in my area, some outcrops but not many. Regardless, the hoofs all look good and havent needing any trimming. Woohoo!


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## Trollmor (Aug 19, 2011)

Oh, no! One single click on the wrong key, and my beautiful contribution went right into Cyber Space ... Maybe I will try again another day ...


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I went ahead and got a boer kiko since I have heard nothing but good things about them, her feet are horable at growing!! The one good thing I like about her is her horns, there is no way to get her head stuck in a fence. I hope the foot thing will get better, we will see. I have only 5 that I have only had to trim once and that was when I first got them, and only a handful that need to be done all the time. I know to get to the goal I want I have to do some selling, just seems like the ones that need a little more hands on are the ones that have the best personality lol.


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## crawly (Apr 15, 2014)

I'm with you. After reading up on Chris Luton's operation, i am convinced that is the best way to raise meat goats for profit. I am on 5 acres with plans for roughly 15 head on this tract, when it's all said and done, but i already have my eyes set on a larger property with plans of expanding my free range goat operation.


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