Does anyone have the addy for a great goat forum? I have several for chickens and this one for almost everything but haven't found one for goats!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), June 20, 2000

Answers

Hi Debbie, Try this..www.egroups.com from the (you may have to join first but it's easy) click on animals then they have 5 or 6 different lists for goats. I like GoatsPlus or practical-goats. There is also a great cow forum called familycow. Hope this helps..Sherrie

-- Sherrie Holcomb (ester@communitygate.net), June 20, 2000.

Over at Egroups.com is also Nubian Talk, LaMancha Talk, Alpine talk etc. also chevontalk and Texas Boer Goat, goat and sheep rancher, barnyard, also on MSN communities there is The Goat Shed. Beware don't wear your feelings on your sleeves on some of the goat lists! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), June 20, 2000.

dairygoats is another decent one without a lot of flamming and a good mix of experience and newbie.

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), June 21, 2000.

How funny that the very first posts I read over at Dairy Goats was two folks arguing and calling each other names! :) So typical, why is it that us goat folks are so opinionated! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), June 21, 2000.

I found the same thing in several other goat forums! I think I'll just hang around here and ask my questions! Everyone here seems to be great! I enjoy reading everyone elses Q&A's! Thanks for the help!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), June 21, 2000.

I haven't been to the dairygoats site for a few days, but I've been visiting there for about a year, and although all goat keepers seem to be rather opinionated folks, I haven't seen any name calling there before. Guess I will have to go and check it out and see what the big deal is! I have to say that it does irritate me when somebody on a list like that gives really BAD advice, but I try to be as tactful and nice about disagreeing with them as I can! Anyway, the dairygoats site has some really helpful, nice, well informed people on it,(like Kathaleen) and I have found the site to be a real wealth of information, plus, it gets a pretty good response rate. There are some lists where you can post a question and it doesn't get answered for a month! If ever.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), June 22, 2000.

Somebody recently came onto that forum to start trouble; but relatively speaking, there really isn't much bickering.

Seems like the hardiness and durability of the goat allow for us keepers to use a variety of methods within reason to succeed without doing too much harm!! :-) This leads us to assume we are the reason for the goat's success and health. So, there will often be a variety of "successful" methods and some folks start believing their way, because it works for them, is the "right" way. When, in fact, there is more than one way to get the job done. If we keep that in mind, and accept that fact, then bickering over methods becomes senseless...some folks just like to "debate." But the reason I chose goats in the first place was because of their durability and adaptablity...you really have to try hard to mess up. Just some common sense, commitment, and consistancy will go along way toward being a successful goater...an open mind doesn't hurt much either.

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), June 22, 2000.

Jim, you are so nice and easy going! I guess what I meant was for example, the time that a gal said she'd been told to bathe her goats in kerosene to cure "mange" when it was the middle of winter and the mange was only lice, which,I could be wrong, but most goats I've seen get lice in the winter. I couldn't imagine giving any outdoor animal a bath in the winter, especially a goat! But it's true there can be a lot of petty bickering about things like dam/bottle raising, chemical use, etc. Then there is CAE... I try to keep my mouth shut more now about some subjects than I have in the past, but I don't always succeed!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), June 23, 2000.

I have tried to get on the egroups site several times without success. I am a member of a group already on the site and can get into that site only(Maryland Dairy Goat Assn.) If I try to join up and give them a password, I get back a message that my password is wrong. As far as advise on goat problems goes, I tell everyone the same thing - this is how I do it, but, listen to what everyone tells you and then do it the way you think is right.

-- Marci Waterman (hwater1933@AOL.com), June 24, 2000.