Goats as companions

[rhymes_with_orange]

I need a crash course on goats. We have made the heartbreaking decision to let our old man cross the rainbow bridge. This will leave us with one single horse here at home. We have known this was likely coming for a couple of months now as the older fella hasn’t handled the extreme heat of this summer well, and even putting all the food we could in front of him hasn’t kept him shiney and fat. I was considering a donkey, but the more I talk to friends that are long time donkey owners, the more I worry about the safety of my chickens, barn cat, and local wildlife, as well as having to manage founder risk. I’d like a medium to large breed goat, and probably female. My husband grew up doing 4H and his only input so far is that the males smell bad, ha!

Will they stay in horse fencing? Can they be halter broke? Do they need to be on a farrier schedule? Can most farriers trim them, or do I need to find a goat farrier? Do they tolerate lush grass?

This could be a bad idea with my knowledge gaps, but husband doesn’t want another horse, I don’t current have time for another horse, so we are looking at all options.

[luvmyhackney]

So I have two companion goats. Mine are castrated Nigerian Dwarfs that weight around 65 lbs.

They only stay in wire mesh fencing that can hold water. They can be escape artists.

They are fine on grass but are browsers, not grazers. You can trim hoofs yourself, super easy with small garden trimmers.

They can be picky about hay. Don’t really need grain and if a wether (castrated boy) careful of alfalfa as they can get stones.

Mine wear halters, walk on a lead, know commands, ride in a car, come when you call them and generally follow my around. But they get into everything, it’s like having a big 2 y/o that can climb and run faster than I can.

I adore mine and find them the easiest to care for plus my cheapest pets.

[Bluey]

First, are you sure your horse likes goats?
Some horses love their goat and others not so much.
You may need two or more goats, one alone will generally not thrive.
Double trouble and best if they are not kept with the horse, just near it.
Horses can be rough on goats, using them as punching bags and goats may eat your horse’s tail sooner or later.
Best pet goats are those raised by hand, they love people and would be easier as first goats.

We had a goat dairy and sold milk and used trained goats for orphan foals or those that needed supplementation.
Goat would learn to jump on a bale and foal would nurse.
You had to keep foal and goat separated and supervise nursing, or foal would be rough on goat.

Would be best if you find someone nearby that could help you learn about goats.
Your local college, county agent or 4H may have someone on hand, ask them.

[treebeard]

All of my goats are now gone after living long lives. I had five; a Nigerian pygmy, a regular pygmy, a Boer cross and two LaManchas. I had welded wire fencing 5’ high and never had anyone scale it, but I did have one goat shimmy under in a spot at the back where the land had settled.

If the goats have enough forage they will generally not want to wander. I found that goats are VERY picky as to what they will eat hay-wise.

Intact males will smell bad because they pee on their faces to try to entice the ladies. It’s rank. The wethers generally don’t do this but may think about it if you have a female nearby.

I lost one of my LaMancha boys to urinary calculi. You can do everything right and still have issues with males. I also had one goat get meningeal worm. He did recover after treatment.

If you get your goat (ha) as a youngster you can work with trimming hooves right from the start. Mine were all resistant to hoof trims and needed two people to get it done.

My Thoroughbred was wonderful with the goats. Very gentle and tolerant. Until I got my first mini horse he was here at the farm alone with his goats. He did lose half his tail from his favorite goat, the Nigerian pygmy, chewing it off. He looked like a Munnings portrait.

My mini horses were not as good with the goats and would sometimes chase and bite. For that reason, as the goats got older, I moved them up to my backyard away from the horses.

Three of my goats, the LaMancha brothers and my Boer cross girl, had horns. If I did it all over again I would not have a horned goat in with horses.

[Bluey]

Also, old time stables used to keep a male goat around and it was a terrible stink.
The old wives tale was a male goat in a stable would keep strangles and other diseases away.

There was this stable that had one such stinky and it stinks terrible, male goat.
I just started working there and complained about the very smelly goat.
They told me to go give it a bath.
I did, goat still stunk and so did I for a while.
They made me eat outside, not in the dining room, until days later, after I passed a sniff test.
I had to throw away my bathing goat clothes.

Moral of the story, don’t be a dummy, if you get a male, if entire, don’t bathe it.

[clanter]

well my grand daughters have eight goats here, these are kept in a separated paddock rather than in general population of the horses

Their temperament ranges all over the place from very friendly to damn right mean as hell

Four of these have been trained to various/numerous tricks, two went to Hollywood for taping of a TV show.

These goats Love Teff hay, they will eat nearly every piece

Then their is our neighbor who has 21 goats several who escape at will unless locked into the small containment paddock,

None of our seven head of horses likes the goats, zero interest or desire to have them around. They are not hostile to the goats, they are just not interested.

To protect the grand daughters’ goats from then ever prevalent coyotes wife got a Great Pyrenees, really is a great night watch dog… barks at anything it thinks is evading its territory which is any piece of land that is within its eye sight or hearing. Coyotes have been run off so now she has taken on the kids walking to school on “her” sidewalk. Bark, bark, bark yet those kids pay no attention to her. This dog is the oddest dog we have ever had as she Refuses to walk on tile or hardwood floors, we had to get her carpet runners to provide a safe to her passageway to get to her daytime sleeping area

[beowulf]

We have goats on the farm. From time to time they have been used as companions when a horse is on layup. They are cheaper than a mini but if you get one, you should really have two. You and DH will need a sense of humor, because goats are as smart as dogs, as evil as little ponies, and as clever as a toddler.

The type (breed) of goat matters. You don’t want anything so small it’ll die if accidentally kicked or stepped on. The boers are pretty sturdy as far as goats go; I wouldn’t put pygmies or svelte goats with a horse but YMMV.

Whatever goat you get, make sure it is debudded. I understand the ethical concerns behind this practice, but a goat with horns presents safety risks to itself and its horse companion. They get caught and strangled in hay nets. They get caught in fencing. They get caught on the horse and cut the horse. Their horns will get them in trouble.

Generally, if the fence doesn’t hold water it wont hold a goat.
They can be halter broke.
They do need to be trimmed, as another mentioned you can do it yourself easily.
They tolerate lush grass but they are selective browsers. They will leave the annoying weeds you wish they’d eat.

And god, do they waste good hay.

[chestnutmarebeware]

@beowulf

Generally, if the fence doesn’t hold water it wont hold a goat.
They can be halter broke.
They do need to be trimmed, as another mentioned you can do it yourself easily.
They tolerate lush grass but they are selective browsers. They will leave the annoying weeds you wish they’d eat.

And god, do they waste good hay.

Hell yes to all of this!

I would also add that many equine/livestock vets won’t treat sheep or goats anymore, or have no practical experience with them. So make sure you have a good vet lined up beforehand. I had to talk my small-animal vet into treating my Nubian and Angora fellows just because she owned a few of them herself. None of the livestock vets in my rural area would deal with them.

Also know that they will happily climb onto the tallest SUV or truck and dance around on them with their sharp little feet every chance they get until your paint job looks like the vehicle was dropped into a blender. Ask me how I know, lol!

[Marla_000]

So the general answer to your question is it depends on the goat and it depends on the horse.
I’ve had it go both ways.
Some horses like goats, some don’t.
I no longer have a companion goat even though I’ve needed one numerous times over the years.

[treebeard]

I was very fortunate with my gentle Thoroughbred and his goats and mini horses. He was a “harm none” type of horse.

This is Gimli, son of Gloin with my Thoroughbred. It was Gimli’s idea to be in with the horse in the stall. He launched himself over a stall door to get in with him.

[Mosey_2003]

I would not get a goat or a pair of goats just for a horse. I’d recommend a mini or a small pony. You really need to specifically want to have goats to really be happy with having goats, I think. They need more deworming than a horse and like was mentioned, not all vets work on goats. If you do really want goats, I’ve heard the taller/bigger ones are a little better about fences than the little ones that bounce around like popcorn. So something like a milk breed.