Put a deposit down on two Nigerian Dwarf goats! Need to get ready for them...

[irret13]

Last weekend we put a deposit down on two NDG babies. They won't be born until mid April to early May. We will get to choose from 8-10 expected kids. That means we have until early June to get ready. We do have coyotes and stray dogs in the area. We have two dogs but they are inside most of the time. We want to have a barn and small covered yard that we can lock them in at night. During the day their area will be about 15 x 45 feet. Any words of wisdom or ideas would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Latestarter]

Use knotted wire fencing vice welded wire. Welded wire rusts and the welds break from body rubbing by the goats. 4' fencing should be adequate but make sure you don't put anything close to the fence that they can climb on or they WILL escape. Dogs are the #1 killer of small farm livestock... strays, the neighbors and your own. Fencing is your #1 defense against that and #1 protection for the goats. It's best NOT to skimp, and do it right the first time. If you eventually plan to have kids (goat babies), they are VERY small and can go right through 4"x4" fence holes, so you'd be best with a 2"x4" no climb type horse fencing.

Make plans to be able to get a wheel barrow either right close or inside the enclosure to remove waste and soiled bedding from the pen and goat shed/barn. If you plan on letting hem out of their enclosure, unattended, they will eat everything you do NOT want eaten, especially your landscaping plants. Goats favor browse over graze, so leaves, twigs, branches, vines, flowers, bark, etc. They will girdle young trees (eat the bark all the way around the trunk), killing them.

They'll need hay available 24/7, fresh water obviously, a good loose goat mineral free choice. And some things to climb up on and jump on/off in their pen. Shade for those hot summer months to get out of the sun. Lots of hugs and attention from you folks.

 

[irret13]

The breeder gave us a lot of good information and now I have good information from you to add to my goat folder. Thank you! We were thinking of fencing the entire area with 5' chain link since the back side of the area is already fenced. I will make notes that when we divide things off to use 2"x4" fencing because we are think of breeding/milking in the future. There is a HUGE pepper tree right in the middle of the area so they will have plenty of shade. I will run some chicken wire or something similar around the trunk. The previous owners left a wooden swing set, side, and fort which we can take apart to make some fun goat toys and the chickens will love the ladder to roost on. We can't wait to get them home. I am sure they will be pretty spoiled!

 

[animalmom]

Don't forget pictures! We love pictures! Please and thank you.

 

[Silky ma]

I too am getting my first two bucklings in late april. We are going to use 8 foot chainlink for the interior part of acreage
Which will house the open air living quarters. More air flow im told is better.
Later we will add more chain link after we put in a gravel drivewAy.
I found a pic off pinterest that i liked for their living quarters and re drew it doubling it in size.

 

[Latestarter]

That's a mighty big home for 2 Nigies... Lots of room for plenty more to fill it up!

 

[Silky ma]

I was hoping to get my girls first but had to grab these two dwarf nigerian bucklings!
First. Pygmy buckling and dwarf nigerian Girls coming in spring.

 

[Jeanne Sheridan]

I agree about the wound wire as opposed to welded wire fence. We had to replace a mess of the welded left over from the previous owner of our property. I'm not so sure though about the height recommendation. We started out with 4 foot fencing and it was fine even for our Nubians. What it didn't work for was keeping the Coyotes out of our pasture. We watched them jump right over it like it wasn't there. Since we switched to the 5' fencing we haven't seen any sign even of their scat. The deer still go over the 5' fence so I have a wire with ribbon topped planned for the fence around my garden this year. Another thing to check is if there are any mineral deficiencies in the your area. We are low in selenium here and I have to augment that even with the free feed minerals. Because of predation we close our goats into our barn at night during the winter but haven't found the need to do that during the summer.

 

[Hipshot]

I like chain link fence easy to expand areas . Simply weave in the next section . Down side is predators can squeeze under it . Even with a tension wire at the bottom . A few stakes between post ,will help that . Or pour a ribbon of concrete around the bottom . That is a lot of work . @Latestarter. Bonide makes a organic product called Repels All . I use it on my tulips to keep the deer and rabbits from eating them . It works great, If I remember to put it on . All natural ingredients . Also if you have chickens . And you don't know what to do with those old eggs, break them around and in you garden. Deer and rabbits don't like eggs at all . I don't use any chemicals in my gardening . All organic for years .

 

[Jeanne Sheridan]

We don't use any chemicals either. We got lucky with the organic side of things. Before we bought our place 2 years ago nothing had been done with the property for 30-40 years. The bad side of that is the number of feet of fence to be repaired of replaced. Chain link isn't an option due to cost.