Pack Goat Pasture Set Up

#thegoatguy #packgoats #goatlife
In this video, I will show you how to set up your pack goats in their pasture. Everything from how to build their shelter, fencing, and feeding stations. Marc Warnke, "The Goat Guy", of packgoats.com. Visit the website for more information!
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[@Meevious]

Goats behave about the same all over the world it seems. Great tips! I found that I could pack a whole lot of goats together in one big barn, but the minute I add as much as an extra little triangle nearby, I get this situation: - #1 goat controls the biggest shelter and #2 goat controls the small shelter. - #1 goat doesn't see why it should be crowded while the #2 goat has a place to itself. - #1 goat kicks out >50% of the goats from the big shelter, intending for them to give the #2 goat a hard time. - #2 goat is far enough from the #1 goat to have delusions of grandeur and insists that it's the one who shouldn't be overcrowded. - The weakest/most vulnerable goats get kicked around between these shelters and quickly give up, resigning to stand in the rain, putting them at risk of pneumonia and whatever other parasites can take advantage of the hammered immune systems. - Add another shelter and you make the problem worse by putting the #3 goat on a pedestal and adding to the goats' confusion as to where those vulnerable goats should go, so you can end up, again, with more homeless goats than you had before you increased the shelter. - This continues until every single closely bonded family unit of goats has its own shelter. I eventually settled on about the same ideas that you've got going here (I also use about the same feeding strategies, giving them just the right amount and spreading it carefully so every goat gets their fill - if I achieve nothing else in life, the hay distribution zone is a prominent feature of the landscape on Google Earth). Shelters that are either: - sized for single families of goats - be it a nanny with her favourite kid and 3 grandkids, or just a single goat with no close friends. - or shallow, long shelters that're compartmentalised to work in the same way. In terms of wind facing, I found that goats are way more likely to go into and stay in a shelter that has 2 walls than 3, so I clad 2 walls and point the corner into the wind. To them, a cosy little cave, sheltered from 3 directions is about as enticing as a spider's web. It's cosy enough that any animal would want to go there, which means it's a nest for bears/leopards/humans. If they have to go into a deep 3-sided shelter, they'll generally post sentries outside to keep watch for this imaginary threat, putting those sentries at risk of real health problems. I had one barn like that first "dud" that you made, which was struggling to hold 4 big wethers, though it had room for about 30. After years of stuffing around, herding them in whenever it rained, it dawned on me to knock out a wall and now it's a functional shelter that doesn't take any of my time. There's no chokepoint and the animals have a better view of the surrounds, for the negligible cost of losing a small amount of rain coverage in non-prevalent winds. Personally, I'm convinced that goats are hard-adapted to wind and to snowy or arid conditions. They have a fluffy coat and can just shake off any hail or snow and they have very little heat transfer in their feet. What they're hard-unadapted for is cold driving rain, so extreme climates where the rain's either warm or frozen is better than what we might see as perfect temperate conditions. I think people new to goats make the mistake of thinking their shelters need to be optimised for wind protection, but it's 100% rain that's the threat. It penetrates the fluff that's supposed to protect them, they can't shake it off and it freezes them to the bone. They don't naturally understand it, because they're adapted to environments where there's very little liquid rain, with no chance whatsoever of continuous rain for hours and days, so though the alphas do generally care about the whole herd and will usually let everyone in in what they consider a serious storm, their understanding of what constitutes a serious storm is unfortunately completely unrealistic. Fencing seems to be the one area where our goats differ. Running 150 goats and not one of them would be phased by that pure electric setup that you're using (excuse the pun). Over most of the property, we have 3' mesh, then 2 strands of electric, 6" apart. If our electric is off, the goats will have left the property within hours. They regularly test it with their horns as they walk alongside and if they're pressed, they can ignore it and jump straight through, taking the shot. We had one doe catch her foot in the night, trying to get to the bucks, corpse by morning. Similar stories from friends, so together with the failure of electric to actually contain a determined goat, it's enough that we've bitten the bullet and we're in the process of upgrading all the fencing to mesh. It's expensive and not as mobile as electric, but it's goatproof and foolproof and a fallen branch doesn't render the whole thing useless, inviting the goats to visit the neighbours' vinyard. For large goats, I recommend 6' ring-lock mesh or equivalent. Has to use heavy wire with a heavy duty locking system, because thinner wire, or twisted systems like chicken mesh, they'll try to scratch their horns on it and find that they can tear a hole and walk through. Headbangers: once sold a goat to a couple who'd started the most tickety boo market garden and wanted a goat to eat the veggie scraps. They were so keen on the idea of this pet goat, who they were going to spoil to bits, they even got a goat letterbox. They decided to install a glasshouse in the yard where they had the little kid goat and when they were out the next day, he discovered that he liked the sound of glass smashing so much that he smashed every single pane. They still have that letterbox, but they returned the goat, free of charge. Love that boy! X)

[@StephenJelinek]

A good way to figure out prevailing winds is by the direction of the nearest airstrip.

[@rumham8124]

Can you elaborate?

[@Meevious]

but airstrips have 2 opposite directions. X)

[@labreeskarogers1102]

You are correct on one big barn needing stalls. We had a one barn no stalls and it was awful our queen goat would bully the other doe and chase her all the time. We added stalls but we are also going to have to add the head banging boards due to our buck. We are planning play structure in the goat areas.

[@Possumcods]

Great video. Straight to the point, explained everything very well. You earned a sub.

[@jeremyheer7253]

Also, thanks for the insight on electric fences

[@dannysillivant]

Goats: No concept of personal space

[@kristenvincent3622]

Just building a temporary goat barn out of pallets, but great pointers! Thanks. We will be getting a couple more goats (shhhh, it’s an “accident”, really) so I can move my girl out of our home this winter. Once my hose is built I will add a permanent barn closer to it.

[@abeforee4780]

Really enjoying your channel. I have 2 goats, not really sure what breeds they are but they're bigget than yours, so this really helps

[@PackGoatscom]

Glad to hear...Love to see pics if they are bigger...love to see big goats

[@roslihassan8844]

Amazing,very sistematic gazebo & gazebo

[@PackGoatscom]

Thanks

[@MohammadArif-gs4hx]

Mashallah goats all very cute

[@EEST-Militia]

you like to love goats right

[@johannnespaul4300]

super

[@robertjackson9601]

Another great video. Enjoying the info. We are running 12 boer kiko cross for meat.

[@PackGoatscom]

Robert Jackson Yummy

[@jeremyheer7253]

We use our goats to eat down our back yard so we don't have to mow and they do a really good job.

[@amerirose]

Are your babies 4 months old when they learn about electric fences or younger? Mine are 3.5 weeks old now. I have 5 strands starting at 8", 10", then 12". I had to put another line between the 8" and 10" space in the baby paddock, they were squeaking through there a week ago. But now they have been respecting the lines now (always supervised around lines right now) even when I let them have recess in the area with larger spacing.

[@StephenJelinek]

One of my Does gave me triplets on Easter, and another one gave me twins 3 days latter. My herd went from 4 to nine. 4 girls 1 boy. Dad is Kiko. Moms 1/2 Alpine and 1/2 Spanish. Nice big goats. Should I invest in training them to be pack goats or should I seek out better breeding?

[@Steve-ps6qw]

Nice goats, they are really friendly, castrated? I thought I knew something about goad but can't figure out the breed of your goats, really nice.

[@PackGoatscom]

Stephan Quintavalli They are mostly Alpine and Alpine crosses. Obers, sannan, and boers mixed in there.

[@Steve-ps6qw]

...I thought they had some Ibex mixed in them, lol. They have pretty large and long horns and nice markings.

[@Goaterd]

Marc, I'm having issues with fencing. My two yearling alpines are jumping the 48" tall electric net fencing that I purchased for them. I am blessed to have plenty of woodland to browse them in but was wanting to do so in a "rotational browsing" manner. How tall is your 3-string electric? Do you ever have any jumpers? I know it's more of a psychological issue. My kids want to follow me, so they are not content inside the enclosure. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

[@topendadventures5247]

Logan Gesell I have had jumpers and yes it took a 5 1/2 foot tall fence to keep them in. I used 5 strands when I did that as well.

[@PackGoatscom]

Also if you want to add more height that will teach them to "leave it alone" use loggers marking tape (can be gotten in sporting goods stores in the hunting section) and run a strand extra high accross the top at 6 to 6.5. That should be extra enough. I will often do this with a new goat till he gets it. You can use "stick" extensions on the fence poles to get more distance.

[@Meevious]

In a pinch, my goats will dive through electric wires that are 6" apart, up to about 6'. I recommend heavy duty mesh if you want to secure your goats physically and not just cross your fingers that they won't ever make the decision to ignore the electric, which they are capable of doing at any time.

[@renewyourmind1815]

1, what type of electric fence do you use? (Charger, etc) 2, what breed are your goats?

[@PackGoatscom]

Jesse James Most of my goats are Alpine and Alpine crosses. My electric fence is in the lower end of “hotness” and an older unit that I don’t know the brand.

[@led_farmer]

Electric fence 100%.. what minerals do you use? Also flakes per full grown pack goat per day?

[@PackGoatscom]

Jake Husband I use Dumore spring mineral for cattle. And aprox 1 flake per day.

[@led_farmer]

@@PackGoatscom 👍 you are the man!