# Do you groom your goats coats?



## Lil Chickie Mama

Wow that sounds like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book...anyway...Do you brush your goats down?  How often do you have to wash them or clip them?  I am getting Nigerian Dwarfs so it's not like they are fiber goats, but am curious as to how much grooming they require (besides the hooves).  Also, I have read that many goat "parents" find that some of their kids enjoy being pet or scratched and was wondering if they might like being brushed down with a horse brush or something.  I doubt they'd like being "bathed" with hose or soapy water since I read they hate water, but is it necessary ever?  Oh, and these are just going to be home pet/milkers.  I have no intention of ever showing them, I just want to give them great care


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## kstaven

Really long haired goats like the toggenburg will matt up a bit when foraging in heavy brush a lot and maybe need to get a good coat brushing then. Beyond that most goats don't have issues. Since ours are used for dairy they are washed and brushed down regularly. A clean animal helps prevent milk contamination.


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## Roll farms

Our Toggs usually need a good trimming in the summer to keep them from looking scruffy, the other breeds we have (Nub, Ob, Boer) shed out well enough that it's not necessary to use trimmers.

I do brush our other ones when they're shedding out to help speed the process along.

I shave their tails and udders at kidding time, both to keep the milk cleaner and to help keep the cleaning out process after giving birth from being so messy.


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## dkluzier

We have nubians and pygmys.  The pygmy gets groomed after he's been into the burrs, otherwiso we do not regularly groom them.


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## ThornyRidge

depends on your goats actually. I have pygmies and nigies and I don't show.. however, my goats love a good brushing!!!  I have three in particular that will actually nudge you if you stop.  I also recommend giving them a good brushing once you see their winter undercoat coming out.. it can be quite itchy and the goats seem to enjoy the assistance.  as far as bathing I can't honestly say i have ever bathed them.. I have rinsed off some that have become downright gross or after does birth I have cleaned up their back ends a couple times.. also will be determined how clean their environment is.. I find brushing the goats is a good way to relax both for them and me and it strengthens the bond between you and your animals if they are up for it.. oh and I use a regular old dog brush.. the one with the wire like bristles (just make sure they are not too sharp) and also a soft brush around their faces...


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## Lil Chickie Mama

Thanks!  I didn't think they would necessarily need it, but I'm glad to hear they will enjoy it!  TSC is becoming one of my fav stores lately, I may just go pick up some brushes next time I'm there...can you have your paycheck just written out to TSC?  LOL....I can't wait to brush them down!


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## lupinfarm

Every now and then I groom our 2 Pygmy's, they're gonna need bathes this summer... Anyone know what I can use to bath them? Would Mane and Tail for horses be okay? We got that stuff comin' out the ying yang here lol.


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## Lil Chickie Mama

Obviously have no experience but I've been reading up and whatever you use should be VERY gentle and use it sparingly.  When you rinse be sure to get all the suds out.  I read one person that used Original (Blue) Dawn Dishwashing liquid and another that used castile soap.  If there are tough spots of muck that won't come out use a scrubby soap like GoJo or something, but again-sparingly.  The main website I saw also says using a licorice scented goat milk soap to rid the bucks of some of their odor, and she even said you could use bluing to make the goats whiter but only use it quickly or it could stain them blue for a while.  Here's her website, she's talking about getting goats ready for a show.  HTH


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## samplekasi

Not sure about your goats but I have nubians 2 of my goats 1 buck and one older doe have a winter undercoat  you part the fur and at the base it is almost like very short woolish type undercoat these 2 get special care I brush them everyother day in the late spring  if I notice that they have not been able to shed it on their own which it may get thinner but never gone untilo I brush for a couplke of weeks I use a cheap dog brush with the tips on the metal bristles.


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## ()relics

We handle,clip and brush all our show animals from the day they are born...Just makes things easier later...I can trim hooves, check udders, strip milk, do just about anything to most of our goats without restraining them...Makes things alot easier when they are on the pasture.


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## Mini-M Ranch

We brush our goats every day because they like it.   They are all VERY wooly right now, especially the white goats (I don't know if that is just a coincidence, but it seems weird)  We have mini-nubians.  I have no clipped any of them before, but  iam ready to clip the undertail and udder of the girl who just kidded (we didn't get it done before she kidded and it's just a little ICK).  We also have one girl that has some scurs (where she was disbudded, but the horns great back all funky and curved) that we clip to keep them from growing back into her head.  We clip the horn scurs when we trim hooves.

I am considering giving the crusty buck a bath when the weather is warmer, but I know he will HATE it.


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## cmjust0

Lil Chickie Mama said:
			
		

> TSC is becoming one of my fav stores lately, I may just go pick up some brushes next time I'm there...can you have your paycheck just written out to TSC?  LOL....I can't wait to brush them down!


The following is simply an observation, and is based on personal experience..  Keep that in mind..  In fact, if you happen to think back to this moment about three years into keeping goats, you'll laugh at what I'm about to say.  I promise -- you will.  Here goes:

You know you're still new to goats when you actually _enjoy_ going to TSC.

That's all I'm gonna say.  Well, maybe that and...most TSC locations I've been to would make fine places for farm a store.


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## doublebow

Every year in the Spring when it warms up I bathe and clip all my goats. This helps get rid of the cashmere undercoat. I had one show goat who absolutely loved all the pampering. I also brush my goats pretty often. They like it and it helps you be more aware if they are developing any dry skin or external parasite problems.


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## lupinfarm

I'm with cmjust0, I HATE going to the TSC, not only because it's expensive and far away from me but also because the employees and managers know NOTHING, and get this wouldn't hire me! But better yet, they carry NOTHING useful. I have to start getting my goat feed there again because the only co-op with good goat feed shut down this year and our Purina mill only carries a milking ration, which I don't need yet (thats the only pelleted goat feed we can get and they have to order it in advance too). My TSC doesn't even carry most gate sizes, and the best part is they'll sell you the gate, then you go around to pick it up and they don't have it so then they have to refund it and by that time Bridle Path is already closed so you have to wait until the next week to pick up a gate at Bridle Path Tack, which is further away but cheaper. OMG. 

I have to bath Cissy and Mione in late spring, they're kind of gross right now lol. And I'm all with Mini-M, IDK what it is but my 2 are white and they're fluffy as can be. They've got like 4 inches of hair!


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## Marta

Marta gets brushed everyday, she goes all gar gar and if you dont hold her other side she falls over lol   while shes groomed she gets a thorough checking over eyes ears bum teats the lot
she has had this treatment from day 1 when I received her on the door step.
she lays down on our laps when her hooves are trimmed (think she may get too big to do that soon, it now takes 2 laps for her to lie across and as proven today she loves kids and ppls in general and their stroking, she runs up to them and walks beside them till they stroke her lol
my belief is it grows a strong attachment between man and beast


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## Lil Chickie Mama

Marta said:
			
		

> Marta gets brushed everyday, she goes all gar gar and if you dont hold her other side she falls over lol   while shes groomed she gets a thorough checking over eyes ears bum teats the lot
> she has had this treatment from day 1 when I received her on the door step.
> she lays down on our laps when her hooves are trimmed (think she may get too big to do that soon, it now takes 2 laps for her to lie across and as proven today she loves kids and ppls in general and their stroking, she runs up to them and walks beside them till they stroke her lol
> my belief is it grows a strong attachment between man and beast


LOL, I'd love to see that.  She sounds like a sweetie.  Well, the TSC here doesn't seem that bad so yes I must be very new!  I think I'll end up buying most of my stuff from Hoeggers or something, but it's nice to walk in somewhere and "play" with the merchandise.  Since I wont get my kids until March or April I tend to walk around and daydream, LOL I'm such a dork!  I guess I'll see what the feed store I get my chicken food from either has or can get.


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## cmjust0

lupinfarm said:
			
		

> I HATE going to the TSC, not only because it's expensive and far away from me but also because the employees and managers know NOTHING, and get this wouldn't hire me!


For a while there, I thought we were sorta lucky in that one of the managers of our TSC raised goats..  Every now and then, you'd see very goat-specific products not stocked in other TSCs...like the good nipples from Caprine supply, hoof rasps, etc..

Then one day when I was looking for alfalfa pellets for my UC boy, she told me alfalfa caused urinary calculi and pointed me toward purina goat chow, telling me that you don't have to worry about UC at all so long as you're feeding feeding grain with AC and mixed 2:1 Ca, and that you could basically feed as much as you wanted..  

:/

When I explained to her that I had a buck come down with UC from feeding too much of the proper grain, and that alfalfa helps the body take phosphorus up into the bloodstream on account of its high calcium content.......she was all crickets and tumbleweeds.

That's when she told me she'd recently sold all her goats because she was just done with all the problems and heartache.


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## lupinfarm

lol cmjust0...

I just wish I could even BUY goat specific supplies ANYWHERE.  no Purina Goat Feed at all, no goat anything. Sad sad sad.


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## Marta

Your lucky you can get anything at all goat, the vet does not even contemplate goats,
(oh!!!!! everyone around here has a goat) you are either on your own or on the web. feed is sold to cows hay is made for cows straw is only just straw, minerals whats that????????? supplements whats that??????
goats eat weeds cut from the garden, potatoes and peelings that are left over with cabbage mixed in and boiled with some dusty stuff thrown in before its cooled.
hay thats all stems, minerals that are blocks of stone!!!!! no one knows whats in them 
but its ok for cows Im told so it must be good for goats?????!!!!!!!
wonder why the goats around here only last 3 yrs

sorry just having a moan lol
And no I dont feed Marta that stuff, she gets a balanced Diet (or the nearest I can get
times to the minute and she knows what she is going to be doing during the day


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## Ariel301

I groom mine with a horse brush and a curry comb (plastic, not metal) daily. They enjoy it, except for grumpy old Flora who doesn't enjoy anything but going for walks. I like them to look clean and neat, and just like to spoil them and spend time with them too.

I shave mine about four times a year. It's for appearance (I've got one who looks terrible unless she's clipped), sanitation when milking (don't want them shedding in the milk bucket), and in the summer helps them to keep cool because it gets terribly hot here and if they are not clipped they just lay around panting and moaning and quit making milk. 

During warm weather, I bathe about once a month. Otherwise, they get a quick bath when I know company is coming over that might want to pet them and not go home stinky. 

Marta, our vets don't treat goats either. Around here, goats cost about $25 each, so it is cheaper to buy a new one than treat a sick one. It's sad. We have to treat our own at home. No one here really breeds valuable purebred goats, we can't even get $100 for a show quality milking doe with good bloodlines! And goat specific feeds or supplies at the store? Forget it. They don't carry anything but $20 a bag sweet feed for horses and scratch feed for chickens.


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## lupinfarm

Around here most goats cost about $400-$700, we have just recently gotten a goat vet at the clinic that treats my horses and cat. She's fantastic, the vet that came out to do my CAE blood drawing. 

But thats all we get lol


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