I'm from Australia where goat packing (and driving) is virtually non-existent so it's great to be part of this forum. I've had my goats for 6 years - various breeds/crossbreeds, mainly rescues - and I'm very keen to get packing with a couple of my large dairy wethers. I live on a small hobby farm with a variety of animals but the goats are my passion in life.
At the moment I'm researching pack saddles and trying to decide whether to go for a traditional crossbuck design or one of the Sopris lumbar packs. My research has led me to conclude that pack goat gear isn't readily available in Australia so I need to make the right decision given freight costs, etc. from the US. I'm ground driving one of my young wethers in preparation for putting him in harness when he's older but in the meantime he seems to be showing a lot of potential for packing.
Here are a couple of pics - my 4 year old Togg wether Atticus is around 280lb and Koby is my new little guy mentioned above, who is just getting used to having gear on his back. He will grow out to be bigger than Atticus I think.
It's a very hot summer here - we're in drought at the moment and the bushfires are making a huge impact.
The wooden crossbuck is a lot cheaper and a simpler design. The down side is that if the rigid tree doesn't fit your goat then there's not much you can do about it. If your goats are very wide with flat withers then I don't recommend the wooden saddle. I had a wide goat and the standard packsaddle bridged horribly and would not remotely stay in place.
The Sopris packs will conform to any goat, wide or narrow. I use the Rookie pack with Intermediate panniers and am very pleased with it. On the other hand, there is a person on this forum who got a Sopris pack that had defective stitching. She had to send it back for repairs, but in your case such a thing would be terribly expensive because of shipping. A wooden saddle, being simpler and having no stitching, is less likely to have defective workmanship. So there are risks to both and you'll just have to weigh them.
Thanks for the welcome and for your advice on pack saddles. The two wethers I'm wanting to pack are not very wide - the large Togg is quite angular. On the other hand the British Alpine, although slender at the moment, will broaden out across his back quite a bit, I think.
Out of interest, do you use the Rookie version (as opposed to Sopris' larger, lumbar version) because you have a young or small goat or is that just your preference? The lumbar version seems very expensive so that does put me off somewhat - however the Sopris website said they recommend the Rookie version for smaller goats so I had discounted that as a possible choice for mine. But if I could get away with using the Rookie I'd probably buy that model, at least to start with.
I'm typing this during the first decent rain we have had for many months - it's wonderful to hear it on the tin roof!
I forgot to add that the goats won't be carrying heavy loads (i.e. less than 40lbs); we'll just be doing day trips to start with. So perhaps the Rookie would be feasible for my goats after all.
I actually have a pretty big goat and he fits the Lumbar saddle, but I felt like that one was overkill for the amount we'd be packing. The Rookie is cheaper because it doesn't have the super heavy-duty hardware, which I decided wasn't necessary for the extra price. We've been very pleased with our Rookie saddle. If you go with a Rookie pack, make sure to get the Intermediate panniers with it. The Rookie panniers are quite a bit smaller.
I've used both the wooden and the Rookie. The Rookie is a bit more "tricky" in my opinion if you're used to the more rigid set up of a wood saddle to place and secure. I surely spent the first time having it on a goat more with readjusting the straps than with walking. But, to be honest, after I had the principle figured out, I really started to like the Rookie.
The wood saddles are great for larger loads AND when the saddle fits your goats. As Germany also had (back in 2002) a non-existing pack goat community - and we are still way behind in terms of breeding goats for working - my main concern over the years was (and still is) that the standard wood saddle that you can buy from US manufacturers is a bit too large, a bit too wide for the goats that I have encountered in Germany so far.
In that regard the Rookie is more versatile, it will fit a narrow goat as well as a broader goat. The only thing you need to check is if the goat's back is long enough (but this would be your concern with the wooden saddle, too).
The wooden saddles are manufactured with a fixed angulation of the crossbuck of 86°. In narrower goats you will have the lower part of the bar stick away from the rib cage (limiting load baring surface and pinching the goat) and in broader goats you'll get the above mentioned bridging.
What I would do - being in your position and with what I know now - is measure my goats: length of back (from withers to last rib), width of chest resp. angle of ribs (take two straight rods, tie them to a "X" and place them on your goats back. Mark where the rods touch the long back muscle along the spine and measure the angle.
A great, but at the moment unavailable solution, is/was the custom fit saddle from Northwest which you could fit almost any goat (the only fixed measurement was its length)
BTW - does anybody know if/when the Custom Fit will be available again?
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Sabine from Germany
You might want to check with donkey packers in Australia. I've come across a few that are quite knowledgeable and offer instructions on how to build crossbuck saddles for donkeys/miniature donkeys or build them themselves.
Try to locate Tim Daniels from Wilderness Expeditions or Brian Beck
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Sabine from Germany
Australia -- 50 poisonous bities per acre and rip snorter crocs hiding in the mozzie filled billabongs... thats what comes to mind. Of course its gotta be furphy since the place has so many jumbucks doing well for themselves. I'd be curious to hear about the realities of taking a walkabout in the bush.
Thanks so much for the big welcome and for all your advice, I am really excited!
Sabine, I will measure the wethers as you have suggested. After digesting your (and Nanno's) advice I am initially still leaning towards the Rookie, although the Custom Fit from Northwest sounds good. I don't mind fiddling about to get the correct fit to start with - everything is a fiddle for me at the moment because I'm new to this packing caper. Fortunately Koby is quite a patient goat and very malleable; Atticus less so.
Charlie Horse - you are correct in that we have a few creatures with big white pointy teeth in Australia. There are no crocs down South where I am, but plenty of spiders and snakes. The snakes are confused by the weird weather we've been having - they pop up when you least expect them. Mozzies are less of an issue at the moment because it has been so dry - there aren't any billabongs where I live, just a few dry creek beds. Even my own farm dam has dried up but it now makes a fine training ground - lots of cracks and unstable surfaces for goats to negotiate. We don't have mountain lions, wolves, coyotes and bears here so I guess that's a plus - I would say the biggest threat whilst out on the trail around here would be unrestrained dogs, and to a lesser extent the odd aggressive alpha male kangaroo. Got my Dog Dazer at the ready.
I'll post some more goatie pics a bit later - thanks again for all your input. It is very interesting to hear how you guys approach the use, care and management of your goats in the US and Europe.
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