13 Reasons NOT to own Goats

We own goats and have for several years now and we love our goats but today we are going to try to convince you not to get goats. If you can deal with these 13 reasons NOT to own goats maybe you can get your goats or convince your husband, wife, parents etc. that you can get goats.

1 . Escape artist. Goats are real good at escaping. If you do not have the proper fencing they will get out. If your fencing is not strong they will push on it and brake it and get out. If your fencing is not tall enough they will jump it. There are so many ways they will find to get out. And it normally happens as the must inconvenient times for you.

2. Destructive. If you have any trees and bushes in the pasture or pen they will destroy them. They would rather eat branches then grass. This kind of goes with them being escape artist. If they escape their pen they are going to cause some destruction to your fence, your bushes, landscaping and garden if you have one.

3. Poisonous plants. You must be careful what they eat. It is a common misconception that goats will eat anything. No, they don't, but they will eat what they like. Sometimes what they like will cause them to bloat and possibly die. Make sure to check your new pastures for trees, bushes and plants that are poisonous to goats and remove them before you put your goats in there. Also, any sudden change in diet (going from hay to lush green grass) will cause them to have diarrea which can lead to dehydration.

4. They die. Sometimes it seems like for no reason. If you do not know your goats and their normal actions you might miss seeing that one is not acting right and if you do not catch it quickly they can die quickly.

5. Parasite prone. They are very parasite prone and can go down hill very fast if you do not keep on top of checking for worms and deworming when necessary. Plus, deworming can be confusing.

6. Pasture rotation. If you are raising them on pasture do you have enough pasture to rotate them to a new section at least every week? If you can do this it helps keep them from getting as many worms.

7. Time. They take time. You must check on them everyday even when they are on pasture becasue you never know when one might have problems. Keeping up with all their deworming, moving them to differnt pastures, making sure they have water, and the list could go on and on.

8. Minerals. They will need supplemental minerals. It depends on your area. Some places are more deficient in certain minerals then other places. So, you will have to learn what minerals they need.

9. Expensive. Do I really need to say anything more here? Just look at the list above and figure out what you do not have and how much it will cost you to get those things.

10. Less product. By this, I am comparing a goat to a cow. You will get more meat from a cow and more milk from a cow.

11. Loud. Goats can be very loud! It might depend on the breed a little bit. But especially at feeding time they all can be quite loud.

12. Bucks stink. There is no way around this fact. They stink!

13. Mean. Some goats are mean. Especially watch bucks when they are in with the girls or in rut. Some are just playing (head butting) but that is unacceptable to do to humans because they do not know how to play gently.