So now looks like I am driving to check out an alpine/nubian cross this weekend. 60 dollars for a pup and will be bottle fed. I unfortunately do not have the ability to do that just now so will pick the one boy up in about two months. Which kind of works pretty well for my moving and living plans on my own land. The lady said only female nubians are loud when in heat and males are quiet. Any experience with this cross? Should be a bigger critter too. I do believe I am on the right track now. . . but figured I'd still ask. Pretty excited nonetheless.
^ Allow me to present Exhibit A: Cuzco. Alpine/Nubian cross. Packgoat extraordinaire. Tall, leggy, strong, excellent stride, and the will to pack a barn up the side of Mt. Everest if I asked him. Never makes a peep.
Obviously I am completely biased, but I love the Alpine/Nubian crosses. I am breeding them now and have kept two lovely packgoat prospects and sold three others of this cross. One set of twins was loud as kids but they seemed to mostly grow out of it by about 12-18 months. Even my extremely noisy boy who I thought would never be good on the trail due to his unpleasantly loud vocalization at every tiny stress factor has suddenly found his "off" switch and I've barely heard a peep from him in four months. All the others have been quiet since they were born. I'd say definitely look into it and see if he looks he might be a good fit. Some Nubians are lazy, but none of my 1/2 Alpine crosses have been.
Hello Wordman
You do not want just "ONE" goat is my first advice. Unless you have a horse to keep it company.
As to what you have been told about "Only Nannies" making lots of noise when in heat.
It is NOT TRUE.
Nanny's of any breed are very vocal when is season.
The difference being Alpines and other goats have a "Rather Soft" bleat.
Nubian's are NOTED for having a "SCREAM" you can hear 1/2 mile away and they enjoy using it.
Sounds like you are beating a child.
It is NOT just a female thing. I had a otherwise very good whether that would scream and be heard through a 1/2 mile of wood lot when he got left behind and did not get to ride in the truck when we went to town. Yes, he was a barn brat and ran with my Dobermen's and horses.
As to the Alpine X Nubian cross for a whether go for it just get two. You and they will be a lot better off.
There are "opinions" that Nubian's are a "Lazy" pack goat it all depends on the goat and training.
I have a Nubian X Alpine Whether myself and even though he is not old enough to pack yet. Is full of himself, and not "Vocal"
Sam bleats when he wants to attract attention but dose not "Scream" I think that is his "Alpine" side showing up. : )
Both of mine are attached at the hip to me, that is what you want in a good pack goat.
Again I highly recommend get 2 everybody here I think will tell you the same. 2 are much simpler to care fore and train than 1.
Haha. Great looking animals guys. Should blend in well in the back country. Well as to the one goat thing. He'll have to bond to me and my dog or until i possibly decide to acquire another. Like my dog, this goat will be with me at all times. Walks, camps, part time outside employments, town walks, hunting and camping, travel. I know it has been done and I am determined. I get second thoughts, as with most anything but have wanted to do it and add another critter to my repitoire for some time. Just to add a little bit more ways of the past I have so craved. My days of hitch hiking long rides, without a truck bed or freight trains or bus or public transit are over. But i love slowing down and a goat brother will do that for us. May have more attention when in towns. But ive never had a problem politely asking people to leave me alone. I always wanted to be a modern day mountain man and to sttempt to spread word of a simpler more green existence.
I am a romantic yes but have adapted from a 365 a day house life when i was a high schooler to my mid 20s life of over half the year more or less outside on the ground. Will update aftet i check these boys out! Pics if i remember to take a phone
Hello Wordman
I think we have a similar "Itch" I do have 38+ years of camp experience with horses.
Just now having got into goat packing, I can see taking a couple pack goats on a Walkabout. Were I could NOT take a horse.
There have been several people that have made "Treks" around the USA with horses/mules.
I have done over 500 miles with a team and wagon myself.
My idea ( A Goat Walkabout to both Bring Pack Goats attention but also bring attention to the homeless)
I know because I help with a homeless people "Dog" project that supplies dog food for the homeless that do have dogs with them. A goat can survive on the weeds and brush around many of the homeless camps I have been in.
A Nanny in milk would feed 3-4 people and still carry a light pack. Better than pushing a shopping cart.
The other side benefit is almost no were even in metro areas are one or two goats "restricted" the laws on the books just say they have to be "under control" like a dog. Plus imagine sitting on a corner with a goat on a rope pan handling.
You will get attention./"Donations"
Happy Trails
You do need 2 goats.
hihobaron
I think if you and your goat hang out all the time you can get away with just one but it's not ideal. Cuzco was raised as an "only goat" for a while and he seemed to really enjoy that life. However, one thing you can't do is play like a goat. Cuzco has a few nasty personality habits and I think it goes back to the fact that he was never able to take his playful aggressions out on anything but trees. Obviously we never let him head-butt with us, and the horses I kept him with didn't play with him that way either. I think goats need that, especially in the first 3-4 years when they are adolescents. Because he couldn't head-butt and play dominance games with other goats, he became aggressive toward people--particularly children and short people. He also became very possessive of me as his primary care-giver and will stand between me and other people, blocking them with his shoulder and growling. These problems have only gotten worse in his old age and no amount of correction or training has made much difference, so definitely consider buying a pair even if it seems like too much at once. The nice thing about two goats is that they will entertain each other when you're busy, so in some ways two is actually less work than one.
Alrite. Good to know there. Makes sense. Thats kind of how my dog is. Highly protective and sometimes snippy. We can play no problem but even with me his dad and main person he can sometimes be goofy. Maybe from solitude and not a hell of a lot of other dog interaction. But hes kind of become better with other dogs and sometimes testy with people. Animals are funny society labels them this or thay. Some just have wider boundaries but unfortunately too big for modern authority and modern mentality. I will definitely keep the other in mind atleast until I get to my land then its more likely.
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I had the task to re-socialize a lone goat several years ago. He was sold and bought as a youngster (3 months old) and then kept alone, first among cattle, then next to pigs for the next three years. Although daily contact with people he lived on a chain for 90% of his life.
It was heart-breaking to see him struggle in the herd. He didn't know how to browse, to rear up into a tree for the best leaves. The older goats would be merciless towards his "transgressions", he no longer talked "goat" fluently.
Even in deep snow he would keep out of the main shelter, in the lee of a big tree.
Later I was asked if I could take in a goat that had been kept as a horse companion and imprinted onto horses so much that he would jump fences to follow HIS horse when it was taken out for riding and as this horse was sold and he was left behind, he would try to find his herdmate in every horse that went by the paddock/pasture.
Goats have a unique ability to bond with partners outside of their own species and that so deeply that they often loose the ability to be with goats again later in life.
So, please, please, don't keep a single goat. Especially not one that has already a strong bond towards humans by being bottle-raised. His deck of cards is already stacked against him being able to live with other goats. If you keep him from having contact and interaction with goats for much longer, he will bond that strongly towards humans that keeping him out of your life when you must (work, etc.) will cause him mental pain.
They bond as well and AS DEEP as dogs but unless dogs they are too big to live in the house with you 24/7.
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Sabine from Germany
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