The Do's and Don'ts of Bringing Your First Goats Home

WHAT WERE WE THINKING?

We all learn from our mistakes, right? How about you learn from our mistakes? We've made plenty! I, Farmer Jessi, learned that if we're putting medicine on Boy Troy's ears, I shouldn't be the one to straddle him and hold him still while Farmer Josh puts the meds on. Why? Let's just say I stayed on that "bull" for at least 10 seconds, and the "bull" still ended up winning. Yee-haw! Or there was my dad who was trying to help us out and find a bump on Luis' belly. Well, he found a bump, but it wasn't the bump we were looking for. Poor Luis was accidentally sexually assaulted by his very own grandpa. I thought I'd give you some advice on bringing home your first goats. Just promise me that you won't do what we did.

WE HAD "SUCKER" WRITTEN ALL OVER OUR FOREHEADS

Do:

• Research who you're buying your goats from.
• Ask if they're a closed herd.
• Find out if they're a disease free herd. 
• Ask to see their grounds and their farm. You can learn a lot by just looking around. 
• Ask to see the parents of the goats you'll be taking home. 
• Do ask questions and even say no if the goats aren't what you're looking for.
• Handle your new goats, look them over, observe their personality.

Don't:

• Just call the first phone number you see in the newspaper, advertising goats. 
• Show up to their farm in the DARK. Were we crazy??? We were just so excited. Goats!!!
• Just assume everybody is healthy and happy and not ask to look at all of the other goats.
• Sit there smiling as they're handing you two goats, asking "how would you like to pay for these?". You have the right to say no. There are other goats out there. (I'm such a pushover)
• Ignore the fact that the farmer took ten minutes trying to catch your new goats because they have not had any human interaction.

IT'S FINALLY TIME TO TAKE THE NEW KIDS HOME

Do:

• Have a safe way to transport your goats.
• Have everything you need ready to go at home.
• Go straight home. They're going to be scared.

Don't:

• Show up in your Ford Explorer with no dog kennels or anything to put the goats in.(It's a good thing we had a tarp)
• Make an impromptu stop at Home Depot because you have no idea where the goats are going to go when you get home.
• Make ANY pit stops. Goats aren't known for their patience or the holding in of their nanny berries.

WE'RE HOME! BUT DO THE GOATS HAVE A HOME?
          
Do:

• Have a dry, draft free home set up for your new goats. It doesn't have to be fancy. Goats don't care what it looks like.
• Have clean, dry bedding for them to sleep on. Straw or pine shavings work great.
• Have good goat proof fencing. It'll depend on if your goats have horns or not, but there are many different options for fencing.

Don't:

• Have a drafty old horse barn that still needs to be updated. Thus, the impromptu stop at Home Depot. We had to build them a temporary pen inside our garage because it was the middle of January. That meant 2 WILD little goats running around a 3 car garage until their pen was built. Do you know how hard it is to catch a goat that doesn't want to be caught?
• Assume they can just lay on the cement garage floor. Thank goatness Home Depot sells straw.
• Assume that horse fencing works for all goats. The grass is always greener on the other side for goats. They are known to get their heads stuck in everything, and this includes fencing. They also like to rub on anything they can, and ram things with their horns. Normal fencing does not stand up well to this. You now know why we have electric fencing on our farm.

THEY MIGHT WANT TO EAT OR DRINK SOMETHING, HUH?

Do:

• Make sure that they always have clean water.
• Make sure that they have food to eat. Hay is a must. Good quality. Definitely mold free. And grain, also. I'm not going to go into grain details. Grain feeding varies from state to state and goat to goat.
• Have the proper feeders for their grain and hay.
• Have all of the minerals available for them. We now have free choice high copper mineral, a salt block, baking soda, and also put raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar in their drinking water.

Don't:

• Forget that water freezes. Hmmmmm. Hadn't thought about that one. If you live somewhere where it does freeze, make sure that you have heated water bowls or something of the sort.
• Make a stop at TSC on your way home, assuming that they'll carry all of the foods that your goat will need. FYI- they did not carry hay(besides bagged alfalfa) at our store. They did have some sort of pellets(it's been so long, I don't even remember what they were) that would substitute hay, but our 2 new kids wouldn't touch it. And FYI, goats don't actually eat tin cans. They're very picky about what they eat.
• Just assume that they can eat their hay off of the ground and their grain out of an old butter dish. Goats hate food that gets dirty, but love to walk all over it if they get the chance. The best way to help prevent diseases is to have proper feeders. Ones that they can't get their dirty little hooves into.
• Assume that they'll get all of the nutrients they need out of their food. In order to live a long, healthy life, you'll probably have to supplement minerals in certain areas.

THAT'S IT!!! WE'RE GOAT FARMERS!!!! NOT QUITE YET

Do:

• Have at least your basic first aid supplies on hand.Vet wrap, rubber gloves, thermometer, iodine, wound spray, scours medication, syringes, and anything else you might need. I'll take you through our goat first aid kit one of these day.
• Have experienced goat folks you can get a hold of with any questions or concerns you might have.
• Realize that hoof trimmings are something that you will have to do for your goats' entire lives. Make sure you have good trimmers, a plane, and blood stop powder on hand. Depending on the goat, they'll need to be trimmed every month or, if you're lucky, every 2 or 3 months.
• Spend lots of time with your new goats. Get to know them, let them get to know you. You'll need to be able to spot if anything is wrong with them, and how are you going to do that if you don't know what normal is? Plus, they love the human interaction.

Don't:

• Just assume that your goat will never get hurt or sick because it happens. Accidents happen. Weather changes. There are so many unpredictable problems. It's better to be safe than sorry.
• Do this by yourself. There are plenty of goat folks out there willing to give you a helping hand, folks that have been doing this for a long time. Contact your county, see if they have a group they can get you in contact with. That's how we met some great goat friends and the best goat vet we've ever had.
• Just let them be lawn ornaments. That is one thing I didn't do. I spent every free minute I had with our new goats.

PEACE, LOVE, AND GOATS

FYI- I'm sure I'm missing a few things.....so please do your research before you get started. The more you know, the better.

Now, get out there and enjoy those new goats. I wish I knew how many hours I've spent just sitting outside with ours. There's no place I'd rather be. Whether I'm giving Shortie Baby a hoof scratching, Will Pill is giving me a hug, or Lucy is carrying on about her latest boyfriend adventures, I always have fun. All of the hours of hard work are so worth it.

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