Sheep or Goat?

[Treechange]

Hi, we have recently done the Treechange and moved to a rural area and built a house on an acre. We have 3 children under 6 and 2 small dogs. We would like to get a sheep or goat however I know nothing about either of them. A few facts: We have a lot of blackberries around, we have secure rural fencing that is 1.2m high. We mainly want the sheep/goat for a pet and for grazing. Id prefer low maintenance animal. Does anyone have any suggestions or information or can suggest any other animal? Thank you

[curlyleads]

Hi everyone,
The best "Low Maintenance" sheep of all... The Wiltipoll has been bred with no horns, but you can also get the "Wiltshire Horn" Easy to keep, and just pure grass cutters! No shearing or crutching either.
There are several websites on these sheep if you Google for them.
cheers,
curlyleads

[activefarming]

Goats will do better at eating weed, especially woody weeds. But I have found my children do better with sheep. Goats can be a little more aggressive or even accidentally hurt children more than sheep. Although this does depend on each individual as they are all different.

Michael

[stormview]

You would at least need to run a pair.. Since they are flock animals and would need company to thrive..goats are easyer to tame than sheep.. But sheep are very nice and are definantly my prefererance.. U could possibly go for a breed that sheds its own wool they are very low maintanace sheep and are very popular.. Some self shedding breeds include damara sheep, dorper sheep, wiltipol/wiltshire sheep the cross's of these breeds would also be fine and would be alot cheaper also

[mistton]

As a pet sheet will be better I guess because most of the children love sheeps than goat. Also try to prefer without horns. They are good eaters of grass also. They are cheaper and friendly than goats. I don’t know about these blackberries. It is better to keep two instead of one for a company. Don’t forget to give them medicine for worms with the advice of a doctor. I have two of them and are so lovely.

[username taken]

hi
i am absolutely agree with that the sheep is better than a goat because a sheep can provide meat but goat can't :):)

Um ... Excuse me? Since when do sheep produce meat but goats dont? Of course you can eat a goat its fantastic meat. But.given the OP wanted a pet its a moot point anyway. Addressing the initial question, for young children ie. toddlers i generaly suggest a pet lamb as goats can be over enthusiastic and jump up, knocking the little ones over. Older children 6yrs and on are usually better suited to a goat. Always get them in pairs as one will become lonely, loud and destructive. I would suggest getting two well established on the bottle as thhis will make them fast friends with the kids