anyone have goats?

I think that I have seen the cutest living being on the planet.. my friend just got a few new goats on her farm. Now, most of them are the normal, large goats that everyone is familiar with; they are cute of course. But she has this one little female that is just super awesome; she has little tiny horns (more like nubbins, really) and is maybe twice the height of a large housecat.. I am in love!! Has anyone ever had any experience keeping these little guys? I am not sure, it might be a nubian, but I will hav to look it up.. can they safely be stalled with horses, or would a small area for them be better; or could they just have the run of the main area of the barn when not outdoors?
I am just shooting for ideas; my landlord did mention that he had goats years ago here, though the shelter they used is now our horses' run-in shelter, I am sure some converting could be done. Turns out, that adorable little nanny goat my friend has, is preggo.. maybe I can convince Mark of their coolness when little babies arrive? :D

i'm no help... sorry :(

Well I can't help much, but I'll share what I remember. We had goats, and they were kept in their own yard with a small barn and chicken coop.
They were some of the sweetest animals on our farm, and I spent a lot of time playing with them. The babies always called me "mama", so I loved that.
We also kept our 4H sheep in the goat yard during the winter.

Ive never had a positive experience with a goat before, somehow I always end up in a tree.:oops:

My family raised pygmy goats for several years we did a little breeding but not much. Mostly they were for 4-H shows. I still remember having a bunch of friends over for a bonfire the night one decided to give birth. One came out fine and the other I rip open the sack for and wasn't moving to start...turned out to be fine though. We never kept them with other animals but we did always have two or more.

thanks.. :) I think maybe it was a pygmy goat?

My uncle had pygmy goats, they are goofy little clowns. They would play a little too rough from time to time, and don't care whether they were eating a treat or your shirt.:P

OH we had pygmys the whole time I was growing up. I love them. They are so awesome. I actually delivered two babies and saved the mothers life when I was 9 years old, by myself. Those babies followed me everywhere from morning until night (when they were in the barn).
We also had alpines, nubians, nubian x pygmys.

They are very sweet. I am sure they would be a blast for you. If you have an questions let me know. What I can't answer my mom will be able to. Also, if you like those, you should look into fainting goats.

I grew up with dairy goats and just love them. I can't wait until I can afford to buy land outside of town.

The thing about goats is that they are tremendously assertive little social climbers, and they will walk all over you if you give them half a chance. You need to be a fairly assertive owner to have any peace with them.

Also, they are beyond challenging to fence securely. They will find the smallest holes and wiggle through, and jump gates that look impossibly high.

If you are prepared to deal with both of those problems, the rest of the husbandry is pretty easy.

I can attest to their cleverness. If you do get some give them "toys" to play with haha. If want to be both awed and laugh your head off give them a nice rock pile using large stone...it was always a blast watching them climb or play "king of the mountain"

Well, the mister is not too crazy about the idea of getting them.. he pulled the whole "we have enough pets already" line. :) I do want some someday though; seems with the horses, cleaning up and feeding some tiny goats would be nothing, and his issues are, well, feeding and cleaning.. I love their antics; i watched my friends' herd of 5 yesterday climbing around on a few hay bales and it was hysterical.

Many stables will keep goats around to keep the horses calmer. The racing stables used to do this a lot.
Goats can be a challenge, and they do tend to do things like tear apart hay rolls, and wee and poo on them also. They can be remarkably hard-headed about doing things the shouldn't. I have a friend that raises meat goats, and they are almost all really nice animals. I still don't mind eating them too, but the are cute.
A friend of mine just got a teeny baby goat too, it's about twice as big as a cat, and she was gushing about it and asked me what I thought. Unfortunately for her, my mouth filter wasn't on(I'm not sure that the switch even works anymore) and I immediately said the first thing to come to mind.
"Well, he's small enough to fit right into the oven."
THAT didn't go over well. But I still think they are cool animals.
Wolfy

yeah i raise boer goats at my house they are meat goats and when i was younger my mom and i had pygmys too, from my preference goats are very fun animals to have.the little pygmys are very curious and sometimes fiesty but so little they cant really do anything.( as in they couldnt hurt you except maybe a bruise)

Well I had a big old white nanny goat years ago that I was determined to milk for the benefit of my firstborn child (having heard goat's milk is better for toddlers than cow's milk). Let me just say this...I will NEVER put my hands on that part of another female creatures anatomy at 6 in the morning BEFORE I've even had a coffee...EVER again! I swear the kid didn't even care so Dolly the goat went to a better home and I went back to the store for a jug of milk and a can of coffee!

But I really do want two pet pygmy goats...females...I want to call them Mrytle and Gertrude (Mert and Gert). Mike who grew up with pet goats and got the job of cleaning up after them is, shall we say, resistant to this idea. LOL

P.S. Back then I could have made Martha Stewart look like a lazy tramp. I'm much better now though! LOL

I don't think that anything could top the horses in the cleanup factor! :) Especially Cuesta; she likes to make a fun mixture of manure/bedding/food hay.. Emma just goes in one spot so she's easy to clean!

I have always said when I buy my next house with more land, I will get a goat. I love the white dairy goats. My girlfriend laughs at me because I spend more time with the goats at the zoo than anything else.

They are just so intelligent; and that lieele laughing sound they make has to be the cutest animal noise ever. :)

We had a trio of goats for milking when I was quite young; I'd agree with the fencing and chewing issue. Tree bark is YUMMY! =P

But yeah, cleaning up after them in a barn would be nothing compared to your horsies and I'd like goats and horses would get along great. I would think that if you like goat's milk, it might provide a better argument for getting them - I remember them being easy to milk. They do love to play and romp around, even with humans. =) Scritch my head!

Just no boy goats, at least not adults, unless you get them neutered. Adult male goats STINK TO HIGH HEAVEN. I mean paint melting stink...

And Male goats pee on their own beards too. It's really nasty.
Wolfy

about 2 years ago... i use to baby sit for a family that raised goats.... and they had me bottle feed a bunch.... @ one time i was bottle feeding 5 ... and i got to watch one goat have twins!! that was really cool

interesting to see how many people on here have experience with goats. lol...wouldn't mind one myself someday, but no land right now :(

Goats are so freaking cute. Especially those tiny dwarf mini-goats. If I were ever to be tempted by a hooved critter, it'd probably be a goat. Something about those sweet lil faces and crazy eyes! :love: