Is my goat pregnant? She’s in a pen with 2 Billie’s , I’ve seen her get mounted by the same one many times but never knew if he finished the job… my dad had lots of goats many years ago and said she’s 100% preg but I think I need some more opinions… she’s prob about 1 1/2 years old now and has never kidded yet. Any knowledge is appreciated!!!

Hello from upstate NY, this is my first winter of goat ownership - I have 6 entitled NDs all under 2yo (4 does and 2 wethers) as pets and questionable landscapers.

It snowed for the first time last week, and the goats didn’t want to leave their little barn at all for two days. Even now, they only walk to the front gate to say good morning/ask when breakfast will be served, then right back to the barn. We’re deep bedding the barn, they have 24/7 access to hay/water/minerals, don’t seem lethargic…they were willing to go on a walk before it started snowing today, but only because I had a pocket full of animal crackers.

I’m used to having horses, so I’m trying not to worry about the goats having horse-type issues from not moving around as much. Is there any harm in letting them be snowed-in bums for the winter?

We have three goats and two sheep and we got them a whole round bale of hay (aprox. 130 cm in diameter) because it's been freezing over nights here and grass would last much longer. They've been eating the hay all day for a few day but seems to loose their appetite for the hay and started grazing again. One of the goats looks really wide but otherwise looks normal as far as I can say. So the title can they eat too much hay?

My husband and I run a small Raw Milk dairy in Longmont, CO and we’re expecting a lot of goats in milk this Spring and are looking in to doing herd share for the raw milk. Anyone here has experience with doing this? Pros and Cons?

I saw a video of two goats whose horns were locked together and they were really in distress.

How often does that happen in the wild/in herds where a human isn't intervening? Can they unlock by themselves or do they just stay locked until they starve or rip off a horn?

Hey I am breeding my Alpine with a Pygmy goat. Wondering (if my Alpine has a young doe) if I could breed that doe to a pure bred Alpine buck? TIA

Okay, long summary of events and situation first:

My mother has decided to buy my S/O a pair of female goats/kids (I THINK she said they were Nigerian Dwarfs, but if not they are still for sure a small breed). She did not tell me about this before doing so, but I did get the information out of her before she has physically brought them to our property so I am fairly certain they are still with their breeder.

My S/O loves animals of all kinds, but has stated in the past she does not want to own outside critters and was/is even opposed to owning a second cat (out of fear our first cat will feel like she is getting only half the love).

We live in a very rural area on top of a hill, our closest neighbor is probably about half a mile away, but we only own ~1.7 acres of land with probably ~1 acre of that being cleared flat land or cleared hillside. We do not have a perimeter fence of any kind, but we do have a decent sized kennel/building that was used by the previous owners to breed and raise German Shepherds. It is probably about ~6-7 feet wide, ~12-15 feet long, and ~7 feet tall with metal bars on the outside and tin siding on the inside.

We are frequently out and about on weekends, but usually are home by around 8-11 PM. Weekdays we both work, but we are both work from home. We will occasionally take weekend trips to various places/states for 2-3 days at a time with 1-2 week long ventures a year. We have no real nearby family (closest is around 2.5 - 3 hours away) but we have a reliable friend about an hour away that we have come and check on/feed/water/etc. our cat if we are gone for more than 2-3 days.

Backstory over, now the help part:

What are the actual considerations of owning 2 goats that we would need to take into account? How do we handle food? Water? How much shelter is needed? Do they need constant/frequent attention? How much maintenance can we expect? Are vet trips frequent/expensive? How much do they cost on a monthly/yearly basis?

Finally, should I discuss this with my S/O prior to receiving the goats? The goats were intended by my mother to be Christmas presents and I have therefore been asked not to mention it to her, but I'm not sure that's best given that they are living things that will need to be cared for.

Thanks for reading and any help/advice is greatly appreciated!

Edit: Thanks to all who have quickly come to advise. I am going to talk to my S/O about it and firmly decline the gift. If we do decide after the talk that we want goats, we will make sure we are properly set up to care for them both with time management and actually being prepared to properly contain them. Side note: not sure why I've been getting down voted here, we/I needed the advice of people who care for their goats and this is probably the best place to get it..

We have 2 Nigerian Dwarf Goats that are just spoiled pets. They have a separate house structure and in there we have a heated water bowl, plugged into an extension cord coming from an outdoor GFCI. We have a secondary shelter on our deck and want to keep a water bowl out there too, in case they prefer to stay in there rather than their house. I don't want a cord running across the deck and have not found any cordless water bowls. I was thinking of just setting the little stainless steel bowl on top of a mat of some sort, but again, no such product seems to exist. I don't want to use the cat or dog warming mats because the goats are going to pee and poop in there and it'll get messy. I just want an above-freezing surface to set the bowl on so the water doesn't freeze. I was actually thinking of a ceramic disc soapstone bed warmer, warmed in the oven and then placed out before we go to bed, just to keep the water from freezing overnight and not creating a fire or shock hazard for the girls.

Anybody have any thoughts or ideas? Thanks in advance.

Where can I find antibiotic-free, grass-fed goat or lamb meat (ground or curry cut) in or near the Charlotte, NC area? Any leads would be appreciated.

Edited to clarify I'm worried about single and negative digits in fahrenheit. It's already negative digits in Celsius.

I'm worried I maybe need to put some heat in the shelter for my 2 Nigerian Dwarfs. We've insulated all the walls but it's still not very warm inside. I blanket my horse when it drops to the single digits but with their intact horns I imagine blankets would be a lost cause on the goats. My dad used to put a heat lamp in the kennel for his outdoor dogs but there was no hay around. The hay is what would make me nervous for any heating source (heating pad, space heater etc.). I imagine the heat lamp would be the best option b/c I could put that up in ceiling, farthest away from the hay. We mistakenly made the shelter too big so they can't really warm it up with their body heat with only 2 of them despite stuffing it full of straw.

This is my first winter with goats so I imagine they're similar to horses where if they have enough long stem fiber to eat they can keep themselves warm. They're just so itty bitty I get nervous. I'd only use the heat on really cold nights but then I don't know if I'd have to worry about shocking their system or something when I turn it off. Do any of you use heat in your shelters and/or blanket your goats?