Are they fence busters and will a weed-burner fencer keep them off of the fence?
I think I am going to give it a try as soon as I build a winter shelter for them. I have raised as many as 8 head of cattle here before, but I am not sure that I can any longer handle bringing in all of the hay those gals can eat. LOL
My German Shepherd dog (Falco) should help me keep the goats in check... nothing backs my boy down, nothing. ;>)
A few months ago I wanted to try raising around 3 hens for brown eggs. Before I was done, I had built a Chicken Mansion, as my wife calls it, and I now have 26 girls. Some of them started laying a couple of weeks ago and in the last couple of days, I have collect a dozen a day. I suspect that on my mountain, I will soon be known as the “egg guy”. Of course, I will be calling them “Gator eggs”.
Oh, I know this sounds crazy, but my dog has learned to herd the chickens into the henhouse.... it is quite a sight to watch. When I put him in a down, the chickens will climb all over him... then when I tell him to “round ‘em up”, he gets up and with a calm work ethic, he gently drives them into the hen house.
I don’t know goats, but I suspect that Falco will try to herd them for me.
Can goats be herded by a dog?
Again, thanks for your input.
I can't wait to move to the country so we can keep a few hens.
A goat can take down just about any fence if they are determined...They will put there hoofs on the fence and with their weight push it down enough to jump over....
What we did was put electric wire about 1 foot from the fence at about 6 inches off the ground, this wire got the nose of any goat that browsed too close to the fence. We put another wire 1 foot above the lower wire, that got the goat that would try to lean into the fence...After we wired the pasture, that had the oldest fence on it we never had one escape....We used regular cyclone fence to close in an area that had no fencing. We pulled the fence tight enough so that it had no slack, using the tractor to pull it tight. Never had to use an electric wire on that fence...
But remember we started with 18 goats and 5 years later had 80. If you are going to get only a couple, get them young and you can train them to be on a chain and they will eat everything within that area and then you could move the chain to another area...There are good anchors that you screw into the ground for dogs...that might work for you...I would recommend a neutered male, they eat more, will give you more meat when you are ready to butcher...But I would recommend you don't start out with a full grown adult especially with no goat experience...Any animal under 1 year is considered a kid...After a year, they are yearlings and a little harder to handle...If you start out with young ones, they can become quite a good pet.. Goats need grain once a day, I had my own formula at the elevator, but being goats that you shear, the quality of the mohair gives you the most money, thats why I had my own receipe for them..Diet determines the quality of hair..Meat and dairy goats I know very little about..
There are probably slight differences in their needs..Goats will panic at a dog, as they are a prey animal. But if raised with dogs as young kids, they wouldn't be so spooky...(I am speaking of kids under 6 month old)
Just to see the reaction of my flock, I once walked my dog (on a leash) into their area. All the female took off out the door and into the pasture in a panic..The adult males both neutered and breeders stood their ground, and would not turn their back to the dog.. All I did was stand in the middle of the barn, and the dog wasn't barking...they flee naturally from predators..
If you are only going to have a couple of goats, I don't think you will have too much of a problem. Just get them young enough so that their personality's are not really set yet....Like getting a puppy vs. getting an adult dog...You have more control at how the animal acts..
The do need a shelter for bad weather, and fresh water everyday...If you have an area that you will want to fence in the future, that would be a good place to put your goats. Depending on where you are at be aware that some animals prey on goats, including stray dogs..We only had to shoot one stray that tried to get into the pasture..
My goats would go out to pasture mornings and evenings, the rest of the time they were in the barn chewing their cud...or in summer finding a nice shady place to chew their cud....when they burp that up to re chew, it stinks to high heaven, I was petting one of our females when she burped it up....I left her to her cud. P U
Hope this helps a little...good luck
P.S. On goats being herded by a dog, an experience herder could do the job, just a dog, probably not....I have watched border collies work a herd of sheep across a 10 acre pasture, they are awesome, but follow directions by the handler, such as when to stop, which direction to go in etc...that type of herding comes with lots of training and using the right breed of dog...Your dog probably would just scatter and freakout your goats...