# okay we need more animal ideas



## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

We will be getting a couple more goats this year and we were thinking of other animals for looking at/selling

Chickens are in the plan already (I think)

horses->not us and $$$

cows->boring been there done that 

Bison->was a winner except for the $1500 price and the females are 6 ft tall and 1000lbs...here kittah wouldn't work :shock: males 8 ft and 2000 lbs

sheep ?

Alpacas and such are $1000+ around here

so what can I get that is semi cute and enjoyable to watch and raise? :cowboy:

pigs make a little too much mess


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## COgoatLover25 (Dec 23, 2013)

If you pasture raise your pigs it actually doesn't make that much mess as long as you have a decent sized area for them to forage, and the meat off the heritage breeds is delicious. We've raised the Mangalitsas, meishans, Mulefoot, and Red Wattle, loved them all. Plus the Mangalitsa babies are incredibly cute. 

Rabbits might be an option for you if you don't have much available space, the most important thing when raising them is cleanliness I can say for sure. Don't let their size fool you, they can be quite an occupation depending on the number you have. 

I'd try looking into the heritage breed cattle, some of those are pretty fun.
Personally, out of the other options you had listed I'd either go with the pigs or sheep.


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## Rise_and_Shine_Ranch (May 16, 2015)

Ducks!! They do make a mess, so you would have to be prepared for that but they are just a lot of fun in general. It's hilarious to watch them all quack for treats. :grin: And their eggs are amazing!


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

We have cows on our property now (antique lease from wifes parents) and they are disgustingly gross and stupid animals(no offense cows)

We are slowly fencing off more and more, hopefully 1 more year or two

I actually thought about pigs, because our goat fencing should keep them in...will they come to feeding area/barn for extra food?

do they live in a barn?

Off to Google......


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## COgoatLover25 (Dec 23, 2013)

If you have a set feeding time each day, the pigs will most definitely come to the shake of grain! 
Yes, you should provide them with shelter, especially from the sun. Depending on what breed you get, it varies what they require.


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## COgoatLover25 (Dec 23, 2013)

As for the cows being "disgustingly" stupid, it kinda depends on the breed too...take the Brahman breed for instance, they'll give just about anyone a run for their money lol


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## MylieD (Sep 16, 2013)

Chickens are the best, imo. Fun to watch and if you spoil them with attention when they are young, they will be your best friends for life. I do think they are suicidal though and will do anything that will put them in harms way. Plus everything likes to eat them.

I tried a pair of ducks and they were awful. Terrified of us and messier than anything.

I love my american guinea hogs. If they are in a big enough area, they won't make too much of a mess. They do poop a lot though. It's good for your garden and they are good little tillers. Plus you can make a few bucks or a few meals from the piglets.

I'm thinking a mule would be fun to have. I love mules. And horses don't have to be too pricey. I've been doing research. If they are on pasture, they just need some hay tossed in. If they are in a paddock, they need a couple cups of grain a day too. It's just the vet care that is pricey and a farrier.

I think peacocks would be great to have around. They are noisy though. Guinea hens too. Soooooo noisy and they are also scared of anything. I have a couple guinea hens. Stupider than chickens too and with a greater death wish.

I think sheep are a good choice too, since you can keep them with goats. Just the goats need copper and the sheep can't have it, so you have to figure that out.

I almost forgot, a jersey cow is definitely on my list! I LOVE cows. I think they are adorable and give you loads of milk.


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## MylieD (Sep 16, 2013)

I thought of one other thing. Rabbits. They are cute, fairly friendly if you handle them, and cheap to buy and raise. You just have to build fort knox to keep them in or make them stay in those little wire cages. I hate the wire cages and I couldn't build fort knox, so I ended up losing most of mine to escape, sold one, and gave two away to a homeschooling family. Easy to produce meat, if you like that.


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

We have chickens, ducks and pigs here  (as well as the obvious goats haha) we also have horses, but I understand they are not for everyone and they are my sport as well. 
My chickens are lovely and supply eggs and they follow me around the yard to get pats.
We have 4 young ducks and so far love having them. We made them a pond and they are easy to have and also come up for attention
We have 3 pigs. They all Come running to the gate when ever they see us! One is trained to walk on a harness and lead, our pigs are very smart. They sit, lay down, roll over, sit and stay. They are fun and in a bigger paddock do not cause much destruction at all  our girls have a single wallow in their paddock and other that that have dug up only another small area. We have put them in paddocks after the goats to turn the ground a bit to then rest and the paddocks grow back really well haha but they don't work quickly! Took them 6 months to do a small paddock of 2 acres.. They have learnt their feeding time and they will run up and sit in their spots to wait for their bucket feed.
Where I live we cannot own rabbits so I don't know anything about them..
We also have the cats and dogs, but a really lovely indoor pet is a green cheek conure  they are only a small parrot and so smart! We have our little Blue that is so fun and we love teaching him tricks and new words.







Blue








Poppy and wilma (and a rescue goat in the back ground)








Wilma and Peppa 







Our little duckies


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## Redbarngoatfarm (Jul 8, 2015)

"Alpacas and such are $1000+ around here"

Omg, you can pick up alpacas (unregistered of course) up here for $150-$200!! They are amazing animals to watch, so graceful and sweet, wool is useless, but they are a wonderful, quiet, unusual and low feed cost option pet!


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

We do love rabbit meat and have built a Ft Knox of sorts. I hate caging animals. They have an indoor and an outdoor area. We buried wire to keep them in and had to put on a roof after a few cats developed a taste for baby bunny. I discourage keeping them as pets.
We successfully bred and raised turkeys last year. That was a fun project but the breed we had was too small. If we do it again we will go for something bigger.
We did guineas but they sacrificed themselves to the neighbor's dogs. The one that survived was so noisy that we swore "never again."
I have always wanted to raise a pig or two but we have limited space. It is a good way to use surplus milk I have heard.

For pets we like reptiles as they tend to be low maintenance. We just acquired a hatchling box turtle. (Judging by your location I figure you get them wandering through your property. lol)


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## MylieD (Sep 16, 2013)

I traded the two ducks for 4 guinea keets. Yeah, don't know what I was thinking. Two have been eaten so far. We have 2 left. They are in a pen now, so hopefully nothing else will snack on them. I don't even know if they are boys or girls or both. Neither has laid anything, but they are maybe 8 months old.

Love your rabbit pen, Luvmyherd! And turtle. I've done reptiles, but they can be tricky with calcium, lighting, heat, and humidity. My new favorite indoor animals are guinea pigs. They are so fun to watch.


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## Kenneth11902 (Mar 5, 2016)

Rabbits are always fun, useful, and cute!


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

Redbarngoatfarm said:


> "Alpacas and such are $1000+ around here"
> 
> Omg, you can pick up alpacas (unregistered of course) up here for $150-$200!! They are amazing animals to watch, so graceful and sweet, wool is useless, but they are a wonderful, quiet, unusual and low feed cost option pet!


Oh yer we own alpacas too and they are great fun but are currently on a lease at a friends fish farm/ petting zoo. There are 2 wethers and sweet and easy going. Hopefully they will come home soon  but they were 800$ each (Australian)


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Ugh I would rather have chickens then ducks. I was never so happy to have a coyote come in and pick off my animals. They are gross, they crap and swim in the water troughs, I shot 3 over the years for attacking kids. The only thing I thought was cute about them was when they were babies and they would run around 100mph chasing flies but it went down hill as they got older lol
Cows, I love my cows  not sure if your totally anti cow type but zebu are kinda cool and cute.
Pigs, I will never let a pig near my goats again! I got two pot bellied pigs as babies and they were cute at first, they would snuggle in the middle of the kid pile but once they got older I had a bunch of does with bites on their udders. The pigs could smell the milk.
Chickens are ok just don't like their poop or nesting in the feeders
I love my alpaca! She isn't friendly with me but she is a kick in the pants when it comes to her goats. She loves babies and watches the fence line. If a cow or horse comes close to the fence she runs to the fence and spits on them till they go away. But I see not wanting to spend $1000 
Rabbits I like our rabbits. Sadly we had a weasel issue and lost the outside rabbits but my daughter has a pair of English lops and oh are we in love! I have tried litter training many rabbits before and the male actually goes into the bathroom and does his business in the trash can! They are sweet and smart and I love them.
Guinea pigs are cool but I think a inside pet
Guinea hens, they are loud and stupid. I had some years ago and even though they could fly they still got ate.
I'm not a sheep fan but you could look into sheep. I don't like them because I helped out at the sale yard a few times and they seriously kicked my behind!
I can't think of any more farm animals 
Oh wait mini donkeys! Never had one but I want one so bad. They are so cute as babies too! Lol


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

I am thinking maybe some black neck Ostriches,

anyone have them here?


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

I want a llama


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

We occasionally find a box turtle in the condensation drain mini pond for our AC unit


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## MylieD (Sep 16, 2013)

I don't have an ostrich, but I read up on them and emu's. They scare me. One bad day and they can gut you with their powerful claws.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I've never had one but I watched dirty jobs and no think you! They sure don't seem very nice  but one guy in the next town over has some and he gets $50 a egg, but still after watching that show I bet he really earned that $50 lol


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

every animal can hurt us that is for sure, the African black neck are the most docile, and I do not plan on the up close and personal thing like the goats, just thinking about meat, hides and eggs etc for resale

I kind wish I was multi-rich and had 100000 acres of forest, plains and desert :thumbup: and I could just wander around my zoo :bday:


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

>>>I kind wish I was multi-rich and had 100000 acres of forest, plains and desert and I could just wander around my zoo<<<
Ah, a person after my own heart! Our son has 22 acres of forest in NorCal. We hope to spend much of our retirement years up there. I am dying to get my goats out of the valley and see them roaming the hills.


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## Bansil (Jul 23, 2015)

That would be cool, I will look around for llama and alpaca...may be cheaper to visit one of the farms and bring pictures of our guys and tell them we need companions :thumbup:


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## GCKRanch (May 27, 2014)

Alpacas are pretty high maintenance, and you need more than one. Just be careful with that. I'm sure someone has already mentioned mini-donkeys. What about emus? The big, flightless birds? I've been wanting a pair for a while, but we have too much going on for them. 
Here's a link on facebook for a group of people looking to sell their alpacas. The market has become flooded with them after everyone went crazy breeding them. Most people will be happy to just get rid of them. We live in florida and we'll probably just give ours away. 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Alpacas4Sale/


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## kliles1299 (Jul 2, 2015)

I have Icelandic sheep...1 ram, 4 ewes and now a ram and ewe lamb (with more on the way). Also have a llama, alpaca, 2 young steers,l (holstein and a jersey/beef cross), muscovy ducks, chickens and guineas.


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

Ooo ... I like Icelandic sheep! (They're delicious!)


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## dimer (Apr 8, 2016)

Mini Dinkeys are awesome. I have a little boy and girl. Aspen and Salvy. They are so friendly and kids love them. very easy to care for and wait by gate for me to come home


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## dimer (Apr 8, 2016)

mini donkeys. sorry cant spell today


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

There's a guy in town here that raises tarantulas.

But I don't think you can eat those... ;-)

We visited an ostrich farm in Colorado. Those folks LOVED their birds!


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

If you're looking at making a profit for llamas, I think it can be a bit difficult unless you get some nice bloodlines that people like. (I have no idea what these bloodlines are though, my two llamas are just there to watch over the goats). I went to an alternative livestock auction this weekend and the majority of the llamas were selling for $1-5, no joke. They were intact males though admittedly. The couple females there were, were in the $25-200 range. It may be a completely different story in your area though. 

If you're looking for just having one around, I really enjoy both of mine. They are both females and get along great with my goats, they both get pretty protective of the kids too and chase coyotes/dogs (not all may do that though, mine were both really young when they were first put with the goats.) The one is for the most part always in the background but will occasionally come up and let you pet her. My second one is a complete snoopy pest that is forever following me around and sticking her nose everywhere, she was a bottle baby and just like all bottle babies...a pest, but I still love her. 

Some other species I've been considering or are already in the plans, for bringing in enough to pull their own weight (or with the intention of :eyeroll are: Scottish highlander cattle (will probably never happen, I don't have the space, plus I already own a few angus/gelbvieh cows that I keep with my neighbors herd), babydoll sheep, peafowl, and ornamental pheasants. 

In the completely unrealistic but wishful department, for myself that is, would be emus and alpacas. Emus because I've always liked them and remember my aunt having them when they were the new big craze awhile back. Alpacas because from everything I've read, they seem to be pretty docile and sweet for the most part. Just too expensive and no market (same for emus) in my area. 

Other animals I enjoy that kind of bring in a bit of money, enough to reduce their feed bill anyway, are chickens, ducks, and geese. Chickens I sell eggs for eating, and I have some Gold/Buff Laced Brahmas that I sell hatching eggs from, plus sell any extra birds that I have. I'm a hopeless egg hatching addict and also very bad at chicken math, so there are always some to get rid of. Geese and Ducks, same thing as the chickens.


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