Free ranging animals has become popular and for good reason. When you free range your animals you are allowing them to eat the bugs and grass and whatever is in their “grazing” area which will make their diet much better then if they are just fed grain.
Free ranging benefits
Affordability: A goats diet consist of mostly hay, grass, pasture etc. So if your goat is not free ranged you will end up spending a lot of money to keep enough food on hand. If you are a homesteader that is trying to save money like most of us you won’t want to spend unnecessary money on feed.
Weed Eating: Your goat free ranges can be your mower/weed eater. Use one of the methods below to move your goat around to clean up your land. (keep reading for all the things a goat will eat up for you).
Health: If you are using your goat for meat or milk you want a healthy goat. So if you are letting your goat free range you will get the healthiest goat possible. You may not free range your goat in the typically complete freedom way. However, there are ways your goat can still get all of the benefits of free ranging but not have total freedom.
Non-traditional Free Range methods.
As I mentioned above you can still let your goat free range. Here are a few ways.
The first way to let your goat “free range” is to tie your goat up.
There are a number of ways you can do this. One way is to tie your goat to a stake and then move the stake around the area you want the goat to be. You can also tie your goat to a cinder block and once the goat gets an area eaten down move to the next area. Or if you live in a wooded area just tie him to a tree. With any of these methods just make sure your rope is long enough for the goat to get a decent amount of area. Have your rope at least 20 feet. You want it long enough for the goat to get to the grass but not to long that it gets tangled up in it.
The second way would be to get temporary fencing.
This way you can have your goat in an area for a few days. ( Or more depending how big the area is) and once it “mows” down that area you can move the fence and give him fresh grass, bugs etc.
The third way would be the closest to actual free range, which would be using dogs.
If you happen to have herding dogs you can let your goats free range and the dogs should keep them close. The dogs that do the best with this would be blue heelers. It is a long shot that you would have a herding dog but it is an option to try out.May sure that you also keep around to see how the dog and goats get along.
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