Uncategorized – Your Homestead Journey

Free ranging animals has become popular and for good reason. When you free range your animals you are allowing them to eat the bugs and grass and whatever is in their "grazing" area which will make their diet much better then if they are just fed grain. But can you free range goats? No, you can't. Not in the typical sense of the word. The reason being Goats are wanderers, unlike Chickens who tend to make their way back to the coop at night your goat will keep munching away and end up far from home. Which will lead to them being hurt and or killed by other animals. Goats will also destroy things much quicker then say a chicken. I'm not kidding they will eat any and everything that is in their path. But don't lose hope you can still get the benefits of free ranging it just looks a little different with goats. Before we get into that I wanted to take a second and specify what "free ranging" is so that we are all on the same page. But what exactly is free ranging?The dictionary definition of free ranging is (livestock, especially poultry) kept in natural conditions, with freedom of movement.Typically when we think of free ranging we think that the animal has complete freedom. But that is not always the case if you go by the definition. With some animals you can let them have complete freedom and they will stick around. But like I mentioned above Goats will get pretty far away. And they are pretty destructive. But "free ranging" has so many benefits...Lets take a second to look at a few of them. Free ranging benefits 1.Affordability A goats diet consist of mostly hay, grass, pasture etc. So if your goat is not free ranged you will end up spending a lot of money to keep enough food on hand. And if you are a homesteader that is trying to save money like most of us You won't want to spend unnecessary money on feed. 2.Weed Eating I personally only like to have animals on my homestead that do something for me or produce food. If your goat free ranges if can be your mower/weed eater. Use one of my methods below to move your goat around to clean up your land. (keep reading for all the things a goat will eat up for you) 3.Health If you are using your goat for meat or milk you want a healthy goat. So if you are letting your goat free range you will get the healthiest goat possible. Now You are probably confused because I just got done telling you that you can't free range your goat. But I said you can't free range your goat in the typical complete freedom way. BUT do not worry there are ways your goat can still get all of the benefits of free ranging but not have total freedom... Non traditional "Free Range" methodsAs I mentioned above you can still let your goat "free range". Here are a few ways. 1.The first way to let your goat "free range" is to tie your goat up. There are a number of ways you can do this. One way is to tie your goat to a stake and then move the stake around the area you want the goat to be. You can also tie your goat to a cinder block and once the goat gets an area eaten down move him to the next area. Or if you live in a wooded area just tie him to a tree. With any of these methods just make sure your rope is long enough for the goat to get a decent amount of area. I would say to cut your rope at least 20 feet. You want it long enough for the goat to get to the grass but not to long that he gets tangled up in it. 2. The second way would be to get temporary fencing. This way you can have your goat in an area for a few days. ( Or more depending how big the area is) And once he "mows" down that area you can move the fence and give him fresh grass, Bugs Etc. 3. The third way would be the closest to actual free range, which would be using dogs. If you happen to have herding dogs you can let your goats free range and the dogs should keep them close. The dogs that do the best with this would be blue heelers. I know its a long shot that you would have a herding dog but I figured I would throw the option out there. With this option I would experiment before you just assume it will work. Make sure you are around and watch how the dogs do with the goats. How much land do you need per goat?This depends on how good their grazing area is. If your land is poor you should only have between 2-4 goats per acre. But if your land is good then you can have 6-8 goats per acre. As a side note when you are thinking about getting goats you always want to have at least 2. If you have only 1 that goat will be lonely and "cry" constantly. What kind of shelter do goats need?Now that we have a pretty good idea of how our goat will spends its, day lets take a second and discuss how it will spend its night. As I mentioned its not a good idea to give your goat complete freedom because your goat will wander thus leading to him getting hurt. Goats are free game for things like bigger dogs or coyote Etc. That being said I would not suggest you keep your goat out side unprotected at night. If you have a barn that they can sleep in at night that would be ideal. If not a protected fenced in area would be the next best option. Goats are very light sleepers and will wake up to loud noises. A goat will typically sleep 5 hours a night and if you have more then one ( Which I would highly recommend) they will sleep on each other. How sweet is that? Why is my goat bleating/crying? There are a few reasons your goat might be crying. If you know that they have enough food or water then it might be one of the issues below... 1. Space Make sure you have given them enough space. If your goat is free ranged you need anywhere between 1/4 - 1/2 an acre per goat. And as far as indoor space they need about 10 feet per goat. If the indoor space in only used at night and they have free reign during the day! 2. Routine This sounds super strange but goats need a routine. Try doing your feeding and watering at the same time each day. 3. A friend If you only have one goat this is most likely your problem. Goats NEED a friend. I can almost guarantee that if you get your goat a buddy your crying problem will be solved. If you have tried all these things then your goat is probably fine and you might just have to let him cry. A goats dietGoats are pretty neat in the fact that 90% of their diet should consist of hay or pasture. If your goat has no grain it would be totally fine! How cool is that? It is ideal that your goat gets at least 10% grain. But if that can't happen its not a big deal. That makes goats so much more affordable when 90% of their food comes from what you already have! What will a goat eat while free ranging?Everything! A goat will eat poison ivy, weeds, grass Etc. When I say everything I mean EVERYTHING! Basically your goat will be like a puppy. He will try to chew and eat whatever is in his path.Which is great if you have a big area you need cleaned up. Just make sure you don't have anything valuable that the goat can get into. It's a win-win!I am always looking for ways to cut down on the time I am weed eating and mowing. The time, energy and gas spent is ridiculous. Goats do the work for me! So basically my yard produces the food for the goat and then the goat cleans my yard. And on top of that you can either milk the goat or use it for meat. Goats can be pets. Our friends have goats that just serve as pets but again I am not really a pet person and I want them to provide something for me. Be ready!In theory goats are not that much work. You just have to make sure that they have food, water, a place to sleep and lots of sun... But we all know how life goes and sometimes things are a little bit more work then we plan for. Goats are no different. I would just make sure you are prepared for your new additions. They can be little boogers at time and I don't want you to think that you can just get them and its a free lawn mower. They like to get into trouble. So just keep that in mind before you take the plunge. When I was 10 my family moved out to the country. My parents were so excited to get animals that they just went for it. We got cows and sheep. Well we were not prepared and did not have the right fencing and it ended up turning into a night mare. They always got out! The neighbors called multiple times to let us know our cows had escaped again! I understand that this can happen even if you are prepared but just do your best to look into what you need before you jump right in. That being said... What kind of fence do you need for goats?What is interesting about goat fencing is that your fencing serves more as protection for your goat and not so much to keep the goat in. Your best bet would be a welded wire fence between 32-48 inches. This way you know predators can't get to your goats. Now you can train your goats with an electric fence but again depending on the predator this might keep the goat in but not always the predator out. Does that make sense? Speaking of predators... What predators go after goats?Depending on where you live you will deal with different predators. A pack of dogs can kill up to 30 goats in one night. In certain places eagles, bobcats, and coyotes can be a major issue. Like I mentioned if you have a dog it can serve as an added protection for your goats. How do you protect your goats?We have talked about a few ways but I will just share a list of ways to make sure you are doing your best to protect your goats. Fencing Make sure that your fencing is secure. I would make it a point to check it regularly to make sure that no animal has tried to mess with it. If you are having animals dig up your fencing you can dig your fencing deeper into the ground or put large rocks around the perimeter of your fencing. You can also put barbed wire under the fence to stop coyotes from trying to dig underneath it. 2. A dog As I mentioned if you happen to have a dog this would really help with protection. Even if you dog is just out in the yard is discourages animals from coming near your live stock. We have an Australian Shepard and just his presence helps with protection. 3. Keep the goats locked up at night Free ranging your goats during the day is awesome. ( I think we know that by now.) But as far as at night there is no reason to leave them out. If you leave them out your risk of losing them goes way up. So if you can I would suggest to bring them into a barn or a more secured area at night time. 4. Lights If you are having a coyote issue they hate lights. So you can put motion sensor lights out by your goats to detour the coyotes away. Generally Your goats should be fairly safe during the day when you are free ranging them with one of the ways I mentioned above. Most people have a safety issue at night. That is when the predators like to strike. Can goats be with other animals?As I said you almost have to have at least 2 goats because they will get very lonely in their own. Goats are very social. And they can be in the same area as a lot of other animals. Chickens, sheep, cows, even cats and dogs. Goats do have a tendency to headbutt. It is generally playful and not out of anger. But depending on the animal and how they take it you might have to be watchful of that. The other animal might not appreciate the goats "playfulness". Let's take a second to look at some of the animal combinations. Goat and SheepThere are 2 potential problems here. One is that the minerals these 2 animals need are different. There is copper in goats mineral feed and sheep can not have that. Now if you are like me and laid back and just let your goats eat off the land and just do a little grain this will not be an issue. Secondly if your goat has horns and your sheep does not this can be an issue. You can try them together but just be careful. The goat might get a little to playful. Goat and Donkey, Horses, llamas,pigs Etc.There are usually no issues with these mixes. Every once in awhile you might have a territorial issue. But as long as you have enough space for them to roam they should be okay. Another positive thing about putting other larger animals with goats if that they can add another layer of protection for your goat. Goats and dogsI mentioned above about goats and dogs. In general dogs can hurt goats. But if you have a family dog that is used to the dog it can serve as protection. I would suggest the dog stay outside of the goats cage. My dog has free reign of our yard but is not inside a fence with any animals. This way he can serve as protection but I don't have to worry about him getting one of the animals. If you choose to put your dog inside a gate or have the two together just make sure you keep an eye on them. And I would test it during the day before you leave them alone at night.