I want a pair of goats

[ducks4you]

@Collector, I first READ the story about roping a deer on BYC some 12 years ago. It is actually funnier in print.
@Messybun we need to message. I want to hear ALL of your pygmy goat advice.
When we were Civil War Reenactors we trained horses to a picket pin. They were scared of it, fought it, rubbed pasterns, etc., but after they learned it we never had any trouble.
We were able to picket 3 horses at a major natl. CW event where the space was no larger than a bedroom, no problem.
ALL animals can learn by repetition.
It is good to be reminded that picketing is a foreign notion to any livestock.
Btw, some people thought picketing was cruel. They hobbled their horses.
At one small reenactment I sat with my coffee and watched 2 hobbled horses move about 1/8 of mile with their hobbles on.

 

[Collector]

It is actually funnier in print.

I agree the printed story reads much more humorous than the read version.
Every time someone says to me what could possibly go wrong I think of this. Because the answer is a whole lot can go wrong lol. Although with goats I think the learning curve would be rather fast.

 

[6884]

And what's the goats name?

Lol...You know the male child in the picture by his code name fart knocker...the goats name is actually butter bean.

 

[thistlebloom]

Lol...You know the male child in the picture by his code name fart knocker...the goats name is actually butter bean.

Yeah, he's a keeper for sure! (talking about your grandson lol)

 

[ducks4you]

@Lickbranchfarm , interesting what you said about the dwarf Nigerians. These will become pets, so I want PEOPLE friendly. Since people have trained goats to pull carts, I think I will have my training hands full. Butter Bean sounds like our cats, "Lynx", "Mynx" and "Smudgkins" (aka "Snookums,") who we raised 3 years ago from 3 wk old kittens. Their mother vanished. This was her 4th litter, we couldn't catch her to spay her, but she was a VERY good mother. I saw her kill from time to time, so she must have been eaten during a night. Snookums was found on the catwalk to the manger, a good 12-14" drop from the loft where they had been living. She was looking for milk.
They are the most affectionate cats we have, and you can carry them around like rag dolls.
Hard to get in any other fashion besides bottle raising.
My horse trainer friend, who bought her mare in utero, had to bottle raise her at 22 days old on. No other relationship quite like that.
@digitS' , excuse the shouting, but,
I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO DESIRE TO OWN ANYTHING THAT I HAVE TO MILK!!!
That being said, I welcome any other suggestions.

 

[digitS']

Ha! Ducks, you sound like my mother .

It seemed that we always had 3 milk cows. Dad gave up on his dairy idea pretty quickly but believed in milk for calves he would pick up from his friend the dairy farmer. Mom said that she was told by her mother never to learn to milk a cow.

She stood by that even when Dad and bro went off on a hunting trip and I was only 8 years old. Whatever was Dad thinking ? Mom wasn't about to do more than carrying buckets for me. I still remember really being thankful for that help.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Speaking of Lynx~

 

[ducks4you]

Lynx heard about my busy schedule and has offered to help stamp...things...whatever that means?!?!?

 

[flowerbug]

...
I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO DESIRE TO OWN ANYTHING THAT I HAVE TO MILK!!!
That being said, I welcome any other suggestions.

worms are great, i don't have to milk them and i don't have to shovel their poo too often and even when i do have to do it it smells like dirt.

granted they're not very easy to pet, they have very little fur and you really don't need to give them names.

i empty their buckets about once a year (in the gardens and restart them). feed every few weeks. check the moisture level and top up the shredded paper.

 

[RebeccaRN]

In doing my own research, because I want dairy goats, I found that goats are more bramble/woody type eaters than mowers of grass type stuff. Sheep would be better mowers