I’m a newby from Texas

[Beekissed]

Amen to that...we love pics of your place, what you are doing there, before and after pics are really impressive, etc.

Question...do you have fences and buildings in place already for said animals?

 

[Scott Henry]

Deer are all fine and dandy until they destroy your garden and eat your fruit trees. Plus eating any fruit before it's ripe. It's the elk that destroy trees when shedding velvet.

I honestly haven’t thought of that. I was thinking more of being able to hunt oh my own land. I guess putting a fence up around the garden is the only way to keep it safe then. Or is there other options that are better?

 

[NH Homesteader]

My other issue with deer is they carry diseases that can spread to my goats. Not sure that's an issue with cattle but I really don't know. We are fortunate to have plenty of deer but they've never bothered my garden. I imagine a fence would be a good plan, we just haven't done that here.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Is it a myth that if you surround your garden area with ... um... urine that it'll keep the deer away? I'm not so sure I'd want to surround my garden with urine though. Might be better to share with the deer, lol!

 

[Hinotori]

Is it a myth that if you surround your garden area with ... um... urine that it'll keep the deer away? I'm not so sure I'd want to surround my garden with urine though. Might be better to share with the deer, lol!

Didnt work for us. I had hubby watering my cherry trees every night for a couple weeks. The deer still ate them to death. The deer repellent spray didnt work either

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh...so much for that idea!

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Welcome Scott! SC here, although I have lived here and there many places through the past 39 years.

 

[Scott Henry]

It would take a high wire fence to keep the deer out. Or you can get a big barky dog. We fenced our 8 acres with the 2"x4" non climb horse wire. Not even the chickens can get through it. Our dogs stay IN and everybody else's stay OUT. Coyotes stay out too. We have two Great Pyrenees to keep the varmits away. They keep the deer away too, although a couple of does figured out that the horse pasture was safe and they stashed their fawns in it. They walked mere feet away from the back yard fence, unafraid of the big white dog barking a frothing frenzy on the other side of the fence.

You do have a lot of work ahead of you. Is there any kind of fence at all? What kind of fence will you put up? Can I recommend fencing the outer parameter in sheep and goat fence, getting some goats to underbrush it and a LGD to keep them safe? You have a lot of FREE feed on your 20 acres. Get meat goats, sell the young ones for meat. They will also eat the trees that you cut in clearing for buildings. Why let it go to waste? As you transition to pasture for your cows, you can sell out the goats.

I do know that goats are on the agenda. I have a 9 year old daughter that is saying that she wants goats. There is no fence at all. The land is surrounded by hundred of acres of wooded untouched land (that I can hopefully purchase In the future) I for sure want to get info on goats from you. I have never had a goat before so it will take a lot of learning on my part. How high did you make the fence that you surrounded your 8 acres with?

 

[Scott Henry]

Goats, we can help with! Lots of goat people here. Do you want them for meat, dairy or a little of both?

I really don’t know. I have never had goat meat or milk. I am mainly going to get the goats because that’s what my daughter wants. I have thought about getting show goats and selling the kids to our local FFA and at least make some money off of them.

 

[baymule]

If it's your daughter that wants goats, will taking some to slaughter be a problem for her? They are cuter than cute, smart, have personality plus, but it can get out of control if you try to keep them all. It might be a good thing for her to know where meat comes from. You can't keep them all!

I suggested meat goats because the meat is good, you can sell the kids and they are not the commitment that dairy goats are. We don't have goats, we have hair sheep. I studied both and settled on hair sheep. We like lamb!

Our fence is 4' tall. I used 200' rolls of 2"x4" woven wire, 48" tall. We used 7' T-posts and have space to string 1 or 2 strands of barbed wire at the top. The horse pasture has barbed wire at the top, haven't got to the rest of it yet.