Opinions wanted!

[Tea Chick]

Thank you for all the advice!!!

 

[elevan]

The only goat that I ever staked out was my buck when he became a fence climber. It was the only way that I could keep in inside the fence. He had about a 10' rope and was positioned where he could get into the barn but couldn't wrap around anything. He yelled for a couple of days but then settled down and accepted being staked.

 

[Tea Chick]

The only goat that I ever staked out was my buck when he became a fence climber. It was the only way that I could keep in inside the fence. He had about a 10' rope and was positioned where he could get into the barn but couldn't wrap around anything. He yelled for a couple of days but then settled down and accepted being staked.

I see. That makes sense.
Thank you.

 

[Jake]

I think that all goats should be tether trained. I keep youngsters penned, and tether them at feeding time to keep the hogs from pushing out a shyer eater. Also, tethering makes lead rope training much quicker.

I use the blue and white woven rope sold in tack as lead ropes, about a 5-6' length works well when feeding. They usually have a big strong snap on one end.

Also when taking them on a packing/camping trip many places willnot allow loose animals about at night, having them on a tether or picket line solves that easily.

Lastly, I am of the mind that if, you have either sheep or goats you need a guard dog. Some shepherding dogs also guard, my English Shepherds always did. But, if you have either goats or sheep sooner or later you will have predators about.

Right now I am looking for one, either an Akbash/Anatolian or Pyr cross. These three will give serious guarding to a herd. And your home. I have visited Anatolia in Turkey with a friend to buy some dogs and saw a number in their home environment. Their sheep and goats wouldnt last a month there without guard dogs. I havent had experience with the Italian Herd Guard dog but have heard very good things about them. One last thing about the herd guard dogs, they are generally excellent at watching out for kids and the rest of the family. Bad guys best not come around.

 

[Tea Chick]

Thank you for all that excellent advice and information.
I know the ropes you're talking about; they're made for horses.

We have dogs, but not LGDs. I like the appearance of the Pyr (I assume you mean Pyrenese, oh, I don't spell well, sorry), but I would never buy a dog based on appearance (otherwise, I'd have a bunch of Jack Russells lol).
I digress...anyway.
I'll look into the Italian Herd Guard dog. Is that the "proper" name of the breed?

Again, thanks so much!

 

[Moody]

I got goats before I had poper fencing. I have had the goats for 2 weeks now. I put them into stalls in my barn around 6:30 pm and feed them at that time. Then turn on the electric fencing surrounding the stalls. 7 am I go out and feed them again. 8:30 am I put them on a leash and walk them to our woods behind the house. Hook a 15' chain onto their collars, check on them every 30 min or so. They get tangled but one has figured out to go the other way to get untangled. I offer water every hour. They are in the shade. I watch my dogs. I check to ensure there are leaves available to eat. They are moved if it is looking bare. They did run like crazy when I first tethered them but figured out not to do that. I imagine it could hurt their necks but I haven't any injuries yet.

This is not ideal. Ideally I would have the back woods fenced for bucks and does would be where I already plan on putting them. With one extra wooded pen about 100'x100'. Barn cost $1300, fencing for 200 more feet was $250 for metal bracing and posts, $150 gate, $220 sheep and goat fence, hardware $50, milkstand $30, chains for tie outs $70 ish and goats $275 for 1 registered buck, 1 unregistered doeling, 1 wether and I'm looking at a nubian for another $200

Ideally dairy goats would be cheap, I would have 1000 acres with only non climb horse fencing divided into paddocks of 20-100 acres each with its own spring fed pond.

After recovering financially from this I hope to at least get a separate buck pen before I milk. It likely will be using leftover goat fence, there should be 130 ft left and 100 ft of welded wire fencing. Also would love a moveable 16x16 cattle panel pen for the woods or upper fields.

 

[Tea Chick]

I got goats before I had poper fencing. I have had the goats for 2 weeks now. I put them into stalls in my barn around 6:30 pm and feed them at that time. Then turn on the electric fencing surrounding the stalls. 7 am I go out and feed them again. 8:30 am I put them on a leash and walk them to our woods behind the house. Hook a 15' chain onto their collars, check on them every 30 min or so. They get tangled but one has figured out to go the other way to get untangled. I offer water every hour. They are in the shade. I watch my dogs. I check to ensure there are leaves available to eat. They are moved if it is looking bare. They did run like crazy when I first tethered them but figured out not to do that. I imagine it could hurt their necks but I haven't any injuries yet.

This is not ideal. Ideally I would have the back woods fenced for bucks and does would be where I already plan on putting them. With one extra wooded pen about 100'x100'. Barn cost $1300, fencing for 200 more feet was $250 for metal bracing and posts, $150 gate, $220 sheep and goat fence, hardware $50, milkstand $30, chains for tie outs $70 ish and goats $275 for 1 registered buck, 1 unregistered doeling, 1 wether and I'm looking at a nubian for another $200

Ideally dairy goats would be cheap, I would have 1000 acres with only non climb horse fencing divided into paddocks of 20-100 acres each with its own spring fed pond.

After recovering financially from this I hope to at least get a separate buck pen before I milk. It likely will be using leftover goat fence, there should be 130 ft left and 100 ft of welded wire fencing. Also would love a moveable 16x16 cattle panel pen for the woods or upper fields.

Thank you so much @Moody !!!
This is a very helpful run down of what you've done and would go back and do differently. I really appreciate the honesty and details!!!

 

[treeclimber233]

I tie my goats out to eat sometimes. I usually only tie the leaders and leave the others loose. They will eat quickly at first and then get picky. I only leave them tied for an hour or two. That is plenty of time to get full then they want to go back to the barn to relax and digest. They will definitely get tangled around anything available. You must make certain they can get out of full sun because they will overheat quickly even when it is not very hot. (lesson learned early). I have not had much problem with them getting the rope tangled around their legs because mine don't like anything touching their legs.

 

[Tea Chick]

I tie my goats out to eat sometimes. I usually only tie the leaders and leave the others loose. They will eat quickly at first and then get picky. I only leave them tied for an hour or two. That is plenty of time to get full then they want to go back to the barn to relax and digest. They will definitely get tangled around anything available. You must make certain they can get out of full sun because they will overheat quickly even when it is not very hot. (lesson learned early). I have not had much problem with them getting the rope tangled around their legs because mine don't like anything touching their legs.

@treeclimber233 , Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me. I'll take this into account when we get to this point.
DH is still getting used to the idea of breeding chickens, so milk animals are more on the back burner than I thought when I posted this. So, I'm just doing research and trying to find out what I need to know before we get started.
Thanks again!!!