Is a Goat right for me?

[ArtisticFarmer]

However much I desperately want a goat, I want to make sure I'll be able to take care of it. I've had the heartbreaking experience of getting a dog, and finding out we can't take care of it and have to give it up. I don't want that to happen to me, or another animal, again. I'm not poor, but I do have to be careful with my money. I am planning on making a 1 acre or so pasture for 2 goats. How much money does a goat REALLY cost? Vet fees, feed, etc. I am wanting to get 2 Alpine Dairy goats. How often do you have to breed it in order for it to give milk? How expensive would this be?

 

[cjhubbs]

Its a difficult question to answer but I will try adding up our expenses. Fencing supplies vary but the cheapest fencing we have used in electric and our current charger is a 3 joule charger and cost us $75, the electric wire $40, T posts, T post insulators and the gate handles cost us $55. You can always try to limit the cost of fencing by using trees of they are close enough together (5-7 ft. here), instead of T posts. I bought everything except for the charger at TSC, I got the charger off of craigslist, and I fenced in 1 acre for the grand total of $170 .

We have two goats here and feed them Caprine Challenger which sells for $16 per 50 pound bag, with one goat milking and one as a companion we go through a bag in roughly every three week. We do not buy hay from the local farm stores because its so darn expensive instead we buy it from the farms themselves, typically for $4-$5 per 2nd cut 50 pound bale. Our goats eat one whole bale in about 1- 1 1/2 weeks. We also feed our goats a soft mineral block which sells for $4 and generally lasts a month and we also give them loose mana-pro minerals which sell for $12 and also lasts about a month. Which comes out to spending around $68 per month a month on feed related items.

Vet costs are rather hard to gauge because it has to do with the *problems* that may just arise and also with the price of each clinic and how closely they are located to you. We spent around $80 on kidding supplies from Hoegger Supply and $40 on emergency kit supplies. Mind you, we didn't buy this all at once. We do vaccinate our goats with the CDT shot and it costs us $6 for a bottle with lowest # of dosages. It costs are $5 per animal to run fecals with out vet and we typically do that once a year unless we see a potential dietary problem in one of the goats, in that case it may be more. Which comes out to $130.

This is just the general cost of caring for our animals and doesn't cover the specifics, such as actually supplies needed during kidding and pregnancy, caring for a sick goat or the potential gain from selling a few kids every year. Also, the cost is spread out throughout the whole entire year so we aren't bogged down by the money factor. In fact, when we first got our goats they were on leads and direct supervision until we had the money to get supplies for the fence. I also will say that buying in bulk tends to be way cheaper in the long run then buying on demand. I hope this helps answer your questions and gauge an average price for talking care of two full sized dairy goats.

 

[cjhubbs]

Also, a lot of the major costs are start ups, such as building the fence and getting the necessary supplies. This meaning the first year of owning your goats, if like ours, tends to be more expensive then the consecutive years after. I didn't really include this in my outline but you also would want to take a look at how much money you may save with your milking goat vs. buying milk at the store etc.

 

[ArtisticFarmer]

Thank you so much! This has given me a very good idea on how much it is. It helps tremendously we have our own acre of alfalfa hay we can use. How does one put in an electric fence? For the starting things, I've got that pretty much covered at 70 dollars, besides the pen. Where is somewhere where I can get a list of emergency goat supplies that I'll need? THANKS!

 

[cjhubbs]

Putting in an electric fence is definitely easier then most if not putting in all other types of fencing. Electric fencing works by having either 4-5 long (we have 5) t posts dug into the ground, that are spaced 5-7 feet apart. Then you take electric wire, we use 14 gauge, and string it through the insulators all of the way down the line. The insulators are plastic connections that click onto the tree posts or screw into trees. This video does a good job of generally describing how an electric fence works and how to put one uphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkLxi5KZ8cY . I will say that if I did one thing differently with our electric fence it would be to have 4-5 strands instead of 3. Here are two lists of emergency goat supplies http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=214 ,http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7446. Personally, we bought this kit from hoegger supply http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/xcart/First-Aid-Kit.html and it has contained almost everything we have needed for general emergencies, except kidding of course.

 

[ArtisticFarmer]

Putting in an electric fence is definitely easier then most if not putting in all other types of fencing. Electric fencing works by having either 4-5 long (we have 5) t posts dug into the ground and space 5-7 feet apart. Then you take electric wire, we use 14 gauge, and string it through the insulators all of the way down the line. The insulators are plastic connections that click onto the tree posts or screw into trees. This video does a good job of generally describing how an electric fence works and how to put one uphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkLxi5KZ8cY . I will say that if I did one thing differently with our electric fence it would be to have 4-5 strands instead of 3. Here are two lists of emergency goat supplies http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=214 ,http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7446. Personally, we bought this kit from hoegger supply http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/xcart/First-Aid-Kit.html and it has contained almost everything we have needed for general emergencies, except kidding of course.

Thank you! I am leaning toward electric fencing, other fencing is quite expensive!

 

[Catahoula]

May I ask why you have to get rid of your dog? While care for a dog is somewhat different than caring for goats, the 'farm chores' are work too. You may have to haul water to the goats if there is no facet near the goat area. You may need electricity for lighting or a heated water bucket in the winter if you have below freezing temperatures. Bedding needs to be changed, shelter needs to be clean. Depending on what you choose to use as bedding/ground covers, it can be everyday, week, month....for cleaning. The longer you wait, the more work it can be. You'll need to trim their hooves about every month...or hire someone to do it. Since you have to breed your doe to get milk after she gives birth, you have to decide what to do with the kids, keep or sell them? Disbud or let them grow horns? Depending on your does, you may be breeding at least one of them every year or so to keep milk steady coming. Of course, you don't have to breed any of them if you decide you don't want milk. Also, find out what sort of predators you have in your area and you'll need to protect them from them. A fox may not hurt your goat but your neighbor's big dog can. If you have coyote, mountain lion or bears, you'll need to think about locking them up every night even if you have electric fencing.
Goats are great. I love mine and it seems easier caring for them than caring for my dog. But I spent more time cleaning, feeding and making sure they have what they need than I spent on my dog. I can take my dog everywhere...even on vacation. You'll need to find someone to care for your goats. Goats are easy...dogs are too. That's why I ask why you get rid of your dog. Time spent on a dog may be different than spending on some goats, but pets are pets, they depend on you to care for them everyday...

 

[ArtisticFarmer]

May I ask why you have to get rid of your dog? While care for a dog is somewhat different than caring for goats, the 'farm chores' are work too. You may have to haul water to the goats if there is no facet near the goat area. You may need electricity for lighting or a heated water bucket in the winter if you have below freezing temperatures. Bedding needs to be changed, shelter needs to be clean. Depending on what you choose to use as bedding/ground covers, it can be everyday, week, month....for cleaning. The longer you wait, the more work it can be. You'll need to trim their hooves about every month...or hire someone to do it. Since you have to breed your doe to get milk after she gives birth, you have to decide what to do with the kids, keep or sell them? Disbud or let them grow horns? Depending on your does, you may be breeding at least one of them every year or so to keep milk steady coming. Of course, you don't have to breed any of them if you decide you don't want milk. Also, find out what sort of predators you have in your area and you'll need to protect them from them. A fox may not hurt your goat but your neighbor's big dog can. If you have coyote, mountain lion or bears, you'll need to think about locking them up every night even if you have electric fencing.
Goats are great. I love mine and it seems easier caring for them than caring for my dog. But I spent more time cleaning, feeding and making sure they have what they need than I spent on my dog. I can take my dog everywhere...even on vacation. You'll need to find someone to care for your goats. Goats are easy...dogs are too. That's why I ask why you get rid of your dog. Time spent on a dog may be different than spending on some goats, but pets are pets, they depend on you to care for them everyday...

I understand your concern. It wasn't the time/work that was a problem, but I knew nothing about his breed, (american eskimo) and he turned out to be aggressive. That wouldn't have been a problem to train out IF we didn't have little kids running around- a 2 year old and a 9 month old. We didn't want to risk it, and we knew someone who could better take care of the dog and he is currently happy in his new home. I don't mind the physical work. And I'm homeschooled so I'll have more time then most to spend time with it. (History reading in the goat pen...LOL) The 'someone to take care of when I'm gone' I still have questions on. I'm assuming they still have to be milked everday? (why wouldn't they, right?) I have coyotes around sometimes. I was already assuming to bring them in every night.

So, after that, what do you think? Do you think I'd be able to take proper care of a goat?

 

[cjhubbs]

I don't see why you can't properly take care of a couple goats . I will warn you though, our G.A.S is a very infectious and highly contagious, as well as that we will expect you to post tons and tons of pictures !

 

[Catahoula]

May I ask why you have to get rid of your dog? While care for a dog is somewhat different than caring for goats, the 'farm chores' are work too. You may have to haul water to the goats if there is no facet near the goat area. You may need electricity for lighting or a heated water bucket in the winter if you have below freezing temperatures. Bedding needs to be changed, shelter needs to be clean. Depending on what you choose to use as bedding/ground covers, it can be everyday, week, month....for cleaning. The longer you wait, the more work it can be. You'll need to trim their hooves about every month...or hire someone to do it. Since you have to breed your doe to get milk after she gives birth, you have to decide what to do with the kids, keep or sell them? Disbud or let them grow horns? Depending on your does, you may be breeding at least one of them every year or so to keep milk steady coming. Of course, you don't have to breed any of them if you decide you don't want milk. Also, find out what sort of predators you have in your area and you'll need to protect them from them. A fox may not hurt your goat but your neighbor's big dog can. If you have coyote, mountain lion or bears, you'll need to think about locking them up every night even if you have electric fencing.
Goats are great. I love mine and it seems easier caring for them than caring for my dog. But I spent more time cleaning, feeding and making sure they have what they need than I spent on my dog. I can take my dog everywhere...even on vacation. You'll need to find someone to care for your goats. Goats are easy...dogs are too. That's why I ask why you get rid of your dog. Time spent on a dog may be different than spending on some goats, but pets are pets, they depend on you to care for them everyday...

I understand your concern. It wasn't the time/work that was a problem, but I knew nothing about his breed, (american eskimo) and he turned out to be aggressive. That wouldn't have been a problem to train out IF we didn't have little kids running around- a 2 year old and a 9 month old. We didn't want to risk it, and we knew someone who could better take care of the dog and he is currently happy in his new home. I don't mind the physical work. And I'm homeschooled so I'll have more time then most to spend time with it. (History reading in the goat pen...LOL) The 'someone to take care of when I'm gone' I still have questions on. I'm assuming they still have to be milked everday? (why wouldn't they, right?) I have coyotes around sometimes. I was already assuming to bring them in every night.

So, after that, what do you think? Do you think I'd be able to take proper care of a goat?

Homeschool? Definitely go for the goats!!! I think it would be wonderful for the kids!! Yes, when you are gone, your goats will still need to be milk. You may be surprised to find people willing to help....especially if they get to keep the milk!