Newbie Goat Questions

[Payturpin]

Hello all!

My family and I are brand new to the goat keeping life. We are about to get a set of Nigerian dwarf doeling twins. We are beyond excited to start on this journey but I have a couple questions. First, we built a nice little house for them and have it enclosed for night time. Should I put pine shavings or hay all along the floor of their pen and house? Second, we also have chickens and dogs, is there anything we should be worried about as far as their commingling goes? Lastly, I’ve been reading a lot about baking soda and have been getting a lot of mixed information on how much they need and how to provide it.
Thanks in advance

 

[misfitmorgan]

Congratulations on the new additions arriving soon!

For the bedding, shavings are fine so long as you are not kidding or have lactating does that nurse kids as the shavings will stick. We use straw for bedding, we like it better as it stays fluffed longer and makes a better barrier between our animals and the concrete floor in our barn. You mileage may vary you can try out whatever is easier to get and then switch if you dont like it. Why would you bed their entire pen though?

Hay is food, dont use it for bedding. It would be like someone spreading out a salad on the floor and telling you no thats carpet.....doesnt work lol.

For baking soda most everyone just leaves a container of baking soda where the goats can access it. They wont overdose on it or anything so amount doesnt much matter, we just pour a small box into a double grain feeder and put loose minerals on the other side.
One like this:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...l-feeder-2x175-qt-capacity-black?cm_vc=-10005

The chickens and dogs should be fine assuming the chickens can not get into the goats feed, the goats can not get into the chickens feed and the dog is separated by a fence when not supervised. Keep your chicken feed secure and locked away from the goats, chicken feed causes bloat when not regulated and it can and has killed goats.

 

[Payturpin]

Thank you!
The people I’m getting our does from have straw all over on the floor of their goat pen? I thought it was strange also, but seeing as I’m new to the goat game, I wasn’t really in a position to question it.
Our dog is very calm and gentle, he basks in the sun with our chickens, mostly just ignores them.
The chickens coop is secluded, however we leave their door open during the day because several of the hens are brooding and come in and out at random times. I supposed I should start keeping their door shut during the day from now on? What about like bird seed? Not actual chicken pellet or crumble but just bird seed? My next door neighbors love our chickens and toss bird seed over to them daily.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Thank you!
The people I’m getting our does from have straw all over on the floor of their goat pen? I thought it was strange also, but seeing as I’m new to the goat game, I wasn’t really in a position to question it.
Our dog is very calm and gentle, he basks in the sun with our chickens, mostly just ignores them.
The chickens coop is secluded, however we leave their door open during the day because several of the hens are brooding and come in and out at random times. I supposed I should start keeping their door shut during the day from now on? What about like bird seed? Not actual chicken pellet or crumble but just bird seed? My next door neighbors love our chickens and toss bird seed over to them daily.

Let me ask a few questions so I can clear up my own possible confusion. What are you calling a "pen"? An area they can close off during the night to keep the goats safe or a dry lot the goats never leave?

If you have a house and a pen AND a pasture, no you can just put straw in their house. My only possible thinking for straw in a pen would be that they are kept on drylot 24/7 and never get to go on pasture so they are using straw to try to combat any issues with parasites. Whether that method actually works or not I have no experience with, I would assume they would be shoveling/scraping out all that straw every so often and putting in new straw.

Your dog should be ok with the goats then but the goats may not be ok with the dog lol. You can leave the door open so long as the goats can not get inside the chicken coop itself or wherever the chicken feeder is located. You may need to make a chicken door sort of higher up with a ramp to help keep the goats out if you are having issues. If they get to a tiny bit of chicken feed they will be ok if they get to like a few pounds that the trouble or if they get into the entire bag.

Regular bird seed or scratch grains are no problem as they will be in a smaller quantity and have a lower protein. So long as they dont find like a 15lb bag and eat it all your good.

If you like you could share pictures of your set-up, that would probly answer a lot of questions lol.