billygoat haven forest

Tom_in_Mo. · January 05, 2006, 11:58:50 AM

I never have been in this thread before so this question may have already been gone through, I bought my farm about 5 years ago. the fellow that sold it to me had it logged off and I MEAN LOGGED OFF, or in other words it has been raped.
He had a new fence built so for about 50 or so yards from the fence is good trees for he didn't want trees dropped on his fence, but after that it looks kinda bad. I thought about putting a goat proof fence around but I then would have to deal with them not ever have been around goats much for when I was a kid we had chickens, cattle and hogs. There is about 25 acres of this mess and it is on a hill making getting a tractor with a spray almost impossible. any inputs will be appreciated. The rest of the farm is ok.

jerry-m · January 05, 2006, 01:50:56 PM

Fence for goats must be net wire and in very good condition... Goats love to check out the neighbors flower bed, young fruit trees, etc...

Goats will clime on top of anything, includeing your or anyones elses car, truck, etc...

They do make great pets and are fun to watch to see what they will get into next...

Donkeys will also keep the under brush under control about as good as the goats and in my opinion are easier to keep and you can ride them :D :D :D

A good donkey goes for about $100 here...

Tom_in_Mo. · January 05, 2006, 02:13:51 PM

Jerry-M thanks alot for the reply, never thought about them. Will they eat multiflowal roses (spelling???) I hate those roses bushes for sure. I have come along ways with them.

Ron Wenrich · January 05, 2006, 05:20:14 PM

Goat proof fence. :D :D :D

I had goats and found that there is no such thing as a goat proof fence. If there is just the smallest hole, they will be under it in a heartbeat. They spent more time in the neighbor's field than in mine. I eventually just let them roam.

They will eat multiflora rose. But, they will only eat as far in as they can reach. You have to trim them back every once in awhile, so they can get in a little farther. Eventually, they will kill the bushes and keep things trimmed back. They cleaned out about 5 acres for me and kept it down.

But, they will also skin the bark off of all your trees. They also like pine. I used to get Christmas trees and feed it to them for snacks. :D Just can't have any tinsel.

They will also eat any type of bush or shrub that you want to keep in your yard. Regular rose bushes are a good target. So is your garden.

If you can keep them contained, you're in good shape. I never could do that. But, I really liked having goats. They were fun to watch and very easy to care for.

Do a search on goats. They subject has come up before.

SwampDonkey · January 05, 2006, 06:15:05 PM

I think goats are interesting critters, but I'll let you guys look after them. I have enough troubles with moose, no need of bringing on more trouble makers. ;D :D :D

getoverit · January 05, 2006, 06:35:48 PM

I have been faced with mowing about 8 acres of land and trying to keep the underbrush from growing in my pine stand also. How many donkeys would it take to keep about 5 acres of grass mowed down?

Would getting a couple of sheep be a better option than the goats since I really just want the grass mowed?

SwampDonkey · January 05, 2006, 06:41:58 PM

Tom, what is coming back on the harvested area? Did you want to grow trees or make farmland? Depending on the height of the re-growth I'de take a walk and do some circular plots to count stems by species. You can later calculate density from those numbers. A good average starting height to do this sampling would be 15 feet in hardwood, and a minimum density we use in hardwood is 2000 stems/acre. Why I mention this is the fact that you could possibly space your new growth, and that would be a good minimum height to reduce resuckering. There may even be assistance from your DNR in the form of cash/acre treated. You'de be surprised at the response of your new forest after 10 years from being thinned. The thing about spacing is that you can favor the species you want and weed out the culls, but also maintain a good mix for a healthy forest. Try not to choose your crop species based on height, often times the slower growing trees are the bigger money makers. On some sights up here for instance, we have gray birch in our hardwood and people were cutting the nice yellow birch and leaving crappy gray birch (a shrub) that grows 30 % faster during early tree development. Talk about P***S'n a guy off. >:( I supervised one particular site with alot of yellow birch, and I told the contractor if he expected to be paid, then those yellow birch better be standing when I do my post assessment. Some of these contractors set their guys loose and they don't know a willow from a maple. :

A good contractor will make sure his guys know their trees. Better yet, thin your own patch of earth like I do. ;)

thecfarm · January 05, 2006, 09:05:16 PM

We had 3 goats at the same time and never had a problem with them at all.They never tried to get out,only when I forgot to latch the gate they got out and then they didn't go far.They never climbed on anything.They were very behaved.Have I heard of stories of bad goats,yes,but not ours.we treated ours like a dog.We would let them out and they would fellow us like a dog.In fact I trained the goats the same way we did our dog,let them loose and they will follow you.But you need to get them as young as possible.Just as soon as they are weaned,You don't need any bad habits.I would let them out and they would browse on the suckers,I'm trying to claim back a pasture and they would lose sight of me and wouldn't they blat.Sometimes I would stand there and listen to them before saying something to them.They would come leaping back to me like a lost child.We was lucky the apple trees and raspberries are across the road.They loved to chew on them.A loud out,out would get them moving again.We spent ALOT of time with our goats.It does show.All I had for a fence was slabs.I turned the smooth side in and used small hardwood trees for posts.

ToadHill · January 06, 2006, 01:25:51 AM

Cornell University has done some interesting work with goats in the woods in the last few years. They have used them in hardwood forests to keep down the Beach, Ironwood, and many of the less desirable species. They don't seem to bother the Sugar Maple, Cherry, Ash, Oak or any of the more valuable timber. They use electric fence and move the goats to new areas when they have cleaned out the scrub.

Jeff · January 06, 2006, 01:43:02 AM

Tom, promise me if you get goats or donkeys you name em bib and ark. PLEASE!!!

redpowerd · January 06, 2006, 06:45:20 AM

my goats have girdled ash, cherry birch and elm, havent seen any damage to maple. any trees i want to protect gets a pallet fence built around them. id say a goat can clear a bit more than an acre a year of thick brush, they wont knock it down, but they will definately turn it to kinlin.

if you want a small 'trip' of goats, get a well behaved billy. that can make or break your future with goats. the billy i have now will get into the garage, but once in there will behave like an angel, wont even leave any milk duds. last one i had was downright destructive, alot of it comes from how theyre raised.
good luck! goats are pretty smart as far as livestock goes....

Tom_in_Mo. · January 06, 2006, 09:44:11 AM

Hey, Thanks fellows, I do know of one guy who broke his goats from getting out was when he caught them, he had a small section of rope where they would stand about 1' back from the electric fence and if they walk up and touch the fence, they got it!!!! Not a problem in that field again he said.

Do I need to make this a 3 strand electric, 2 or 1, what do you recommend and why? Do ya all have problems with varmits such as bobcats and coyotes? I really do want to get a dog to stay with them if I can help it, but may have to.

jon12345 · January 06, 2006, 04:39:38 PM

llamas make good 'guard dogs' and ya can sell the fur...might even help the goats keep the brush down too ???

Tom_in_Mo. · January 09, 2006, 01:34:58 PM

Jon, what are their actions when they see ole willie coyote or some other predator?

jon12345 · January 09, 2006, 02:05:11 PM

The will 'defend' their flock by intimidating the predator. In some studies of using guard llamas with flocks of sheep there was a dramatic decrease in the number of deaths in the flock. However, some argue that a pair of well trained guard dogs is a better alternative especially against viscous dogs and larger predators.