[Jacob-list] goats

[Linda]

My sheep are much more prone to eat bark than the goats were.  The 
goats were more likely to demolish saplings and break off any 
branches they could reach.  No one seems to like the bark on our 
walnut trees, but the sheep love maple bark.  They will butt a maple 
tree until the get a break in the bark and then just peel it off.
The goats would certainly destroy fruit trees as quickly as they 
could!  Groucho, one of the rams, has a serious affinity for pear 
trees and will find away around whatever guards I put around the 
trees.
My biggest problem with goats (and why I finally sold them off) was 
that they were so aggressive towards the sheep.  It would probably 
have been better if I'd kept more goats so that they would have been 
more of a herd. Perhaps then they would have established a pecking 
order within their own species.   As it was, the goats broke horns on 
the sheep, knocked pregnant ewes to the ground, and injured a ewe 
lamb so badly that she will probably always limp.
I had Nubians and never saw any lice.  

Linda


On Fri, 1 Sep 2000 11:23:40 EDT,  wrote:
>We are going to be fencing more of our land soon as our flock of
>sheep has
>grown to 10 with the addition of the 2 lovely ewes and ram I
>recently got
>from Mary Spahr.   Anyway, we were thinking of getting a couple of
>goats to
>help clear out some of the stuff the sheep don't eat.  I have some
>reservations about goats, though.  In some areas we have some nice
>big
>trees...hickory, oak, black walnut... and we are afraid that the
>goats might
>eat the bark off them.  Has anyone with goats had a problem with
>this?  Also
>I heard that goats can have lice that could spread to the sheep.
>Should this
>be a concern, or is this one of those things that can happen but
>most likely
>won't?

>
>Sharon
>
>_______________________________________________
>Jacob-list mailing list
>Jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
>http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/jacob-list


http://www.PatchworkFibers.com
Registered Jacob Sheep