The best protection from coyotes is a livestock guardian dog (aka LGD) such as a Great Pyrenees, Anatolian Shepherd, Maremma, etc. These dogs actually “guard” the goats and are not herding dogs (many people get these two concepts confused). Here’s a link for more info: http://www.lgd.org/
Most people just starting out with goats aren’t willing to add a huge dog to their goat plan, and I totally understand this.
Very sturdy fences that are checked monthly for damage and any low areas that a coyote could scoot under will greatly help against coyotes. Bringing the goats in closer to the house, or wherever the scent of people will be, also helps.
I would recommend you start with 2-3 adults or half-grown goats instead of getting young kids. The younger ones are much more appealing to coyotes and also require more frequent deworming.
We trim our goats hooves every 3 months. It’s actually pretty easy if you have the right tool. Here’s a video that shows you how: How to Trim Goat Hooves Hoof trimmers are often called “hoof rot sheers” and I highly recommend the orange handled ones like shown in the video. They can be purchased here: Hoof Trimmers or may be available at your local livestock supply store.
The main thing I try to tell everyone about deworming goats is this… Internal parasites are the #1 killer of goats. (Domestic dogs is the #2 killer.) With our high humidity and mild winters goats must be dewormed. Any goat under 4 months is dewormed every 4 weeks. Between 4 months – 1 year I deworm them every 6-8 weeks. Once they are 1 yr old I begin using the FAMACHA method. The FAMACHA method is to check for anemia by looking at the goat’s inner, lower eyelid. See the FAMACHA chart on the Basic Goat Health & Husbandry page. Basically you’re checking them for anemia. Any goat that looks medium – light pink gets dewormed. Any goat with a white inner-eyelid is near death. The goats with the almost red inner eyelid do not get dewormed. All goats are checked using the FAMACHA method every 8 weeks and dewormed accordingly.
If you are wondering how I give the deworming medication, I draw up the amount I need in a syringe (without a needle) based on the goat’s weight (see the dosage chart). If you have just a small number of goats then Safeguard (1cc per 10 lbs of body weight) should work for you. Many of the other products come in such large quantities that it wouldn’t be cost effective to buy a bottle for just a few goats.
