Shoulda/woulda/coulda?

[Coolbreeze89]

Welcome! I’ve had Nigerian goats for a year and a half or so, and things I wish I’d known:
-Purina wind and rain mineral: cheaper than Dumor goat mineral, my goats like it better, and they’ve done better on it.
-patience: I have a couple that I swore would never warm up to me that now come running for pets (and treats)
-mine haven’t really tested their fences as they’ve never had a reason to (plenty of room, food, water, attention at home), but I did make sure their fences were secure before I got them.
-shelter: I use a vinyl carport that I got at Costco on sale for $225. It has worked great, even in some gusty storms (I did reinforce some areas with zip ties). It is within their fenced area, as the walls wont keep a goat in, but has been great for all seasons. It’s 10x20, so more than you’d need for just a couple goats, though.
-get a milk stand, even if you aren’t going to milk them. Train them to like it by putting food up in the bucket and letting them eat there. Once they’re used to it, it makes giving shots, trimming hooves, etc so easy by yourself!

I’ll try to think of more tidbits. Welcome to BYH!

 

[MiniGoatsRule]

Pet/Milking.
Id like them for pets. My husband thinks milk would be fun but as he is on a high deployment schedule with his unit, im not really willing to do all that sort of work! The milking not to mention the pregnancy and kidding and such that goes with that. I have enough on my hands as it is with three little human kids!

Okay. If you would like a milk/pet breed, I have it narrowed down to 4 breeds: Nigerian Dwarf goats, Alpine goats, Nubian goats, and LaMancha goats. I'd recommend the Nigerian Dwarf, due to their spunky attitude, fast learning, and their ability to quickly include others into their herd. My first 2 goats were Nigerian Dwarf. One died after 4 months of us owning her due to old age, unfortunately, but she was super friendly and loved Milky Way's (yes, I know goats shouldn't have chocolate, I've only ever given her half of a fun-size). We then got a pygmy goat. They are better for pets, but they eat more, are less trainable (depending on the individual goat and situation of training), and aren't dairy goats. I've never owned any other goats, but I do hear that Nubian goats also make great pets.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

Nubians are extremely social we have some mixed now but had some pure nubians before and they were all over us for love only one was stand offish the other 7 needed to be scratched even our bucks wanted their kisses and scratches even during ruts. If you get Nigerians you have to have a seperate place for the buck and a buddy for him as they will breed year round. Nubians only breed during a certian season which goes from August to January. I keep my buck in with the does for one i don't have the ability currently to seperate him and I don't have a goat buddy for him. I also prefer to keep him in there basised off our situation.