Raising goats and stuff

[Ready_fire_aim]

We’ve done several hogs for meat. Get good genetics and they will grow well. I prefer heritage meat breeds (duroc, Hampshire, tamworth, etc) not the lard breeds or kunes kunes

They are very easy to raise! (As long as you’re not breeding them) Small 16x16 enclosure with a shade hutch is plenty for 2 hogs. They’ll typically crap in one corner so it’s easy to keep the pen clean. My pig pens don’t stink.

Pigs can have a lot of personality, and they are actually quite intelligent. Fun to raise.

Now, breeding hogs is a whole different thing. Keeping an intact boar and pregnant sows is a whole different ball game than just raising a few feeder pigs to butcher weight

 

[HillsideDesolate]

It's good to see that in the day and age there are still men who love their wives.

 

[Ready_fire_aim]

Those Damascus goats look like inbreeding mixed with fetal alcohol syndrome and downs lmao

 

[OkieJoe72]

If you get goats, you’ll need to be on good terms with your neighbors, and you’ll need a good phone plan. They’ll be calling you quite often to let you know that your goats are out.

 

[cowadle]

go to langston university and get familiar with their goat program if they still have it? they offer a lot of help. learn to look at their eyes for parasite load. don't buy less than 80 acres. learn how to put the land to work either by farming it yourself or cash renting to a neighbor. think like a farmer not an urban dweller.

 

[tynyphil]

Dairy goats? I wouldn’t recommend starting with that. Typically the milk producing breeds are a lot more expensive and obviously require way more work.

Not necessarily. You don’t have to milk them unless you choose and plan to do so. They just have that option that others may not.

Goats can be very sensitive to parasites. As others have stated, you have to catch them every few months for routine health maintenance.

Yes but doing routine maintenance keeps it in check. Unless you have very rocky ground all goats will need to have hooves trimmed periodically or they will suffer lameness. That’s why I prefer the smaller breed. Easier to catch and manhandle a #60 goat than #150 one

I do hair sheep. Purely for meat. They are even lower maintenance than goats.

Yes but I would guess they have more of a personality as a cow. Just I guess I really don’t know. Mine are kind of like leaf/weed eating dogs and ready for a human interaction most all the time

It’s definitely all about having the proper set ups though. Good fencing. Catch pen. I have my different paddocks all connected so I can easily move them onto fresh sections of ground. As you grow, you will learn what you need to do to accommodate your situation.

With hair sheep I recommend people start small. Maybe just buy a couple of weathers to raise for a season then butcher. You will learn a lot. You will find the flaws of your fencing and infrastructure. You’ll find out if you really like dealing with animals or not. Etc… then if you wind up liking it, go ahead and get some females and start overwintering and breeding.

You are right about that. I always tell folks that good fences are a must. Not so much to keep the goats in but to keep predators and your neighbors dog out.

 

[tynyphil]

If you get goats, you’ll need to be on good terms with your neighbors, and you’ll need a good phone plan. They’ll be calling you quite often to let you know that your goats are out.

Haven’t had a single goat ‘out’ of my 2acre goat pasture (have 20 right now) in over 30 years. If you provide they don’t want to leave.

 

[Perplexed]

Recently, I met a goat herder from AR who rents out his herd of 100+ goats for non-chemical weed control; his goats do an excellent job knocking down sericea and other invasives. It was an impressive operation.

 

[tynyphil]

Recently, I met a goat herder from AR who rents out his herd of 100+ goats for non-chemical weed control; his goats do an excellent job knocking down sericea and other invasives. It was an impressive operation.

I’ve had several requests for that but but most people don’t have adequate protective perimeter fencing to protect my “kids” while doing the job

 

[cowadle]

Recently, I met a goat herder from AR who rents out his herd of 100+ goats for non-chemical weed control; his goats do an excellent job knocking down sericea and other invasives. It was an impressive operation.

i was in contact with probably the same guy about some weed brush control but i am to far away. i knew a lady from calif who had or has semi loads of Kiko's that she takes all over for wild land growth control as part of a fire deterrent.