Pygmy Goats

[maggyd]

;D

The said:

What can you tell us about keeping them 4P? ;D

Are you thinking of getting some The witch? now they would love your ditch. ;D

[debbiem]

All I've heard is that they'll eat anything and their milk makes great cheese. ;D

[4pygmies]

Pygmy goats are lovely little things! I don't milk mine as I don't want to wrestle with them every day - it's bad enough when we trim their feet, and I don't want the bother of mating them and having kids to deal with. They are a lovely compromise if you love goats but don't have time or space for milking dairy breeds. Some people do milk pymies though I think the yield is small compared to a dairy breed. A purebred pygmy is about the size of a dog like a retriever but they vary in size quite a lot. There are several different breeds.
Mine are not pure bred pygmies but a motley, overweight selection - Mary the boss nanny is part pygmy, part white Saanan. She has short legs but a big body! But she's a placid old love and will go comatose with pleasure if you give her a cuddle. Ivy is the second largest. She is part pygmy, part Toggenburg and has an evil temperament unfortunately. She was the most terrified and sweetest looking when I went to view them so I took her too - if I'd have known how stroppy she was I'd have left her there (not really, it was a gruesome place but you'd think she'd be more grateful!).
Mabel is the shyest and is a little sweetpea. She is bullied by the other two as she is the smallest - proper pygmy goat size - so I always make sure she gets the titbits and nicest bit of bread when I feed them. She is Freddy's mother but was so traumatised by his birth - we had to have a vet help her - that she totally rejected him and I had to bottle rear him.
Freddie is my gorgeous baby. He is getting big now so is not quite so sweet tempered. He loves me but headbutts smallest if he gets the chance. He has poorly front feet but gets about alright. The vet said it was a miracle he survived and was expecting to hear that he had died so I am just glad we managed to rear him. I think his poorly feet were a result of bad nutrition when he was in the womb. Mabel was much too young to be mated and was very badly looked after. Mary was also pregnant but the kid was stillborn. They were both born only a few weeks after I rescued them so I wasn't expecting any babies........the previous owner assured me they were all three maidens.
Anyway I am going on! I love goats! They will eat anything you don't want them to such as succulent hardy plants, roses, new growth on hedges etc..but they are very easy to keep - I give them a small portion of goats dry rations twice a day and a big bowl of cabbage, apples, carrots and stale bread at lunchtime. They need fresh hay at all times as they are ruminants so need roughage constantly. They don't need a lot of space - mine have a little grassy paddock which is subdivided into a smaller area for Fred as the girls hate him with a passion and won't tolerate him in with them.
They are a very good addtion to a garden as they provide lots of compost. I top dress all my fruits trees and hedges every Autumn with their muck plus I spread it everywhere I am growing vegetables too. Plus I bundle up all my hedge trimmings regularly and hang them off their fences. They love them. Most native trees are fine as food except for Oak which is a treatment for scouring and best avoided at other times.
They live for approx. 10 years so mine are middle aged now. Generally they are very healthy and easy to look after. If you have a bit of space and a spare shed - a couple of pygmy goats make lovely pets.
I'll shut up now...... ;D The witch DID ask.......

[emseypop]

If I had the space, i'd be sold 4p. Do you think you'll always keep goats?

[4pygmies]

I would only groom my goats if I was showing them and as I will never do that, nope I don't! They have lovely thick winter goats atm, I was only admiring Ivy's this morning. I tried to give her a cuddle but she got grumpy so I told her she was an old bag instead. ;D
I will keep these goats until they die but after that I don't know...it is quite a tie these days as my Mum is too frail to feed them etc and I don't have any resident teenagers to do it. I don't mind too much as I love my home but I would like to travel a bit some day....
There is much more red tape involved now too - mine aren't registered as they never leave the premises but I think I'm supposed to have them tagged and registered etc. Life is much more complicated for livestock keepers since the foot and mouth outbreak. That's fair enough but it is slightly different if you just have them as pets and never intend to breed from them, I think.