Since we’ve lived here, we’ve had goats for around 7 years. A solid 6 year stint with Gerty and Jilly – two toggenburgs (you can read about them here) and then a year of another batch of goats (with a goat share arrangement) which came and went a bit while we tried to find the right fit (again toggenburgs). And then, due to an elbow injury which meant I couldn’t milk and our goat share coming to a natural conclusion we called a “goat break”.

But it turns out, our garden and hearts feel a bit empty without goats. So I started researching what possible goat arrangement might work for us again. Enter Dwarf Nigerian goats. While I’ve admired dwarf goats in the past, I’ve never thought them viable enough as a milking goat. But I kept researching and asked around until I found Melanie at Mill Cottage Farm in southern Lutruwita/Tasmania who raises super miniature and also not-so-miniature Dwarf Nigerians (so mid-size ones I guess) and I thought YES.

So here we are, again. We have a gorgeous mama who’s 4 years old. Her birth name is Orianna, but we’re called her Darling….. Cause she’s a true Darling. We temporarily have her son who’ll be going back to Mill Cottage Farm (once he’s naturally weaned) where he’ll be re-homed as a pet goat for a lucky someone. We’ve called him Sammy for now and he’s an absolute pleasure, loves a cuddle. And then we have her step daughter, Daisy , who’ll live with us permanently. Once she’s fully grown it’s likely we’ll mate her to have a little babe so we can then eventually have two milking goats.

Where do they live?

They live in our garden in a fenced area (no free-ranging) which is around 60/70m2, so not a large space. It’s a high input system as we buy in some feed and cut fresh branches for them daily. They also hang out on the grassy bits in our gardens with us and can come for walks on the local bush road. So all very lovely. The ground is permanently mulched with woodchips to make sure there’s never any mud or poo build up. This is actually a fantastic system as worms can’t survive without pasture, so all the goats we’ve kept here end up being worm-free.

The shed includes the “goat deck” which is their roof – we covered it with a timber platform and fence. As long as the weather’s good, they basically live up here. And yes, they do have one of the best views in the world.

The inside of the shed is split into sections (below right) with two milking/feeding stands, a fenced off area where their feed is stored and a small internal pen where we can seperate the goats overnight if we need to.

What do we feed them?

We feed them mixed chaff (oat and lucerne) and rolled barley morning and evening. We also have a mineral block available at all times and add in seaweed meal into their feed. They have permanent access to feed hay and fresh branches cut from our garden to snack on throughout the day. So yes, they’re wonderfully spoiled – as they should be.

Are we allowed to have goats in the city?

Yes, we are. While we’re less than 3km from the middle of the city, we happen to be zoned rural residential these days which means we can have livestock. But when we first moved here and had goats we were zoned residential only. So we applied for a ‘livestock permit’ from our local council – your council might have something similar!

We have our goats in a shared run with our chickens which works well. They mostly seem to ignore one another.

Should everyone have goats?

No, of course not. As I mentioned earlier, it’s what we call a high input system which means it takes regular work. It’s not hard, but you need to be there at least every morning and night to feed/water them. We happen to work from home and be happily obsessed with gardens and animals, so it’s an absolute joy to spend time with them daily. We’ll also start up the goat share arrangement again, meaning we can go camping and have a life when we want to.

So far, we are LOVING the dwarf goats. They’re much easier to handle and the (human) kids are more than comfortable to play with them by themselves for hours. We can also walk them easily (they’re not too strong) and these particular goats are bloody friendly and sweet. We’re stoked.