Dixie_Girl Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 So, now I am considering minature goats, or pygmy goats, what ever, they are very short! They seem to be pretty hearty animals, easy keepers. They would be small enough to go into the pen I made for the chickens(chickens day, goats night) during the night/bad weather. They don't seem to need "special" fencing. Can they be worked like the bigger ones? What do I do with the milk? Will the kids drink it, then it dry up when they are weaned? Do they need to be milked forever? I don't know if I could drink it. Dunno. Anyway, any thoughts, recommendations greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie Meier Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 We've had some pygmy's off and on over the last 6 years, right now I have 3 nannies, two pygmy's one crossbred. The pygmy's seem to be more prone to jumping, climbing on things, slipping under fences and escaping then the boar/dairy crosses that we had before, I really liked our Fainter/Boar/Pigmy crosses. The pygmys that we have had also seemed to be more confrontational to the dogs compared to the other goats, I would not work a young dog on them, especially the ones we have right now, they will ruin a young dog if given the opportunity. Not too long ago I was talking to someone else that has goats about how these nannies are, the comment was "must be pygmy's". As far as milk, I've never milked any of our goats, the kids take care of it and drying up has not been a issue, they dry up when we wean the kids much like the sheep, unless you continue milking them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OurBoys Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 One of these years when I'm able to get some goats, I'm going to get some Nigerian Dwarfs. Not necessarily from this place but they give some good info. Nigerian Goats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyTDogs Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Yes, Nigerians will definitely be better than Pygmys. Those pygmys are mean little buggers. Pygmys are mainly for meat...& Nigerians are dairy so perhaps you are actually talking about Nigerians? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toney Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Yes, Nigerians will definitely be better than Pygmys. Those pygmys are mean little buggers. Pygmys are mainly for meat...& Nigerians are dairy so perhaps you are actually talking about Nigerians? Nigerians and Pygmys both have the same problems- they won't stay where you put them. They are the epitome of "goatness"- climb on anything, eat anything, get into everything...if I could ever catch or trap mine she would be sooooo gone! Boers tend to graze more like sheep, rather than browse like other types of goats. They do not tend to jump over fences like the little ones or brush goats, but of course, they are much bigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthfieldNick Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 As much as I personally don't like the dwarf goats, a friend of mine has a few that she milks & she loves them. They have very little graze/browse where they live, so she wanted smaller goats that would eat less. When her kids were younger, they could also handle & milk the little goats easily. For their size, they apparently give a fair amount of milk. As far as getting loose, my friend has no-climb horse fence, plus a hotwire top & bottom. The top wire is really to keep her horses from leaning on the fences. Our goats (we have Nubians) have gotten loose once in the past 5 years. We have HOT hotwire, but the real key is keeping them 1) well fed and 2) occupied. Our goats have access to pasture & brush in season, and in the winter, we don't skimp on hay. We also have a mesh-panel hay feeder that makes them work for the hay. They're mostly beyond the climb-on-stuff phase (especially now when the milkers are rather pregnant), but we still have all manner of rocks & old wire spools out there fort the young ones to jump on. Our goats, while friendly and easily handleable, were/are not bottle raised, so they're perfectly happy hanging out with the goats and not with us. My friend lets her does raise their kids, but she handles them a lot so they're still friendly, just not that annoyingly super clingy of bottle babies! I think not being bottle raised also helps the "don't get loose" factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixie_Girl Posted January 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Thanks for all the info! I really didn't have anything concrete in mind. I was cruising the local craigslist for live stock and saw quite a few ads for them. One thing that was not addressed in the answers is about Jackson being able to work them. I know that the full size goats are worked, but wasn't sure if the smaller ones could be. Or, more importantly, should be. I think the dwarfs might be better from y'alls info. Mainly, I want something that is easy maintenence, that you can do from a newbie stand point. I know horses and cows, but sheep and goats, nothing! And sheep seem to need a lot of knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine R. Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 I own miniature goats. In the last five years they made me at least 10 years older. Then we builded Alcatraz for goats - since then, i don´t need the heart pills any longer. Greetings Christine P.S. : I love them anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie Meier Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 One thing that was not addressed in the answers is about Jackson being able to work them. I know that the full size goats are worked, but wasn't sure if the smaller ones could be. The pygmys that we have had also seemed to be more confrontational to the dogs compared to the other goats, I would not work a young dog on them, especially the ones we have right now, they will ruin a young dog if given the opportunity. Not too long ago I was talking to someone else that has goats about how these nannies are, the comment was "must be pygmy's". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsnrs Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 My neighbor has them and a pup we had for six months did really well with her. More his size than my sheep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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