Hi,
My name is Rachel. I am a mother to three wonderful childeren. I have two girls, Ryann - 7yr and Maddie -3 yr. And, one son, Cole-4 yr. We live in Cold Spring Kentucky. We live in the county and have about one acre.
I have been wanting to get some nigerian dwarf goats for a while. I am really interested in having my children be part of raising goats. Hopefully it will help develope responsibilty and an increased love for nature. We hope to breed our does and really hope for good milkers! I will need lots of advice :) I have never done anything like this. I am very anxious, very nervous but very excited! I need to learn as much as I can--including correct terminology! Personally, I dont know anyone who has goats. So, I really dont know what to expect. I found this site and I LOVE IT!! So much great advice and comments!
We just purchased our first two does about 10 days ago. We have build them a nice shelter (I think). We have put up fencing, that will hold them in ( I hope). Now, we are trying to get to know each other.
The goats we puchased were from a lady in Indiana. They both come with certificates of registration. She tells me they are up to date on vaccines and I have her Vets name so I can get paperwork. They seem very healthy. However, they are very skiddish. We can pet one, Spice. But Finn wants NOTHING to do with us. The lady we purchased them from warned me that Finn was anxious. I am hoping we can win her love and trust over. Our goats have never been pregnant. Spice is a long haired blonde. She will be 5 years old in August 2012. Finn is short haired chocolate and she will be 5 next April 2013.
Things I need to know right away:
Should I shave Spice? She seems to scratch a lot. I dont see any bugs but she appears to have dandruff. Or, do I leave her hail long and just bathe her is something special for the dandurff?
Any pointers on winning the trust of Finn over?
How do I trim hooves? (this scares me--dont want to hurt them)
Do you think its possible that they can get pregnant? Or are they too old? Any one know of any breeding service near Northern KY that I could do?
Thank you in advance for any tips / pointers!
Rachel
Replies
Welcome! Congrats on the new goats!
Make sure you have goat minerals, and baking soda available free choice for them. That may help with the dirt eating. We are getting a two year old wild child, who is a bit of a loner, this weekend. I plan on going in and sitting with her a lot, and taking a few raisins. I hear they work like magic! Fias Co farm is a great website with a bunch of information. They may have some more answers for you! Good luck with your new babies!!
I don't know about the dirt part, first I have heard of that and that doesn't sound good because it is an easy way to ingest all the parasite eggs that are on the ground. Watch out for that.
The bark is very normal, just part of what they like to eat. The barn is made of wood so it stands to reason that they might do this but is not good because the treated wood has chemicals and stuff on it that may be bad for them. My guess would be they probably need some kind of mineral or something in the diet but there are people who would know a lot more about that than me who will let you know.
Unfortunately since they are older, if they are like other animals they could have started this because of a dietary need and may continue simply out of habit, therefor you can't always tell if they need a supplement, because they may no longer require the supplement but just have a bad habit left from a previous need.
I also don't think that chewing on the barn would be very easy on their teeth.
I wonder if any of this is just boredom. Lets see what some others have to say about all this. I do think you were smart to mention it and see if you can get some tips!
Thank you both for your advice! I really am enjoying these goats! Even though Finn is a tough one, I like her personality! I hope to win her over!
I am looking into finding a local farm where I can possibly have her bred. I dont want to purchase a male just yet. But I want to time it where they would be due in the spring, so its not too cold. Im reading up on how to figure out when they are in heat. They both seem to wag their tails a lot. And, since I dont really know their personalities too good yet, its hard to tell if they are behaving differently.
Also, I am trying to give them everything I am supposed to when it comes to food/ruffage. But, they seem to like to eat dirt , tree bark and my barn better than anything else. Is this normal?
Welcome, So glad you found us!
Hard to say for sure, cause she is getting up in age but I still believe you can probably tame her down. Lots of love and patience does wonders and it doesn't usually take all that long either with goats!
I would start hunting a male soon at their age. It could be difficult or impossible to get them pregnant at any rate I wouldn't want to waste any time on waiting.
Welcome, Rachel, to our group and to the wonderful world of these little goats! They will steal your heart! =)
I'm sure others will pipe in with their thoughts, but I will start!
Shaving Spice. It could just be dry skin, but it wouldn't hurt to give her a show cut. You could also try dusting her with Diotamaceous Earth, which is natural. Just make sure she doesn't breathe it in (you either) so it's best done on a not windy day. There are natural supplements that help with dry skin, but I can't remember what they are at the moment.
How to befriend Finn. I would just take a chair into their pen and sit there. (maybe have someone else take Spice out of the pen for a walk or something so Finn doesn't go to Spice instead of you.) Set aside a big chunk of time so that you almost become a fixture in the pen and just wait. It may take a few times. Talk in a super sweet, low voice and use her name a lot. Tell her how beautiful and sweet she is. =) If you know what her favorite treat is, you could have some of that with you. Some ideas are alfalfa pellets or Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, just a handful per day.
I have a video on my website on trimming hooves that may help you with that. The key is stop if you see pink. http://nigeriandwarfgoat.weebly.com/goat-husbandry.html
If they are 5 years old and have never been bred, the chances are less possible that they will "settle" or get pregnant (from what I've heard), but it still could happen. I have a doe that is 7 and she got pregnant this year. I think if you start them early, they can keep having kids until they are about 10 or so. The question is if they have ever kidded before and for some reason that affects their fertility.
Hope this helps! I'm not as expert as some on here, but we have had goats for the past 5 years and I've had some that were pretty wild that I got to where we could handle them...
Sincerely,
Karilee