Azaleas are extremely toxic to goats. Even one leaf is enough to kill a goat. If you have azaleas on your property, please be extremely cautious or remove the azaleas.

My goat Gandalf died last week. I have two other goats, Cookie and Oatis. Gandalf was Cookie’s baby. They’ve been doing fine except yesterday and today, they have been eating very little. Any advice?

Weird little guy

I’ve had a Billygoat for 10 years, usually a different one every couple years. And obviously, at this time of year, they start to smell and go into rut. Most people think it smells bad, it doesn’t bother me too much. I’ve always thought it is an interesting smell. Tonight somebody gave me a hazelnut which I don’t eat very often, and the strong flavor instantly struck me is similar to the Billygoat smell. Has anyone ever thought that Billy goats smell like hazelnut? Or does everybody already know this?

My school has a farm on campus with a barn, a greenhouse, a few animal enclosures, and a giant field. Today I used my free period to help the horticulture teacher check on the animals. I haven't visited the farm in a bit so I haven't met the new goat.

When meeting him, I crouched down and let him sniff the back of my hand before he started rubbing the top of his head against it. I continued petting and rubbing his head, but after a few minutes he pushed at my knee. I, a doofus who forgot that not every four legged animal is a cat, thought this was a display of affection. But then he did it again. It wasn't enough to knock me over or hurt me and he didn't ram into me or anything, but I still stood up and walked away.

The goat didn't show any other signs of aggression such as biting, and he didn't chase me or make any noises. Idk how old he is, enough to be able to live by himself. He seems pretty chill and puts up with his pushy pig neighbor.

Did I do anything wrong? Is there a way I can win the goat's affection? I want to try to not resort to food without the teacher's permission.

My Billy has his testicles removed surgically yesterday morning and he's been having diarrhea and low appetite since around 8 am this morning. It's now 1 pm and my vet hasn't gotten back to me. Unfortunately I need to be at work soon for closing shift, but my step dad can take care of him.

Suggestions on how to help him?

He had a fine appetite yesterday after surgery. This morning I had to make him take his pain meds, so he does have that. He's been drinking a healthy amount of water.

First year doing this. I need to get an alpine doe bred, but haven't managed to find anything within 500 miles.

I've searched online and advertised through the local classifieds and still nothing.

How do you all go about it?

Thank you all for your interest in my previous post, and I appreciated your advice. My friend's family is going to foster the goat, and we'll pay for improved fencing and for the oldest boy to take care of her with his dads's supervision. We'll give it a month and see how she does. As I think I said before, they're farmers and shepherds so I think it will be a good solution!

Well until I can get enough pallets to build a hay storage this is how it’s being stored. Can I see what yall have built to store your hay?

Our new girl Lottie. Still getting bullied a bit, but has made friends with the other kids. So pretty.

What has been y’all’s goats favorite thing to play on?We have a trampoline that they love but I would like to add more stuff to their pen.

(I tried to post this earlier but it looks like it got lost in the electron ether so I’m trying again - sorry if there are now two!)

Chad is the lighter goat in the photo. He was born 5/18 and banded 8/27. I met him and his sister (the other goat in the photo) in June and put down a deposit on them to bring my little ND herd up to 4. Both very sweet and chill goaties.

The problem is that the banding progress is going very slowly. The breeder (who has banded several goats before, this is not new for him) said that it’s going slowly because Chad is so small (his mother is petite, even for an ND). As I mentioned, he was banded 8/27 and the breeder is expecting it’ll take about two more weeks.

At one point, the breeder was planning to add a second band to help speed up the process. That hasn’t happened yet. I’ve asked if he’s concerned about any risk/evidence of infection - I.e., if the progress is slow does that mean that there is blood/fluids going back and forth, which I know could be pretty bad. He does not feel that is currently an issue.

My vet came by to give boosters to the two girls I already have and I mentioned all this to her. She was quite concerned that adding a second band could lead to extensive scar tissue, which would increase the risk of urinary calculi. And even if there’s just the one band but progress is slow, there is still a risk of more scarring than normal. She said if I planned to keep him for a short time and then use him for meat in a year or two, she wouldn’t be that concerned. But she knows that my goats are pets/organic weed whackers and so she’s worried about long term health. And of course she mentioned - and I already knew - wethers should never have grain and urinary calculi are extremely serious.

So my questions are:

• If I decide not to take him, what is fair for the breeder? I would certainly take another goat instead, but I committed to this one months ago and he’s been raising him for me this whole time. Keeping me posted on how these two are doing, sending pics, etc. I want to respect him and the work he’s put in, not treat him unfairly. I think he sells ~10-12 kids per year.

• What is the ethical thing to do? If I decide not to take him, what if he gets sold to someone else who doesn’t fully understand the situation and then has an unexpected problem on their hands? Or he could get sold for meat, which… I’m a vegetarian so that’s a tough outcome for me to comfortably live with but I know it’s a realistic possibility.

• If I take him, would I just be signing myself up for huge vet bills and heartache?

• Lastly: What would you do? If he only had the one band but the process was slower than normal but eventually successful, and there were no signs of infection/he was in good health, would you still take him? Breeder had always been planning to hold onto him until after the sac fell off.

Appreciate the advice. TIA!

It’s fall. Our goats are doing what goats do. A couple does went into heat so our Billy went into rut. He bred the does and hormones are winding down now. He lost the psycho look in his eyes and went back in with the boys where he’s rubbing his pee face all over everyone. I can’t imagine he’s trying to share his manly scent with them. I know bucks can get a burn from all the pee and I see no evidence of that but I am wondering if he’s perhaps using the wethers as a scratching post. Has anyone seen this behavior before or have an explanation for it? I’m keeping an eye on his skin. I don’t know if a potential pee burn can turn into an infection.

Hey all.

The majority of my herd is having their first orf outbreak.

Vet was out, said basically “yep, that’s Orf. Everybody gets Orf. Give it a month, they’ll be fine. They might eat less but they’ll eat when they get hungry enough”. No treatment, no cures.

So, we’re at 3 weeks, and some are looking better, but not perfect. But a few of them are seeming like they’re getting lethargic and not eating as much.

So, those of you that have had Orf, did you do anything additional? How’d it go?

I moved to a village in rural Greece a year ago, and attend the Orthodox Church in our village. They had a raffle this morning to raise funds for a memorial chapel for a young man who recently passed from cancer, so I gave 20 euros. I did not ask what the prize was. Well, turns out it's a goat. A one-year old female who I'm told is "good quality". I live in a shepherd/goatherd area where the milk is a very active business, so I take this seriously. I am considering asking a local farmer friend to foster the goat until we have a secure pen for her, at which point , if we keep her, I'd like to start her milking.

I am submitting this post a) because it is hilarious and b) because I'd like to consider whether we can raise, breed, and milk her responsibly. Can you all give some input on what a responsible but very rural situation would look like? What's a low-maintenance set-up for housing and feeding? There are sometimes loose dogs here but no other predators, and it's normal to keep sheep and goats in the villages. How much room does a goat need? What kind of companionship? More than one goat? Help!

I will ask locally, but I'd like to consider other opinions as well since the local animal culture is very... matter-of-fact sometimes.

Hello all!

A bit new to the homesteading thing, but a house I am currently purchasing is going to come with five goats. I am pretty sure it's four females and a fixed male.

I have read over the Reddit posts on the subreddit, and was just curious as to what people think is "necessary information" to have when starting this.

I'm not afraid to get dirty and take charge of them, but I will admit it's a bit intimidating.

Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks!

I'm guessing they might have been some kind of mixed breed goat, but my uncle had 3 goats when I was a kid, and one of them lived well into my teens. All 3 were about the same height and body shape. I believe they at least had small horns.

One was mostly all white with 3-4 very little blackish peppered spots, one was more evenly white and black spotted, and one was white and brown. When I was 10, and probably nearing 5ft tall, they were definitely taller than me up to their heads. Short haired, medium ears, standard goat faces. Most distinctively I feel like they had longer necks than most goats I've ever seen, I could reach their backs to pet them for sure, but unless they lowered their heads down to me I couldn't have reached them. I described them to my partner and they said it sounds like alpacas, but I SWEAR these were goats, and I feel like my uncle even mentioned back then that they were some particular type or mix that wasn't very common in Kansas, but most certainly goats. Nobody remembers anymore.

Once I was about 15, the black and white one was the last senior aged goat left (he also around then adopted a couple of pygmy goats, and they all made good friends despite the size difference). I was 5' 7" by then, and I remember at least that he was roughly as tall as me, maybe barely shorter, when when standing normally/relaxed but with head up, just not stretched high. Just, especially very long necks on these guys...

I am currently trying to track down any photos of these goats, so if this intrigues you at all... stand by for updates lol.