unwanted goat

[silvergramma]

hey folks i was recently given a set of 10 laying hens,, barred rocks and 4 nigerian dwarf goats.. two yearling does and two yearling wethers.. a month later i was given 3 billys and one pregnant nanny,, two of the billys i am keeping they are already establishing themselves as herd sires and one is very friendly and the other one is coming around,, the third billy i will call devil goat,, he is on crack or something,, doesnt stay with the herd,,follows me around like a dog,, sleeps on front porch or in dog house and bosses our two dogs around as well as butts me occaionally,, he and they dont stink but he does what a billy will do.. he is half nigerian and half feinting.. a lil young but still tries mounting.. thinking maybe i would give him to someone who would want to start a small milking herd of their own.. i've contacted goat rescue on the internet but so far no response as of yet.. i can drive to east west and southern borders of the state to deliver for anyone who wants him,, i dont need this extra billy,, and he was free so i'll give him away to anyone who wants him... he also thinks he can come in the house like the dogs do so screen doors wont be an option for the takers.... you if want him pm me for phone and directions and date of pic up.. he is black and white.. has horns,, .. wish us luck....i call him Spit cause he has a white spit curl on his forhead...

[daffodil]

Sure wish I could have a goat here. I'd take him! Sounds like he's be fun to have around! :D I'll check around for you. I know of some rescues that might take him.

[daffodil]

What state are you in?

[Grizzy]

Oh SILVER! Is so good to see you posting again! ;D
I sure miss the stuffin's outta you! One thing about letting your goats get too friendly with yas... so that they think they're people.. is that they WILL run yas over if they're big enough.. Did ya think to try Freecycle? Please keep in touch... You're always in my prayers... (pet'n Spit)

~Grizzy~
ps don't let ennybody eat em...paleeeese!

[sissy]

Welcome back silvergramma we did miss you.
Sissy

[silvergramma]

hey guys,, i'm doing a lot of errands and billy paying and everytime i hit town i come to the library to get in here.. the third billy is getting worse,,, he almost knocked me down last night and again this morning.. this isnt one that will be able to go to a place with children,, someone who has goats or has a lot of experience with them will have to take him,, vet wants two hundred for castration i'm like bug eyed over that price. but he is already fully developed and thats probably why,, i've tried craigslist and free cycle is not available here..i've even announced him to be given away over the radio with still no takers... i miss chat .... all horses out to pasture now.. still waiting on the mare to drop her foal...

[momma_to_seven_chi]

someone who has goats or has a lot of experience with them will have to take him,, vet wants two hundred for castration i'm like bug eyed over that price. *


He obviously wasn't bottle-fed. That would be a goat for slaughter. If you plan to keep one, it is best to imprint it to humans early by bottle feeding. Unless that happens they are just too wild with fear. Wethering him at this age won't change the fact he is terrified and wild. Unless you find someone who just wants to put him to pasture just to keep down weeds, and never interact with him, the auction is the best place for him. Myotonics are meat goats, so you can figure getting at least sixty to seventy-five cents a pound from a chivo dealer. It isn't worth keeping a wild goat. I just sent one to the chivo auction a few weeks ago because it was so wild when I purchased it. I have another one that will go this week for the same reason. When you buy, or get, a group of goats, you always seem to end up with some that are not acceptable to be handled easily.

[daffodil]

If you can hang onto him a bit longer I may be able to find someone to take him. I'll work as fast as I can on it!

[danville]

I differ in opinion with Momma. I bet he was bottle fed and turned into a pet that the givers couldn't handle. Sell him for slaughter or butcher him for yourself and consider it a learning experience. Just passing off the problem to another person can be dangerous to others.

[daffodil]

Not sure if you got my PM. Mine were all gone on the new forum. I have someone who wants the goat. We are working on transportation.

[Wyobuckaroo]

BBQ................

[silvergramma]

ok barbecue is out.. needs castration and wait awhile so all testosterone is gone from muscle tissue and he wont fit in the oven here.. lol.. home by myself.. i have a gambrel but not slaughtering here on premises this high heat... no place to hang the carcass for cooling.. etc etc... dafodil... let me know when you contact the person .. i'll let you have my tract phone number...through email.... btw mare had a bay filly on the 11th.. legs like grand daddy long legged spider.. we named her Harley after the motorcycle... waiting on new nanny to bag up and deliver.. hoping for twin does.. wouldnt it be lovely?

[NCLee]

We had a billy like that one time. Kept him for breeding. As he got older he became really dangerous. He wasn't a pet, he wasn't bottle fed. Wasn't wild either, as we worked with all our goats enough to keep them tame.

The way we'd handle him when it came time to feed, milk, etc. was to call him to the fence and give him an apple or something else he liked. We'd reach through the fence, grab his collar and hook it to a short chain attached to the fence.

Then, we could go into the lot and take care of anything that needed to be done. When we finished, we'd unhook his chain.

Finally we gave him to a neighbor who wanted a breeder. He in turn, gave him to someone else who wanted him for the same purpose. Said "I can handle him." Heard a couple of months later, the billy broke his arm. Don't know billy's fate after than.

Lee

[NCLee]

Guest, the billy that we had was a Nubin cross. When we first got started with goats his pregnant mother was one of 3 females we bought. At the time we didn't know anything about debudding kids. So he grew up with a full set of horns. Since he was of Nubin decent he was very large when compared to many goats. He was a beautiful animal, which is why other people wanted him for breeding purposes. His horns are what made him more dangerous to handle.

Mature billy goats are just like bulls, boars, and even roosters. In some situations all can be dangerous. I remember as small child a rooster we had that would attack every time he got the opportunity. He got the axe after attaching Mom from behind while she was carrying a full bucket of milk.

Naomi, that billy's mother was one of the most gentle creatures I've ever seen. Once she had a cut teat (never knew why). I had to milk her, inspite of that. I knew it hurt her, but she never complained. Never kicked. When it came time to milk her, she'd come up on the milking stand without any hesitation. She loved to come up to you to get her head rubbed.

Even though it's been a number of years since she died of old age, I still miss Naomi.

The reason why I'm posting this is to say, don't let bad experiences with some billy's stop you from keeping goats. The positives far out-weight the negatives. If you don't want kids (necessary if you keep milking goats), there's no reason to put a billy in your herd. If you want to breed, borrowing a billy is often done around here. It helps keep the herd vigor by reducing in-breeding. And, not all billy's are like the one I mentioned. We've had other billy's and didn't have any problems with them.

In closing, go ahead and get your goats. Chances are that if you keep a billy, all will be fine. If you do happen to have one that's a problem, simply go ahead and take care of it. If you don't want to keep a billy, make arrangements ahead of time, if you want to breed your nanny's.

Again, the positives far out weigh the negatives.

Lee

[daffodil]

ok barbecue is out.. needs castration and wait awhile so all testosterone is gone from muscle tissue and he wont fit in the oven here.. lol.. home by myself.. i have a gambrel but not slaughtering here on premises this high heat... no place to hang the carcass for cooling.. etc etc... dafodil... let me know when you contact the person .. i'll let you have my tract phone number...through email.... btw mare had a bay filly on the 11th.. legs like grand daddy long legged spider.. we named her Harley after the motorcycle... waiting on new nanny to bag up and deliver.. hoping for twin does.. wouldnt it be lovely?


Ok. Wasn't sure if you still had him or not. Glad to hear he is still there!

[silvergramma]

well yes he is still here.. but testing my patience let me tell you... he has finally shedding off all the winter crud he still had hanging on his hide,, he is marked like a panda with white spit curl on forhead and white tail... the other two billys i have are keepers as they are more docile.. they dont give me much trouble and for all these guys being together and having full run of the place i havent had that much trouble with them leaving the premises.. when hubby gets home we are building runs attached to the barn we found the old openings in the original barn where they used to keep goats.. i actually found the breeder of the 4 nigerians and spent most of Saturday with her and her stock,.. nigerians are my breed of choice but i wont turn down giveaways as of course you guys are so gullible i 'll be giving away any sent to me.. lol..he is catchable.. but manageable under these circumstances .. no.. the breeder had all the billys separated and they were dehorned so this guy will probably be needing special circumstances..
when i call the chickens to come get feed from the barn i cluck to them and caw like a crow and guess who comes running out the barn???? of course!!!! its a goat stampede and funny as all get out... i call them by names and beat on the feed carrier to let them know i've got feed.. so Spit is used to being called like i call the chickens.. just so the new owner knows that..and like some people who have geese you need a trash can lid and plastic baseball bat to steal their eggs.,,,,, lol.. if they have a screen door,, beware it will be shredded.. better put some 1/4 inch hardware cloth on it and dont leave boots or shoes on front porch .. also let the dogs know that they will be having company... he likes our cats.. go figger i will be taking pics of the group with digital camera and will be sharing pics in email later if anyone wants to see send me pm and email... hugs to all you guys...
btw i got some really good mentoring from the gal with the nigerians she is the only breeder of registered nigerians in North Dakota.. i lucked out...he has been trimmed and has no joint problems that i am aware of.. no calluses on knees ..but i dont know if he will stand for trimming as i've not had to do it yet for him.. the other billys are more manageable,,, i'll try to build a trimming stand for billys similar to the milking stand and see what happens

[daffodil]

I have a lady just SE of Fargo ND that MAY be able to take the goat while we work on the rest of the transportation to Ohio. Is that anywhere near you? You can email me at pigsohpigs@peoplepc.com or post here, whichever is easiest for you.

[silvergramma]

yes that is not far at all i can do a half days drive ... for sure as long as we can connect the dots and get this boy to a good home...keep in touch....

[daffodil]

yes that is not far at all i can do a half days drive ... for sure as long as we can connect the dots and get this boy to a good home...keep in touch....

I'll PM you the ladies email address so you can make arrangements with her. Might be easier that way. Thanks!

[silvergramma]

well now that thats all over.. he's gone.. and we gave away the other billy who lives just up the road from us.. we named him Ajax...
To describe the one we kept he looks like a Wildebeast and has back cross down his back like a donkey a beautiful set of horns with one tip missing,, he is just a lil bigger than a Nigerian buck.. not too much tho..
All he wants is to mark..every visitor that comes onto the property by rubbing his neck and cheek down their pants.. mostly for marking and petting but he does get a little out of hand witht he rubbing... so we are gonna eventually build a Billy pen for him,,,

[NCLee]

We had a billy one time that got so big that we couldn't handle him. His Mama was a Nubin.

At the gate to the goat feed lot/shed/milking stall, we added a chain with a snap clip on it. When we had to go in to feed, milk, etc. we'd call him to the fence with a treat. While he was busy with the treat, we'd hook the chain to his collar. Worked well. He didn't fight the chain, as that's where he also got his ration of feed/grain each day.

The feed lot area was sectioned off from the rest of the pasture with a gate. So, if we needed to do anything in the pasture, he stayed in the feed lot, until we finished.

That may be an option, if you don't need a billy pen for some other purpose.

Lee

[silvergramma]

we never never feed grain of any kind only pellets.. we have the billy and two wethers and we were told buy the gal who bred the Nigerians that to do so would take a chance on bloat... Purina puts grain in their mix i wont buy it ... you'd think with all the different types of feed they make for horses they would do so for goats as well.. hmmmm...

[Grizzy]

Silver... actually there are pelleted goat feeds out there. Here is a link to a search page:

http://www.bing.com/search?q=Brands+of+Pelleted+Goat+Feed&FORM=SOLTDF

Also, I used to add Animax to all of my critturs feed dishes from Cheekins to the Goats...

http://www.lumber2.com/Animax_Supplement_p/pm0001179.htm

Good nutrition and a worming program go a long way...


Be Strong
~Grizzy~
oh yea... i miss ya an awful lots :)