# Free goats on Craigslist...



## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

This is about an hour from me and I am wanting to call SO bad. Will have to talk to hubby about it first.

I have no experience with fainting goats, or any others for that matter! My Daddy used to have goats, but I never helped with them much.

Dumb question...can you milk a fainting goat??? 

http://northmiss.craigslist.org/zip/1687706506.html


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## jBlaze (Dec 26, 2007)

In my experience FREE is usually NOT a good deal.

I got free goats a few years ago, I am still battling lice, thank goodness it was not something worse.

Wait for healthy goats!! They are LESS expensive in the long run!!

hard i know, lol, sorry.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

Run away!

For free, I highly doubt you'll come away with disease free animals. The other poster was lucky to come away with just lice. Diseases to research are CAE, CL, and Johne's. CL is zoonotic (means you and other animals besides goats can get it!) and VERY contagious and Johne's may be linked to chrone's disease in humans. That's enough for me to want to stay disease free! 

Do some research on goats, and find a disease tested herd. If you're looking to raise goats, start with some quality does from a disease free herd. If you're looking for just pets/brush clearers, wethers are an excellent option and are usually VERY cheap even from big name, reputable, disease free herds.


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## thaiblue12 (Feb 14, 2007)

Free is not always bad or diseased. People have fallen on hard times, they might try to sell their goats first and if that does not work give them away. Or you might wake up one morning with a new animal out in your pasture. I have been finding free guineas and free peacocks running around out here and see them along side of the road. They let them go since they cannot feed them. I caught a few but after getting a peacock that flapped his wings and sprayed us all with poop I said no more while gagging and having my eyes tear! Friends of mine have woken up to a horse in their field. 

Raven fainting goats are meat goats and do not make good milking goats. They are small and so are their teats. Also they are/were used to keep predators from going after the "good" stock. They faint while the rest run and they get eaten. So not a good choice when you have 16 dogs not use to goats. A good sized mom goat with some kids that will beat the snot out of a dog and already be in milk would be a better choice IMO.


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## shiandpete.1 (Aug 13, 2008)

Thaiblue-i am having a mental picture of you and the peacock...sorry I laughed!


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

thaiblue12, that's what I figured. I knew they were small goats and was unsure as to milking them...kinda like milking a cat, huh? The dogs are one reason hubby doesn't want to get goats, but the goats will be penned three fences away from the dogs! But then, there are stray/wandering dogs and coyotes to consider.

The ad has been pulled so I figure someone else has already jumped on it. SIGH...I'll keep looking.


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## starjj (May 2, 2005)

Usually those ads that have been flagged for removal as this one was are scams that someone puts in as a way to get people to call and then it turns out they ain't really free.


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## thaiblue12 (Feb 14, 2007)

LoL not as bad as cat teats  More like a two finger squeeze for a small amount of milk. 
Hmm you need a guardian donkey, you can get one of those cute little ones, or a guardian llama  But if hubby protests you can go with cattle panels and/or some electric fence to keep the goats safe, boring but works. 
Be warned they are cute have personality and are addictive. Do not get goats that are not friendly. No reason to get wild ones that will not go near you when there are tons of friendly ones out there. Too bad you are so far away I have a small truck load of goats for sale, lol. 


Shiandpete you can laugh it is funny now, was not back then. The smell is awful, kind of like being in the hippo house at the zoo. I gagged so bad and my daughter laughed till I threatened to hug her


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## Heritagefarm (Feb 21, 2010)

With goats, free is not free at all. Don't do it!


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Seems everyone else beat me to the punch: There's no such thing as a "free" goat.

Do yourself a favor. If you really want goats, do your research, and source a goat from someone with a good reputation.

In the long run, it really pays off.


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## RiverPines (Dec 12, 2006)

Dont just assume free=bad.

I have given away perfectly good goats simply because I cared more about the home they went to than making a buck!

Also with the economy some areas, there just is no demand for goats and people cant afford to keep them and are forced to give them away just to save the money used to feed them!

In my area goats are just not selling well at all. Your going to have to sell cheap to free if you need to get rid of them for whatever reason.

Heck I am about to sell out my entire herd of Angoras and Pygoras because we need to cut cost and I know I will be lucky to get 50 a piece for my bucks and maybe 100 for my does because our area is in a bad economical condition. 
I'm just keeping my 4 sheep, thats it.
There are very few buyers and a lot of goats for sale around here. So free around here means most likely on heck of a 'good' deal!

Heck we have people out here selling registered, perfectly fine animals for unregistered low prices...such as an average of 150 for good dairy breeds! And even at those low prices sales are few.

People are desperate to thin out and scale back to save money, with a terrible lack of buyers out there.
A lot of people are just plain old broke.


So maybe ask why something is free before assuming its a sick animal or some kind of a rip off.

And as for flagging, CL has issues with their system because so many animal rights fanatics just crawl on CL flagging any animal sales they can find. No fault to the seller. Just wackos that dont think any animal should be bought and sold. Livestock sales are fine on CL but you cant tell that to the flagging loons!


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