# The Gypsy Life... But with Goats



## neoaflander (Jul 24, 2010)

We're considering getting an RV and living in it full time. But we've got a goat that we desperately want to keep. His name is Kippy and he's just adorable and we're very attached to him.

But we've never heard of someone traveling with a goat like this before. We've been to various goat forums and the Workamper RVing forum and haven't found any information on this subject.

Has anyone here ever heard of anyone who has done this before? And if not can you give us any tips or ideas on it if we decide we want to be the first?


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

Where there is a will there is a way.

I took my milking doe camping with me many years ago. 
It worked very well. 

I suppose it would depend on where you park your RV.
And have some portable fence panels.
If the RV is a 5th wheel you could use the front
for shelter.

What kinda goat? Smaller goats can fit in a large dog crate. 
A larger goat will need other arangements. A canopy and a pull RV trailer. Or a Motor home and a horse trailer.


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## neoaflander (Jul 24, 2010)

All our goats are Nubian x Boer. We're guessing that he'll end up being nearly 200 pounds when he's full grown, but that's a ways off yet.

What we're thinking of getting is a self contained and then setting up a horse trailer or something similar to pull behind it.
The only reservations we have with that is that my mother says she'd always worry about him if she couldn't see him all the time.

Another alternative that we think is a little silly but we're considering it anyway is setting up the back bedroom of the RV as a little stable for the goat. 
This would be inconvenient for us but would keep my mother's mind at ease. 
She'd end up sleeping on the couch though and she's got a bit of arthritis pain in her back, so I think the idea of giving the goat the bedroom is silly.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

Well, If you did set up the back bedroom as a mini stable.
Poop could be cleaned up easily. 

It is the urine. Maybe you can design a cumberbun around
him that would put a human diaper over that area. LOL

You maybe laughing. but I have a yorkie male that marks..
He wears a #1 human diaper. Diapers hold alot. 
Maybe a adult diaper would work.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

> This would be inconvenient for us but would keep my mother's mind at ease.
> She'd end up sleeping on the couch though and she's got a bit of arthritis pain in her back, so I think the idea of giving the goat the bedroom is silly.


Hey. another solution. 
Get one of those horse trailers that have a sink and stuff.
And put mom in it with the goat. :lol:


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## neoaflander (Jul 24, 2010)

ryorkies said:


> > This would be inconvenient for us but would keep my mother's mind at ease.
> > She'd end up sleeping on the couch though and she's got a bit of arthritis pain in her back, so I think the idea of giving the goat the bedroom is silly.
> 
> 
> ...


Alas, I would - but the flaw in that plan is that she's terrified to let anyone else drive when she's in the vehicle. I love her very much, but she's not the type to relax over anything.
Hence the goat anxiety and the passenger anxiety.


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## neoaflander (Jul 24, 2010)

Ha! The nervous mom here. Towing a trailer is nerve wracking for me with or without anything alive in it. I think it might be hard for Kippy to travel for hours in a trailer. He would be alone and in addition it might be a physically trying lifestyle for any type of livestock. We are talking about full timing. It would be long, long road trips interspersed with a few months stays at campgrounds He is very spoiled, but I think he will make a great pack goat one day. I think my daughter is full of it about his grown weight and I cant see it being much over 130 lbs for a Nubian/Boer, but I think he is mostly Nubian in his characteristics. 

We are considering taking his stable mate, (Baby) too. That way he might not get too lonely. We all know that goats are herding animals. Kippy thinks he is a human but I am not sure he would do well without other goats around.


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## neoaflander (Jul 24, 2010)

Nervous mom here again. One thing seems for sure. We hear from other campers that Kippy would be a hit at campgrounds. He is very friendly and loves people. He really likes being scratched and is not picky about who does the scratching. For a young one, he is sedate, too. As long as my daughter is around, he seems to feel safe. He follows well on a lead and follows pretty well without a lead. We think he will take to packing as just another crazy human thing, like getting a bath. He likes the attention and seems to like having something to do besides wander around the pasture and eat. We have found that he, and most of the other goats just need to know what it is you want. When they get it, they go along pretty well. You don't have to get tough with them. They have not been put to the test yet with long treks or fatigue. Maybe we just got lucky with our group.


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

If they're going to live in the trailer for hours at a time, you do need at least two animals so they can keep each other company. It wouldn't be fair to put one goat in a trailer by himself. This was actually the biggest reason Phil and I decided not to go to Rendy this year. Cuzco is our only goat, and locking him in a trailer all by himself for two days just didn't seem like a nice thing to do to our pet.

It's not really important to see them when they're in the trailer, but if it would make you feel better you could get a camera like the ones that some people put in their horse trailers. I'm sure they're not cheap, but it would be worth it not to have goats living in your RV. They start to smell pretty bad after a while since they tend to pee everywhere, and you would lose a whole chunk of living space, not to mention you would destroy the resale value. Better to give the goats their own area.


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## neoaflander (Jul 24, 2010)

They start to smell pretty bad after a while since they tend to pee everywhere, and you would lose a whole chunk of living space, not to mention you would destroy the resale value. Better to give the goats their own area.

If we do this we will take Baby. When Kippy gets outside the fence and starts hollering, she goes and takes care of him. They are both about 6 months old. It is very funny to watch. I understand about the smell. We raised 6 babies in the house and on a bottle because they were born in a snowstorm and the moms would not accept them. We live in a rented place and most of the goats that we inherited the care of did not belong to us. There is no good shed either and at that time there were two horrible cows that we could not exclude. And we tried hard. They just broke down any fences if there was any hay or food in the goat pen. They even broke out the tin sides of the shed to get in. I never found a way to keep out a determined 1000 lb cow. They were sold, thankfully. Anyway, It took us three months to get rid of the smell. We have a little green clean machine that works really great. I have talked to Donna at Edelweiss farms about this. She laughed a lot and said that everyone who raises goats has done it. She is probably right. The guy in Belen that has 400 told me that in the winter they usually have 15 babies in the house at night in kiddee pools. 

Thanks for you advice and suggestion. It really helps to get words from someone with more experience. Cuzco is so funny and we loved looking at the videos.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

I carry the goats in a minivan. If you use clumping kitty litter the urine solidifies and can be scooped away. I put down a tarp first. Just make sure it is deep enough to absorb or it makes mud and takes a while to dry.


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## Coyotl Viejo (May 22, 2010)

A time in my youth was spent traveling with some Gypsy-type folks. (Not ethnic Roma, but living nomadic lives in wagons pulled by donkeys.) The goats traveled in cages tied to the back of the wagons, and at night we staked them out. When we stayed somewhere for more than one night we just left the goats out. We had fresh milk every morning and night in camp this way.

Of course, life at 3mph is quite different than life at 65mph, so I doubt you'd want to put your goat in a cage tied on top of the back bumper. But what if you kept a cage inside while you drove around, then put it outside, under the trailer while you were parked? Stake the goat out during the day and cage it at night.

We never had animals inside the wagons, but that was because the wagons were small, so there was not much room for them anyway. Plus, this way there was no mess inside - although I'd have to admit that our life was pretty - uh, _organic_ regardless! 

Dan


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## imported_bubba (Apr 17, 2010)

Two options come to mind if you don't mind going the 5th wheel route. I think either would work. the
first is a living quarters horse trailer. You could get the trailer with the smallest horse living area, and the most human living area. I think the smallest horse area is a 2horse trailer. there are some nice used ones around due to the economy. Idea two is a toy hauler. I've seen some with a rear space that is completely separate from the living area. It's like a mini garage. There is no reason you can't put goats in there. It will be less ventilated than the horse trailer route. Both can be accessed from inside the living space.


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## IceDog (Aug 1, 2010)

As I've kept rescued goats in the house for up to two months (both during the winter, or IOW no open windows, but luckily an exhaust fan in the room), here is what worked for me....

First I put down a tarp folded to several thicknesses, to protect the carpet.

Then layers and layers and layers of newspaper.

Then a synthetic, rough, stiff, cheapo blanket from Wal-Mart that you would never use for bedding for yourself! Have a few so you always have a clean one. I cut my blankets in half.

Then an exercise pen on top of it all with the blanket extending a good deal outside the edge of the pen.

I kept a small hand broom with a dust pan handy and swept up the poop berries multiple times throughout the day.

I hung a water bucket and a hay bucket on the pen. I fed small amounts of hay throughout the day so it would get cleaned up rather than picked through and peed on.

I noticed that he always peed at certain times, i.e. when he got up when I came to feed, so I started catching the urine whenever possible. This greatly extended the time between pen tear down and thorough cleaning!

For cleaning I'd shake then wash the blanket, wipe down the exposed side of the tarp with vinegar & water and put down clean newspaper.

You'd likely need a method to anchor the pen so your goat wasn't walking it around the RV!  With a toy hauler type RV I assume they have ample tie down hooks.

This has worked really well for me when it was necessary to keep a goat inside.... of course they were smaller goats. 

Hope this helps!

Cheryl, working on a webpage for my budding packgoats!
http://www.sandcreekicelandics.com/PackGoats.html


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## sweetgoatmama (Dec 10, 2008)

Proper bedding for a truck or trailer consists of a combination of products.
We have rubbber mats currently, but we have used a heavy tarp. If you can get one of the big truck tarps, they can be cut to whatever size and they are stiff enough to lie flat. Then add a layer of a product called Stall Dri. It's basically kitty litter with anti bacterial and deodorant properties. Then add regular shavings. Then add a thin layer of wood stove pelllets. we have our truck full of goats for a couple of weeks and when we clean it it smells fine again. The Stall Dri and the wood stove pellets are the key. Both soak up urine much better than shavings, but you need the shavings for cushion as the pellets are really slippery little rollers if used by themselves.


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