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Original poster

I want a goat.

29 replies

TooTicky · 24/04/2007 14:31

We probably haven't got enough space and would have to fence drastically as lots of the neighbours grow veg. And I don't know if foxes would be a problem. But I'd like one.

OP posts:
Blandmum · 24/04/2007 14:32

Why? they smell!

Original poster
TooTicky · 24/04/2007 14:33

Ferrets smell much worse. Goats are perky and fun.

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ratclare · 25/04/2007 11:06

Goats are great ,my BF has one who she adopted from someone else ,it was constantly escaping and running into the house and eating important faxes ( it had a thing for paper) and when the cottage next door was having building work done we came back from the supermarket to find the goat standing outside the cottage just finishing off the last piece of hazard tape the builders had used to cordon off a big hole in the ground .Shes got him a friend now and they both escape !What sort of goat would you get? anglo nubians are my favorites with their big floppy ears

KathyMCMLXXII · 25/04/2007 11:10

Would you milk it?

fortyplus · 25/04/2007 11:22

If you want to milk it you have to let it have babies... then you have cute kids leaping round your garden butting your children... then you have to find homes for them... no one wants the billies so you have to have them put down.

Original poster
TooTicky · 25/04/2007 13:33

Ratclare, what a character! I don't know much about types of goat, I just like them indiscriminately

No, I wouldn't milk it. I'm vegan anyway but I can't stand the way billies/cockerels/male calves are so often disregarded just because they are not "useful"
I'd like a rescued goat. Still doubtful that we've got enough space though

OP posts:
ohsmellyjelly · 25/04/2007 13:40

Message withdrawn

BettySpaghetti · 25/04/2007 13:44

DP wants a goat and, if we had a bigger garden/some land, I think he'd probably get one.

They always seem to be hilarious and full of character when I've seen them.

Go for it!

ratclare · 25/04/2007 16:41

my friends are pygmy goats so about the same size as a very fat labrador ! she thethers hers now in an attempt to stop them escaping . you could get a billy kid to stop it being killed or eaten ! then have it castrated if it isnt already . Goats also have very musical bottems ,just a warning ,so maybe keep it further away from the house

PestoMonster · 25/04/2007 16:43

I love goats. You lucky thing, being able to think about having one. My dds head straight for the goats when we go to Drusillas. They then proceed to dandy-brush them to death

Whoooosh · 25/04/2007 16:45

Doubt very much whether a fox would attack a goat-probably the other way round.

Agree with Ratclare-pygmy goats are fab.

Friend of mine takes hers for walks regularly.

FioFio · 25/04/2007 16:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

madoldcatlady · 25/04/2007 19:40

There's paper work involved in goat ownership now. You have to register with DEFRA. Bloody silly if you ask me but they're meant to be ear tagged and if one dies you can't burry it, a liscensed knacker man has to take it away! My SIL just paid £50 for the privelige. The bloody goat didn't cost that to buy in the first place!

Califrau · 25/04/2007 19:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Aefondkiss · 25/04/2007 19:50

billy goats smell, don't most men?

nanny goats and their kids don't smell, well not from waht I remember in my goat keeping youth

Katymac · 25/04/2007 19:51

I want one too or maybe even 2

& maybe some pigs?

Original poster
TooTicky · 25/04/2007 22:16

Goodness, I didn't know about DEFRA complications - very useful information.
Califrau - OMG
Hmm, I still like them, although I really don't think it's realistic to do it at the moment.

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Dimpled · 25/04/2007 22:17

they sulk too.

Original poster
TooTicky · 25/04/2007 22:17

Oh yes, pigs are lovely too. Most of them get so big though, and the Vietnamese potbellies, although nice, are not quite as piggy.

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expatinscotland · 25/04/2007 22:18

I want one, too.

My sister has one she adopted from a rescue centre and he's ssoooooo cute!

expatinscotland · 25/04/2007 22:19

She has over an acre, though.

Original poster
TooTicky · 25/04/2007 22:26

We have a very long, very thin garden. And we rent. And the gardens here are mostly unfenced. The practicalities are just stacking up against me
I'd like to keep bees too.

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expatinscotland · 25/04/2007 22:28

Yeah, they live out in the sticks. And their custom-build 5-bed house which is also HUGE and nearly 2 acres of land cost them only about $275,000 (USD).

She's got chickens, goat, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea bigs, hamsters, etc.

She had a cockrel, but they gave it to a neighbour.

ratclare · 26/04/2007 19:40

Pigs are fabulous but can grow enormous ,my friend also got a very cute and very small pig that grew and grew and grew ,we are talking the size of a small pony . Your vet will also probably expect you to inject it yourself ,which believe me is harder than it looks because they have very thick skins and a very quick minds !

bananabump · 26/04/2007 20:01

We had a goat for a while when I was little who we rescued, they really do eat EVERYTHING, and they have a nasty tendency to climb walls and sometimes fall off.

I love animals, can't say I was too enamoured of the goat though as it had a tendency to butt me if I didn't have food in my han d all the damn time.

I'd love love love to have chickens! if I ever buy my own house with a biggish garden I'll have a few pecking around, they make awesome pets.