Goats

[Iwagakki]

I have two goats. Miniature goats actually. Life is good. My goats love me, and they are happy when I come home from work. I take them for walks on a leash. People stare, and laugh at me. Mini goats are great pets. Better than dogs, I think.

I also have 5 chickens. 4 hens, and 1 rooster. They started out as 6 hens, but one turned out to be a boy, and one was killed by a stray dog.

they lay 3 eggs on one day, and 5 eggs the next.

Chickens are not better pets than dogs, but they are funny little creatures.

Goats are funny too. They are smart, adventurous and they have a great sense of humor. They are good at oshi-zumo, not so good at yotsu-zumo. If anyone would like a wonderful pet, I recommend being adopted by mini goats.

Edited December 1, 2006 by Iwagakki

[Doyobi]

Oh, they are lovely! I've seen those little goats at the Munich zoo and I always wondered how would it be to keep them as pets. So, I have a few questions:

where do you have them from?

do you have problems getting food for them?

do you live in a house? where do you keep them?

We live in a flat (5th floor, no elevator), and the renting contract has a "no big pets" clause, so we had to limit ourselves to a pair of gerbils. Lovely little rodents they are, they won't really give you the same attention a dog or a cat would, but they are extremely cute and very full of life. I wouldn't dare to take them out for a walk, though. :)

[Jakusotsu]

I also have 5 chickens....they lay 3 eggs on one day, and 5 eggs the next.

I tried to find a shifted schedule for uniformly distributed chicks to produce these results, but unfortunately it blew my mind.

Goats are funny too. They are good at oshi-zumo, not so good at yotsu-zumo.

And I bet they never fall for henka! (Shaking head...)

[Iwagakki]

Oh, they are lovely! I've seen those little goats at the Munich zoo and I always wondered how would it be to keep them as pets. So, I have a few questions:

where do you have them from?

do you have problems getting food for them?

do you live in a house? where do you keep them?

We live in a flat (5th floor, no elevator), and the renting contract has a "no big pets" clause, so we had to limit ourselves to a pair of gerbils. Lovely little rodents they are, they won't really give you the same attention a dog or a cat would, but they are extremely cute and very full of life. I wouldn't dare to take them out for a walk, though. :)

They are lovely little fellows.

We just happened upon ours at a livestock fair. A couple from Wisconsin were walking them on leashes through the fair, and after talking to them for a while, I went home with two baby goats.

They are very hardy and easy to care for. They eat mostly hay, but I give them a cup or two each day of oats or corn, sometimes "goat chow", which they like a lot. They love carrots, and they don't seem to like apples so much. When we go for walks, they like to munch on dry leaves.

We live in the country. I built them a small "goat house" that they share with the lawnmower, and gardening things. I also made a small fence around the garden, and I split the garden in two.

So now, for one year, they go on one side of the garden, and fertilize it very well. They also do a wonderful job of clearing the ground of weeds. Next year, I will plant on this side, and the goats will move to the other side, and they will make the soil on that side good again.

They do earn their living. Our garden is very well fertilized, and the ground is ready to be tilled and planted right away in the spring. I share fresh vegetables with them from the garden in the summer. I pick tomatoes all season, and toss a couple in for the goats each day. It's a pretty scene. I will miss it someday.

I worried about them in the winter at first, but now I don't. They don't mind the cold at all. Last night, it was -22C, and they were quite content. They jumped around and played as if it were summertime. Then they went into their little house, and snuggled with each other for the night. This morning when I woke up, they were playing sumo with each other.

The white one is "Shio-chan", the black one is "Goma-chan"

[Iwagakki]

I also have 5 chickens....they lay 3 eggs on one day, and 5 eggs the next.

I tried to find a shifted schedule for uniformly distributed chicks to produce these results, but unfortunately it blew my mind.

Goats are funny too. They are good at oshi-zumo, not so good at yotsu-zumo.

And I bet they never fall for henka! :-(

Goats have too much "hinkaku" to henka. It would be an violation of the "way of the goat." (yagi-do?)

I am still wondering about this egg rotation thing myself. I begin to wonder if the rooster is involved somehow, but then I don't want to think about that at all.....It has been rather uniform. 3 eggs one day, 5 the next, then 3, then 5.....

I have tried even changing the egg collection schedule...but it's the same either way.... :-(

[Jonosuke]

I don't live in a country so there must be some kind of by-law against having goats in my back yard but hearing about your goats, I really like to have them one day. I always wonder why people have then until now but I never thought of them as pets. But what wonderful pets they make!

Do they get along with a dog? I came across this site where they can find a dog based on your personality and mine came as a Portugese water dog. I've seen the picture but I never know of anyone owning it. I wonder if it gets along with mini-goats...

[Iwagakki]

I don't live in a country so there must be some kind of by-law against having goats in my back yard but hearing about your goats, I really like to have them one day. I always wonder why people have then until now but I never thought of them as pets. But what wonderful pets they make!

Do they get along with a dog? I came across this site where they can find a dog based on your personality and mine came as a Portugese water dog. I've seen the picture but I never know of anyone owning it. I wonder if it gets along with mini-goats...

I think they can get along with a dog if they are properly introduced. One thing about mini goats is that they are EXTREMELY tough little dudes. Even though they are loving, and gentle creatures, if they are severely threatened, they can be dangerous to other animals.

This is no lie: My mother had two mini goats some years ago. Mary and Joseph (Jo-jo). One night she went to the barn to put them in, and they were terribly nervous, and didn't want to go in. They made all sorts of fuss and jumped around. She thought they just wanted to stay out and play with her, so she just pushed them in, and shut the door.

The next morning, she went to let them out, and Jojo was covered with blood. In the night, a coyote had gotten into the barn, and I guess must have gone for the goats.

Unfortunately for him, the boy goat , Jojo, wasn't interested in becoming dinner for a coyote and I guess wasn't afraid of coyotes, either. Jojo managed to kill the coyote, and then spend all night bashing on and jumping on the dead coyote, until he was covered with blood, and the coyote was literally pounded flat. The goat was totally unhurt but needed a bath. I always felt sort of bad for the coyote who's last thought must have been "It isn't supposed to go this way..."

My goat Shio-chan tried to go after my mom's dog that was chasing the chickens around once, and butted the dog through the fence up in the air. (I guess he thought only a goat should be able to tease and chase the chickens.)

My mom's goats loved her schnauzer. They used to run around and play tag and stuff. The dog wasn't so good at goat sumo, though. But they liked her anyway.

Remarkable little creatures, really.

Edited December 1, 2006 by Iwagakki

[aderechelsea]

fascinating indeed .... :-(

[BuBa]

Thank you for a wonderful read for saturday morning, Iwagakki san. I see, those goats do have a lot of 'shin' despite of tiny 'tai'. Just out of curiosity , do they develop cashmere fur in winter too?

[Kaikitsune Makoto]

Goat serum:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6197222.stm

Great goat-thread this one. When I was standing in Matsumoto mountains, there was a goat there. My initial thought was to strengthen the stance by taking a bit more suriashish position so that if the goat decided to get into atama wo tsukeru, I wouldn't be totally surprised at least. The goat calmly ate some stuff though and just observed the situation like Tosanoumi on a day off. Also goats have cool balance. They do have 4 legs too unlike Tosanoumi who would be the fattest goat ever.

[Fujisan]

I'm a bit more run of the mill,I have a black and white cat called Dusty who has a lovely temperament once he gets to know you but he has a habit of bringing home birds that he has captured and killed leaving them for me too find.

The first one I found under my computer desk and a couple of days ago I found one tucked into the side of a bag where I store my Playstation 2 to protect it from dust.

3 more birds survived and I was able to take them to the vets.

What can you do when its the natural instincts.

[Iwagakki]

Thank you for a wonderful read for saturday morning, Iwagakki san. I see, those goats do have a lot of 'shin' despite of tiny 'tai'. Just out of curiosity , do they develop cashmere fur in winter too?

I think goats in general are very interesting animals. Not just mini goats. They all seem to have a ton of personality and zest packed in to their little bodies. I met other goats at the fair this summer, and they were very charming. There is nothing so cute, almost, as a baby goat. Their little tiny baby goat hooves are just so funny and cute. I always wonder how a goat can have such traction and balance with those little hooves.

My goats are quite woolly now. They are only perhaps as high as your knee, but they look very shaggy now. Their fur makes them seem about as wide as they are tall.

Friends came to visit from the city today. They are from Tokyo, but teach at the university here. We played with goats, and talked. Their small daughter liked the critters. They don't see such things very often at all.

Kids carried Goma-chan around and snuggled him. He was very happy.