Hi,
I'm new to Nigerian dwarf goats and so far we have a wether and a buckling. We will be getting two girls near the end of summer.
I am just curious how much time do you spend with your goats a day?? Also, any suggestions on how to play with goats? Any toys they like? They seem to only go outside and play when we are around and as soon as we leave they cry for us...the one that sounds like a human baby lol!
Thanks in advance :)
Shanna
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I like to spend a lot of time with them, I go down after work brush them give them fresh water. On my days off when I'm working in my garden they can see me, and I also have a radio on in the barn. My breeder had one in her barn and they seem to like it. We built a platform and put roofing shingles on it, it helps keep there hoofs in good shape. They also have a stack of large rocks to climb. The first two we got did cry a lot once we left, but then we got 3 more and that quickly stopped.
My girls are a bit older now (two are four years old and one is two years old) and they still like to play the head-butting game and jump on and off platforms, but with me, they really love group hugs. I sit on a tub in their pen and they come over to get their necks and backs scratched. I don't think they ever get tired of it. I call it "goat therapy" and it really helps cheer me up when I've had a rough day at work.
Be sure to learn about which plants and shrubs are poisonous to goats. Walking them around they will browse on everything within their reach. Eating your azalea plants, for instance, would be very bad. I just had a poisonous plant bout with two of my does who could have died.
I think if it were me, I would put a collar on to learn to walk on the leash but take it off the rest of the time. Kids that age grow so fast and they are into everything. It could get hung on something or get too tight before you realize it. When they're older they can wear one if you don't have too much brush for them to get hung up in. Enjoy your kids!
They get spoiled real quick. I spend quite a few hours a day with our goats - we are retired. They get taken for a walk in the woods daily and spend a lot of time at the gate crying to go. I try to brush them daily- and just cleaning their pen keeps me there alot. There is a log pile outside their pen and they love to be let out and run along the logs. Little clowns.
We have ramps -and raised places for them to jump on - they do entertain themselves on these when I am not there - I can see them on a camera. Since our buck is housed separate - he cries at his gate whenever the girls are not insight . They are noisy- ours seem to like a plank nailed on some raised stumps best of all. Always running on them and the buck lays there when not doing anything active.
Your little kids think you're their herd leader and are probably afraid to be out in the open without you! My two little doelings were like that when I brought them home. They cried when I left too. It helped when I bought a pregnant doe and brought her home-- voila! Instant herd! The kids just naturally began looking to her for what to do and when/where to go. She ended up being herd queen permanently.
Goats are adept at playing by themselves and don't really need toys per se, but things to climb on are always a huge hit! I built mine a playground out of stuff I had around and they are on it almost all the time. They want to play king of the mountain and butt each other off. I now have 3 grown does and 6 kids running and jumping everywhere. It's so much fun just to watch them I hardly get anything done ;)
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My girls are a bit older now (two are four years old and one is two years old) and they still like to play the head-butting game and jump on and off platforms, but with me, they really love group hugs. I sit on a tub in their pen and they come over to get their necks and backs scratched. I don't think they ever get tired of it. I call it "goat therapy" and it really helps cheer me up when I've had a rough day at work.
Be sure to learn about which plants and shrubs are poisonous to goats. Walking them around they will browse on everything within their reach. Eating your azalea plants, for instance, would be very bad. I just had a poisonous plant bout with two of my does who could have died.
I think if it were me, I would put a collar on to learn to walk on the leash but take it off the rest of the time. Kids that age grow so fast and they are into everything. It could get hung on something or get too tight before you realize it. When they're older they can wear one if you don't have too much brush for them to get hung up in. Enjoy your kids!
My husbands out there working in his shop so he visits them throughout the day. I have a 9 month old so I don't get out there as often as I want!
How big should they be before we put a collar on them? I would love to take them for a walk! Can I get one for them now?
Thanks for the advice :)
They get spoiled real quick. I spend quite a few hours a day with our goats - we are retired. They get taken for a walk in the woods daily and spend a lot of time at the gate crying to go. I try to brush them daily- and just cleaning their pen keeps me there alot. There is a log pile outside their pen and they love to be let out and run along the logs. Little clowns.
We have ramps -and raised places for them to jump on - they do entertain themselves on these when I am not there - I can see them on a camera. Since our buck is housed separate - he cries at his gate whenever the girls are not insight . They are noisy- ours seem to like a plank nailed on some raised stumps best of all. Always running on them and the buck lays there when not doing anything active.
Your little kids think you're their herd leader and are probably afraid to be out in the open without you! My two little doelings were like that when I brought them home. They cried when I left too. It helped when I bought a pregnant doe and brought her home-- voila! Instant herd! The kids just naturally began looking to her for what to do and when/where to go. She ended up being herd queen permanently.
Goats are adept at playing by themselves and don't really need toys per se, but things to climb on are always a huge hit! I built mine a playground out of stuff I had around and they are on it almost all the time. They want to play king of the mountain and butt each other off. I now have 3 grown does and 6 kids running and jumping everywhere. It's so much fun just to watch them I hardly get anything done ;)