We've had a couple goats for 10 years. They aren't working animals but pasture art. They are fat and not too interested in escaping like most goats. I was always told if it will hold water it will hold a goat.
We recently moved to 40 acres and had to add welded wire fencing to the existing five strand on about four acres. Just that little bit in material was $2500 at a steep discount off craigslist. Containing goats can get expensive and they are always pushing on the fences.
We had lots of coyotes at the old place. One of our goats has a bite out of his ear. We had a llama, too, and I watched him chase off a coyote once but when the coyotes work in pairs and you've got a lot of goats I wouldn't be surprised if they got a couple. Our next door neighbors lost two to coyotes and brought the third over for us to take. Within two weeks two coyotes go a hold of him but I heard it happening in the middle of the night. He did not have horns while our others do which, I suspect, is why they were never killed like the neighbor's goats.
I've watched two coyotes harass one year old deer for 20 minutes out my bedroom window at night and know they're relentless.
We've had two goats die for no apparent reason. One was drooling for a day or two and wouldn't move around. We actually thought that one might have rabies and had it tested. I came home from lunch and saw two of the goats staring down at the barn and heard the third screaming when I got out of the car. It was laying on it's side thrashing and it never recovered. He never showed any signs of anything until that point.
The same thing happened to our first llama as the first goat. He basically seemed to lose the will to live. The second llama aspirated like a horse with colic. Was fine one minute and dead the next.
If you have enough goats you're gonna deal with escape, senseless death and death for no apparent reason. Same with the llamas. Quite frankly, I think the llamas are way more cool that goats. Goats are babies. If they feel a rain drop they run for cover.
