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  • From: Judy Anderson <illiinnarra AT verizon.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Newbie intro
  • Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 14:08:34 -0400

Thanks for this info. I don't recall supplementing our goats with minerals when I was young. They got hay, foraging (taking special care to keep them away from the cherry trees), and grain from Blue Seal. We always kept the males separate. If we use the same practices when we get our farm, would there be any issues?

Judy

Gloria Morris wrote:
I'm slow at this reply. Sorry, but I have been otherwise occupied recently.

I want to note that if you keep both sheep and goats (I previously raised
sheep, and now I have goats), you MUST take extra care to be sure that the
goats get sufficient mineral supplements, and that the sheep do not have
access to the goat minerals. That generally means separate housing. The
minerals that are necessary for good long-term goat health will KILL a
sheep. Also, though I have not personally experienced this, I was informed
by several experienced sheep farmers when contemplating adding goats to my
sheep farm some years back, that the species CAN cross, but the off-spring
are not viable - the cross produces "geep" which do not survive, and may end
up as a late term abortion. So, for that reason also you may wish to provide
separate housing and pens for those two species. Horses need different
minerals than sheep also. I kept horses with my sheep successfully by
putting the horse mineral up high where the horses could access them and the
sheep could not.

I presently house goats and horses together. The shed is divided into open
accomodations for both species and a separate pen accessible only by goats
and slim people. <grin> I have the opening into the goat shed set so that a
horse could not fit through. I have the goat minerals in the goat pen, so
that the horses cannot indulge and get an over-dose of minerals. The horse
minerals are in a feeder that is high enough that the goats do not attempt
to eat them (plus, I expect they prefer their own anyway).

HTH,

Gloria





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