Chat
04-14-2018, 09:46 AM
Goats don't completely stop growing until they are around four years old. However, I do pack mine with light loads using an appropriately-sized saddle starting at around 18 months. The main thing here is to know your animals, not necessarily a formula. 140 lbs. at 2 years old is fairly small in my opinion. I would prefer to see them closer to 160 lbs. at this age. However, spring is usually a time of rapid growth spurts, so hopefully by the time your trip comes up this summer they'll have grown significantly. That said, they are very young and the trip you're planning is a long one. Conditioning them to carry that kind of weight on a one-week trip should be no problem. Conditioning them to carry it for 3+ weeks is asking a lot and I would feel pretty iffy about demanding that much out of 2-year-olds, especially considering that their saddles will probably not fit as well as they should.
Things to think about:
How fit are your goats? Do they already do a lot of hiking without packs? How many miles do you typically cover? 10 miles/day with a 22 lb. pack is fine for a short-term trip and most youngsters could handle that without difficulty, but a young goat needs to be very fit to keep it up for several weeks.
Do your saddles fit? At this age, standard-sized saddles may still be too long for their backs. Make sure your saddles sit behind the shoulder blades but well ahead of the hip bones. Watch your goats walk around with empty saddles and see if their hip bones hit at all when they step. If they do, then your goats need to grow a little more to fit their equipment.
Another thing to consider with saddle fit is the shape of your goats' backs. Many younger goats (and we encounter this with horses too) still have their withers set too low for a good saddle fit. The withers are about the last thing to develop as a goat matures, and some don't have good ones until they're over 4 years old. Before the withers come up, the saddle often doesn't sit quite right, and there's nothing to keep it from sliding side-to-side or riding up the shoulders. Two-year-old goats also tend to be built downhill, exacerbating the problem of saddles sliding forward and irritating the shoulders even when they're walking on level ground.
Know your goats and know your equipment. If you have saddles that fit well and you have taken the time to condition your goats so they're up to the task, then I think they should be ok if they get some good growth this spring. Daily exercise training without packs, including some running, will strengthen their muscles, bones, and joints more than anything else at this age, and can really encourage growth as well. Make sure you use those packs several times for multi-day trips to make sure your goats are comfortable wearing them with a load. Sometimes saddle fitting problems don't become obvious until the second or third day in a row of carrying it.
Is there any possibility that you could get by with only packing one goat? That way you could switch your saddle back and forth between them so they get a break every other day. Or you could even switch every day at lunchtime so they only pack half-days. They could probably carry a little more weight in the pack if you were giving them that break between-times. Something to think about.
Good luck with your adventures! I'm sure with the right planning and preparation you'll either be able to make it work, or you'll know that packing your goats to capacity is not in the cards for this summer.
Things to think about:
How fit are your goats? Do they already do a lot of hiking without packs? How many miles do you typically cover? 10 miles/day with a 22 lb. pack is fine for a short-term trip and most youngsters could handle that without difficulty, but a young goat needs to be very fit to keep it up for several weeks.
Do your saddles fit? At this age, standard-sized saddles may still be too long for their backs. Make sure your saddles sit behind the shoulder blades but well ahead of the hip bones. Watch your goats walk around with empty saddles and see if their hip bones hit at all when they step. If they do, then your goats need to grow a little more to fit their equipment.
Another thing to consider with saddle fit is the shape of your goats' backs. Many younger goats (and we encounter this with horses too) still have their withers set too low for a good saddle fit. The withers are about the last thing to develop as a goat matures, and some don't have good ones until they're over 4 years old. Before the withers come up, the saddle often doesn't sit quite right, and there's nothing to keep it from sliding side-to-side or riding up the shoulders. Two-year-old goats also tend to be built downhill, exacerbating the problem of saddles sliding forward and irritating the shoulders even when they're walking on level ground.
Know your goats and know your equipment. If you have saddles that fit well and you have taken the time to condition your goats so they're up to the task, then I think they should be ok if they get some good growth this spring. Daily exercise training without packs, including some running, will strengthen their muscles, bones, and joints more than anything else at this age, and can really encourage growth as well. Make sure you use those packs several times for multi-day trips to make sure your goats are comfortable wearing them with a load. Sometimes saddle fitting problems don't become obvious until the second or third day in a row of carrying it.
Is there any possibility that you could get by with only packing one goat? That way you could switch your saddle back and forth between them so they get a break every other day. Or you could even switch every day at lunchtime so they only pack half-days. They could probably carry a little more weight in the pack if you were giving them that break between-times. Something to think about.
Good luck with your adventures! I'm sure with the right planning and preparation you'll either be able to make it work, or you'll know that packing your goats to capacity is not in the cards for this summer.