It all started while I was working with my electrician getting my workshop wired up for 240V. My foreman came over and said he needed to borrow the farm truck. He returned just a few minutes later with a bed full of goats. I guess some escaped from a local farm and were running around all over the road. He roped them, loaded them into the truck and brought them back to my homestead. And we started contacting neighbors to find out whose goats they were.
Within an hour we found out whose they were. But they would not be able to pick them up the same day, so we needed to keep them overnight.
The problem was, we did not have a fully enclosed area for the goats. And not wanting them to step on and eat my garlic we could not just keep them in the third acre area with my plants.
But I do have a 30' by 30' enclosure, it was built for ducks and chickens. But we have yet to purchase them.
One small area of the fence was not finished, so before we could move the goats into this temporary home we needed to add more fencing and tie them all together. Using a 6x6 on the bottom and tied using steel wire along the edges it is holding strong.
We have never had goats or taken care of them. But in the past we have feed some and they seem to like apple slices. So we brought some over for them to munch on along with water to drink.
Once the hole was patched in the fence my foreman moved them into the enclosure.
As the sun was going down we realized it was going to be below freezing tonight, and we were worried the dirt ground was not sufficient for them to stay warm. As much as we wanted to move them into the duck and chicken house for the night we worried it would not be enough space. So instead we brought out lots of old hay and piled it up for bedding.
We came back one more time before we went to sleep, they were laying down but not on the bedding.
Was almost freezing around the time we went to sleep.
The next morning it was under freezing, probably got down to around 29f.
So the first thing we did is go check on the goats and make sure they are okay.
Hard to say if they used to bedding we put down, hopefully it was useful to them at night.
We hung out with them for a bit, and two of the three warmed up to us quick. The male seemed to keep its distance but the two others liked us and came up to us.
One of them would lick us and stay close to let us pet it. It has really soft fur, we are not exactly sure what kind of goats these are. I think Boer goats.
Soon the owner will show up and pick up their goats, but it was fun watching over them for a day. And maybe eventually we will get some of our own.
You are doing a great job. You are so kind.
Aww thanks
How kind of you to take care of the goats owned by someone else. 😊😊
I'm sure, the goats would love to stay longer in your place.😁
Yeah, felt bad for them. We have coyotes in the area so they may have not survived the night without our help.
Oh.. the owner was so happy that they were rescued sir... Coyotes are dangerous.
Lovely. Are these apples you eat yourself or feeding the goats with?
Hah.. usually we eat the apples but for that day its for the goats.
Lucky goats :)
Wow, that is pretty crazy. Good thing you had the ability to keep them otherwise they might have been screwed! I'm surprised they didn't eat all the scrub in the pen. I have heard they are voracious eaters!
Hah yeah its good we had a enclosure 95% done so just needed to put up one last wire fence panel and it was ready.
They ate alot of grass in that enclosure. We also had some comfrey growing so we gave them each a leaf to eat.. they loved it.
I've seen that some cities use goats to clear blight on vacant lots.
Yeah I have seen that too. They set up an electric fence and put the goats inside where the weeds are the thickest.. they just eat away for days.
It's ingenious to me!
They're quite some strange goats to lick people and want petting. The goats I know are too shy and always want to keep to themselves.
If your foreman didn't pick them up isn't it certain they would have found their way back home to their owners on their own?
Yeah I think they are domesticated, maybe someones pets.
It is possible, but we were worried they would get hit by a car or not make it back home and get predated by coyotes.
Okay, I see. Very kind of y'all 👍🏾
This goat would make a delicious meat 😃
Hah they sure would.
Goats are family. Till their not.
Their milk¹ and bread² is delicious.
¹. Goat milk bro what else.
². Carne.
Oh nice, I love goat cheese so its something to think about.
Let the grass grow then lol
Yeah we may just make a pasture for them one day
Aww these are some beautiful goats...
they sure are
Wow... It's very noble that you want to take care of some goats that pass around your field, if you don't take care of them, of course these goats will damage your garlic plants, but I'm sure some of the goats you take care of will miss the kindness of you if he has been taken by the owner, hopefully you will have some goats of your own in the future for you to take care of my friends 😊
Yeah true, that is why we kept them in that enclosure. Did not want to wake up to them eating all of them..lol
Have a great dayHow kind of you, dear friend @solominer, to designate a place for the goats to spend the night on your property within the shelter they have built. Surely the owner will be very grateful for everything you have done for them.
Thanks, yes it is important to help out people and animals when you can.
Hopefully they will be..
thanks you too
Well done!
thanks
Goats look so cute. They are one of my favorite animals. When I was little, my grandmother would send us one in the fall. We would slaughter it and not get any meat for a long time.
Goats love tree leaves and small tree branches. Because of this, they harm nature. They prevent trees from growing.
Oh nice, I love goat meat.. really tasty.
Ah yeah, we kept them away from my trees and plants.
@solominer future goat farmer. I can see it. LOL
Hah we are thinking about getting one or two eventually.. may just happen.
This was so heartwarming to read. If goats could talk they would have probably told you thank you.
Well done friend.
I think they would too, they seemed quite happy when they were hanging out with us for a day.
So kind of you to have saved the straying goats, even if it's for just one day.
Congratulations on being able to take care of them.
They're really so cute.
Thanks, it has been kind of fun.
A comical story, goats walk too much; and As an electrician and lover of agriculture in general, if your future desire is to have goats, I recommend having them tabulated, the yield is higher or free grazing.
greetings.
Oh they are not my goats, but I am sure the owner will.
One of the best animals to have on a homestead IMO.
They seem to be really useful. We may get some of our own one day.
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When I look at the conditions on your property, keeping goats and sheep makes a lot of sense. However, — and you know this yourself — you should only allow them to graze freely in areas where the terrain is strictly confined. The least of the problems should be a secure place to live (a stable).
Ah yes, they are in an enclosure. So they will only eat in there.
!PIZZA
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The goats look very happy. Excellent aptitude.
hehe I think they are too
Random goat that visits me..
Goat is damn tasty
Now you're smelling what I'm stepping in
That's such a lovely story. What a really nice thing you did for those goats, I wouldn't know where to start! From the photos even though it was very cold the goats look alright and not distressed at all. I think what you did worked for them, especially if a couple of them wanted to get close to you.
Did they eat all those apple slices or were they fussy? I hope the owner was very grateful to you, that was a great thing you did there.
Tip reward: 0.4 Hive
It was quite the experience, never anything like that has happened in my life before. Yeah I think they handled the night well with their hay beds.
At first they did not eat them, but I think they were nervous. But by the next day they ate mostly all of them. When we fed them comfrey they got really excited. Just one leaf each for them.
Oh nice, thanks for the tip!
Hahaha... These look like my billy goat, they're quite stubborn but their owner is lucky they had you take care of their goats.
So sweeeeeet 😍
Hehe they were some cute goats