Nigerian Dwarf Temperments and other questions?

[TheSheepGirl]

Possibly getting a ND doe in a couple of days. Mom is getting a trio of Toggenburg crosses and the little ND is part of package deal. Since mom has fences for big goats and not little goats and I have the fencing for small sheep I get the ND doe. She is supposedly about knee hight, which is small I thought.

How are they with fences? I have a 4 foot woven wire fence and a 4 foot wooden fence made from plywood. The plywood is the stall they sleep in at night.

Do they have the Pygmy complex? The escape artist, noisy, spaz sort of thing that some can have or are they a calm breed? My last pygmy was horrible.

How are they with Sheep? The only other goatlike animals I have are sheep. The sheep weigh about 40lbs. and are fairly calm.

 

[chandasue]

Mine are very sweet and have never escaped (knock on wood) and I have the same fencing as you mentioned. So you'll probably be ok. I'm sure there are ones that get out and are a pain but on the whole they're very nice. They do like to be let out to romp around so maybe that thwarts their urges to escape.

Edit: oh yeah, 19-22 inches at the withers is normal. On me that's below knee high but I'm tall...

 

[ThornyRidge]

hard to lump all goats into one category.. I have 14 goats.. most of them are Nigies, couple of pygmy's and a mini nubian.. not one time have any of mine ever escaped.. part of the issue is well lets just say they are well fed and most are on the plump side and would probably have trouble leaping anything over 2 feet high! seriously though my pygmy's have been the most laid back and as far as my fence goes I have the redbrand goat fence which is only 4 feet high and I don't have any electric fence with it.. now some of them are prone to standing up and putting feet on fence when they are reaching over for blackberry vines or a low hanging tree branch near the fence row.. and their weight puts some strain on fence but no escape issues.. inside my barn all my pens/stalls are 4 ft high also and made of wood planks. as far as noise goes.. again each goat is unique.. I have a couple loud mouths (that are nigies) and then most of them are quiet. I have one that is an absolute spaz-meaning you can't even touch her and ironically she came from the most docile/loving nigie doe and buck you can imagine! so who knows.. try it out.. I love all my goats! It is generally not recommended to keep sheep and goats together because goats need extra copper (usually supplemented and also found in their feed and minerals) and copper is toxic to sheep.

 

[chandasue]

Oh yeah I meant to mention do a search on copper bolus that was on here recently. You maybe can just bolus the goat to get around the copper issue... Just a thought, no personal experience with it.

 

[elevan]

Do they have the Pygmy complex? The escape artist, noisy, spaz sort of thing that some can have or are they a calm breed? My last pygmy was horrible.

Hey now! My pygmies resent that remark! Edited to add: My pygmies are none of those things. I have one trouble maker who wants to be bred too young but she's the exception on this farm.

It's hard to lump any one goat breed into a specific category of personality as they all have individual personalities. You have to spend some time with the individual doe to decide if she's gonna be a heathen or not.

Good luck to you!

 

[AlaskanShepherdess]

My Nigies are very sweet and very quiet, except one who starts baaing about 2 hours before milking time. I have noticed however that they become noisy if they are missing something in their diet, as if they are trying to tell me something. Oh and when my girls go into heat they baa.

Mine are all very sweet. One loves to give me kisses, forces me to scratch her if I am not and loves to chew on my skirts. Another is very skittish and always warily watches me. The others enjoy my company, but they certainly aren't lapdogs.

Mine easily escaped from a cheap temporary fence we put up, but it was very weak and very poorly built. My husband built a nice sturdy fence out of rough sawn lumber and now they have stopped trying to escape because they know they can't/ Actually at the moment I leave their gate open all the time because they won't go anywhere but to the hay and back because of the snow and short daylight hours.

 

[TheSheepGirl]

No offense to any pygmies out there. Just going by my experience with miss Gidgit and her father, who jumped the fence accidentally and produced her. they were horrible and no height of fence could keep them in, nor could any ammount of grain and hay shut them up.

I've met other pygmies with the spaz temper ment as well, but others with a calm disposition.

I already know about the so called "copper issue". I currently have only sheep and I am feeding a mixed, whole grain feed that has no added copper. The goat will be recieving a few goat grain pellets each day to add the needed requirements of copper and other minerals. I do not suppliment any minerals since it is not generally needed with sheep that are not producing.

 

[TheSheepGirl]

Another problem is, though it may or may not be possible, that the little ND doe may have been bred by the Toggenburg buck. They were in the same pasture for who knows how long and the other two does, both Toggenburgs, are currently bred and due within the next month.

Is it possible for her to have been bred by the toggenburg buck? I haven't seen her yet, just mom, so I have no idea if she is bred or not. If so I think that spells big trouble for a doe her size.

 

[chandasue]

That would likely be a problem... I don't know how long you can wait but I'd seriously consider calling a vet to terminate the pregnancy.

 

[TheSheepGirl]

So it is possible?