The Bull Pasture and Goat Problems

This winter I moved the goats into what I call the bull pasture.  The bull pasture is a small fenced in pasture one keeps the bull in so it is not with the cows from February 15th to the end of May. Keeping the bull separate from the cows during these months prevents calves from being born during the coldest winter months in the northern part of the country.  Cows are pregnant for around 283 days, so this is how the bull separation period is calculated.  Since this is the first year my bull can breed, I did not separate it from the cows.  

​I used the bull pasture this winter for the goats. There are good points and bad points to raising goats with cows.  The goats tend to eat weeds and brush that cows would not eat in the pasture. During the warm months I have not had any problems keeping the goats and cows together. During the winter months the goats climb up into the round bale feeders and ruin the hay by urinating and defecating into it, ruining a good portion of the hay and obviating the whole purpose of a round bale feeder.  

Goats banished to the bull pasture for the winter. Notice how the are stripping the bark off of the trees. I had to wrap the trees I wanted to save with fence wire.

So for this reason, the goats were banished to the bull pasture for the winter.  I built a special round bale feeder from unused lumber that the goats could not climb into. One has to be careful with anything put into the goat pen.  They are masters at getting their heads stuck and on 2 occasions I have had a goat perish by hanging itself.  ​

Home Made Goat Shelter and Hay Feeder