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Hey Goats have MANY purposes!!
You can eat ’em.
But more importantly Goats like the Angora are used for their Fiber to turn into “Wool”/Yarn.
and even better is Milk. Goat’s Milk is far better for Humans than Cow’s! & is far far less likely to cause an allergic reaction in Humans as well.
Then there’s the use one of my Uncles has, & he get’s PAID for it. They’re Lawnmowers!! Literally he gets paid to keep his Goats in certain places in the Summer!! & Uses them around his own place for Grass Length 8) .Steptoe is pretty. I love tarantulas. I had one when I was much younger. My sister and Dad found him one night when they went jogging. I named him Killer (I know real original). He was interesting. He hated my guy friends and would often rear up or bite them whenever they were near. I guess he really liked me because I could hold him and touch him whenever I wanted. Also, he never bit me. In fact he would stroke me gently with his fangs when he sat in my palm. I had to let him go when I went on a choir trip to England because Dad refused to take care of him in my absence.
Phoenix wrote:OMG! Pokey is AWESOME!!! I do love goats. Mike says they don’t have purpose, therefore he doesn’t like them. But I would gladly have many goats!
We had a tarantula once. His name was Eric. All our temporary pets are named Eric. The mice we feed the snake… Eric. The turtle the crazy aunt gave the kids… Eric. Sometimes I call Frodo Eric! 🙄 😀
Is the Angora goats hard to take care of Melody? Do you have to keep him groomed?
All goats are fairly high maintenance, but Angoras are in some ways easier than other breeds, and in some ways more trouble..
Angoras are easier to keep in a field than many goat breeds, they aren’t big climbers.
There was a lot of variation in personality among the flock I had. I have had some really nice Angoras and some really not-so-nice ones. They are much quieter than other goat breeds I have had.
They need to be sheared twice a year. They are sensitive to weather, and are somewhat less hardy than other breeds because they are constantly producing fleece, which is a drain on them. Some individuals will have a very greasy fleece ( yick) which makes them water repellent, but some, like Pokey, have a dry fluffy fiber ( pretty!) that gets soaked in the rain, so they need a good shelter to get into.Angoras were the preferred brush clearance goat breed when there was a govt. subsidy on the fleece! You could shear your flock and get a bit of money, but the government stopped that program so there is no financial advantage to keeping Angoras any more . Angoras as a breed have become really rare around here.
This sounds like Angoras are terrible, but I still love the breed, and would love to have a whole flock again. Maybe someday.
I can talk about goats for a long time! 😀
Oh, and as far as being useful, our Angoras were for blackberry, poison oak and general weed control. They did a great job! Since the flock has been gone, the Canadian Thistle ( awful weed) is taking over our fields again. The sheep can handle the other stuff.Such cuties! I’m not a fan of spiders (though I’m hoping to someday manage to muster up the courage to hold a tarantula… one of the slower ones that my friend Kristal likes to call fuzzy rocks!), but those sound like very perfect names for tarantulas! 😀
I love the goats! When I ever get to move out to the country, I want a goat or two, a horse or pony…. and a donkey!
When you say that growing the fleece is a drain on them, do you mean their metabolism? As in, feed them enough good feed and they’ll be OK?
Do goats need any dental care like horses? How about feet… Do they need trimming or do they naturally wear down?
Do all boy goats have that musky smell or do the whethers smell better?
There is a flock of goats down the road from the barn and I scratched the buck’s nose for a couple seconds and that smell was with me for the rest of the day. It’s not a bad smell… Just…Off in a stinky sort of way. 😀I think you should get yourself some goats and post pictures so I can live vicariously through you! 😀 I’d love to have some goats!
Melody wrote:NicoleH wrote:aww i can’t see him… probably one of the few people left on the planet that doesn’t use facebook 😳 How are sheep as pets? I feel like i want to get some when i move to be brush controllers. I’ve only ever had goats and for some reason sheep seem less high maintenance to me. Are you thinking of getting another pony/horse ever?
Dang, I need to figure out how to post pics on here from facebook. I have some pics of my sheep on facebook too.
Sheep are wonderful, but from my experience, they are as high maintenance as goats: they need the same twice yearly vet visit for vaccinations, deworming , hoof trims, and you gotta watch for lice and stuff like that ,but they aren’t as obnoxious as , say, a spoiled hand raised pygmy goat. Sheep aren’t as sensitive to wind and weather as goats, so some breeds of sheep don’t need shelter( but mine hate the rain and prefer to spend all the rainy days in the shelter ).
I have only had experience with Barbados black belly sheep, which are more athletic and wilder than the fluffy kind.. The “wool” types probably make better pets. I think each breed probably has its own personality. With wooly ones, you gotta shear them each year, which is a pain. If you got a flock, it’s easy; you hire someone else to do it.
Sheep aren’t as dumb as people say they are. They can be very funny, playful and clever in their own way. They do get themselves into trouble however, and when they do, they are quiet about it! That is a problem if you have a large area they can get lost in. A goat will yell loudly for help if he gets stuck, so you can find him.
No, I have no plans to get another horse or pony, much as I’d love to. I have absolutely no free time to spend with them, so there would be no point.
You need to be introduced to Shaun the Sheep. Seriously.
Windstone collector in remission. 😉
Phoenix wrote:When you say that growing the fleece is a drain on them, do you mean their metabolism? As in, feed them enough good feed and they’ll be OK?
Do goats need any dental care like horses? How about feet… Do they need trimming or do they naturally wear down?
Do all boy goats have that musky smell or do the whethers smell better?
There is a flock of goats down the road from the barn and I scratched the buck’s nose for a couple seconds and that smell was with me for the rest of the day. It’s not a bad smell… Just…Off in a stinky sort of way. 😀I think you should get yourself some goats and post pictures so I can live vicariously through you! 😀 I’d love to have some goats!You know, I rattled off that they are less hardy because of the constantly growing fleece, but I really don’t know the science behind it. They seem less hardy than other goat breeds-sort of like poodles. Maybe that is myth, I really am not sure! Ours were very susceptible to internal parasites, and needed careful vet care.They are perfectly fine if you take good care of them. Goats need shelter, regular vet care, and we gave ours grain supplements daily, and extra hay when the pasture was yucky. That is how you keep your poodles healthy.
Ours got hoof trims twice a year when they got sheared. They may get “Hoof rot” which is like “thrush” in horses, so they may need extra foot treatments to combat that if it appears. They just need extra pampering when the weather is really windy ,wet and cold.
Our goats didn’t get dental care. I don’t think they need regular tooth floating or anything, though after about 12 years their incisors will fall out and they will be dependent on YOU to keep them from starving.They need hay, grain and pellets because they can no longer graze very well.
OH man,yes bucks really smell! and it sticks around! We had bucks, and the entire farm smelled. Bucks are pretty gross. Wethers don’t smell.Thanks Melody! I guess I’ll hold off on any goats for now… We have a Frodo baby due Feb. 28th. That should hold me over for a bit! 70 more days! 8) So excited for this one!
Phoenix wrote:Thanks Melody! I guess I’ll hold off on any goats for now… We have a Frodo baby due Feb. 28th. That should hold me over for a bit! 70 more days! 8) So excited for this one!
Can’t wait for THOSE pics!
oh my gosh! I want to see frodo baby pics too. which part of the forum will you post those in?
I didn’t realize there were other kinds of sheep. If I saw Barbados sheep I would have thought they were goats. very cute though. I think I want the fluffy kind of sheep when i can get them. Moon was a very cute pony, looks like he had a good time with his kids.
( Glad to see im not the only anti-facebooker 😆 )
I’m not afraid of spiders but i think i would be paranoid about keeping large ones around my house. I would worry about them getting out of their cage all the time. They are pretty in their own way though.NicoleH wrote:oh my gosh! I want to see frodo baby pics too. which part of the forum will you post those in?
I didn’t realize there were other kinds of sheep. If I saw Barbados sheep I would have thought they were goats. very cute though. I think I want the fluffy kind of sheep when i can get them. Moon was a very cute pony, looks like he had a good time with his kids.
( Glad to see im not the only anti-facebooker 😆 )
I’m not afraid of spiders but i think i would be paranoid about keeping large ones around my house. I would worry about them getting out of their cage all the time. They are pretty in their own way though.No you certainly aren’t the only anti-facebooker. Lots and lots of people I know refuse to use facebook!
NicoleH wrote:oh my gosh! I want to see frodo baby pics too. which part of the forum will you post those in?
I didn’t realize there were other kinds of sheep. If I saw Barbados sheep I would have thought they were goats. very cute though. I think I want the fluffy kind of sheep when i can get them. Moon was a very cute pony, looks like he had a good time with his kids.
( Glad to see im not the only anti-facebooker 😆 )
I’m not afraid of spiders but i think i would be paranoid about keeping large ones around my house. I would worry about them getting out of their cage all the time. They are pretty in their own way though.Probably the Community section and everywhere else I can sneak it in 😀
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