We ended up pickup up a few 4 month old alpine pack goat prospects this weekend. Be a few years before we can fully use them but the wife wanted to get goats so I compromised and got goats I could use too. Who else is running pack goats around here
Pack goats
- Thread starter brockel
- Start date
Duck-Slayer
Well-known member
I’ve had pack goats 6 years now I think. Check out packgoats.com for very useful information.
Matt
Cav1
Well-known member
My first year actually packing with them. We got four whethers as bottle babies for free from a nearby goat dairy. I think raising them to maturity is the way to go as they really bond with you and the family. Last year I took them for plenty of hikes in the mountains with just some small empty soft packs to get them used to it. They turned four this spring and we started going with just the saddle pads and crossbucks. June was a monsoon around here so I didn't start taking them out on over-nighters until July but the trips and camping have all gone well. Haven't had the opportunity to pack out any meat with them yet but I think they'll be fine since we hang our game in the shed with their pen. First time we brought home an antelope they got pretty upset, I guess at the smell of blood, but now after three hunting seasons worth of that they don't bat an eye. I just haul them in my pickup topper so we can go in on some of those Godawful Forest Service backroads that you don't really want to drag a trailer up.
Duck-Slayer
Well-known member
429421Cowboy
New member
We have goats but haven't gotten into packing them just yet. I guess I have so much money into horse packing I can't spend any on the goats yet haha My wife does use them as draft animals pulling a wagon or sledding with firewood or hay and they are handy as heck, and a ton of fun to have around. Lots of personality to each one, plus easy and cheap to keep around. We also feel fortunate to have them on the ranch so the horses are plenty used to them and never get upset when we run into goat strings in the mountains. I have heard a few stories of guys running horses and mules that have never seen a goat before getting owly in the mountains when they meet on the trail. Our horses couldnt care less about goats running over, under or alongside them! From what I have read it is best to have stock bred specifically to pack, but see no reason why any goat couldnt. They also can go places a man on foot would be hard pressed to get into, much less a horse. And you don't have to pack any feed for them either!
Kharper
Active member
Interesting thread. I would like some goats also but have wondered if llamas provide any advantages or disadvantages over goats. Is the disease issue overrated for goats?
Cav1
Well-known member
Llamas can carry more weight per animal but are pretty expensive compared to goats (we got our wethers free from a goat dairy). Goats can forage on a wider variety of vegetation and can clamber up even rougher mountain terrain than a llama. When I was deciding, the biggest minus for me was when I learned that llamas, like horses or mules, sometimes make their own way back down to the trailhead and trailer if they get loose at night. With goats, the herd instinct attaches them to you, the herd leader, and they stay with you.
Still lots of debate going on about this point. We had the vet send in samples to the lab to make sure all of our goats were negative for carrying Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (MOVI). The North American Pack Goat Association has plenty of info on this issue and we follow their Best Management Practices for avoiding contact with wildlife, especially bighorn sheep.[FONT="] [/FONT]
joens
Member
You are the guy who responded to my post on the pack goats forum on facebook. We are planning on getting some and our place is not far from you relatively speaking.
