Rescued kids easy to re-home

Mana Rescue was inundated with people wanting to re-home a baby goat after a story appeared on the SunLive website recently.

Mana Rescue owner Fiona Montgomerie says they not only found homes for all 46 baby goats but she now has a waiting list of people who want to adopt other young goats.

Mana Rescue has been running for six and a half years and finds homes for all kinds of animals from household pets to rural animals, but baby goats have been the most successful by far.

Her two granddaughters, Akeria and Kaylee, have two of the original 46 and the young girls have been very helpful, bottle-feeding the young goats.

Fiona says someone wants to take 10 goats for their farm; several are waiting for kid goats for Ag-days at schools; an animal sanctuary at Galatea want a couple of baby goats to hand-rear and for people to interact with. These are just some of the requests for baby goats.

“Goats are lovely creatures. They are already very people-friendly at only a couple of days old,” Fiona says.

She says when goat dairy farms start kidding, Mana Rescue get bobby or male goats as the goat farmers are wanting to keep the female kids for replacements for the dairy herd. Once they have their replacement female goats they give Mana Rescue both male and female young.

There has been an increase in goat milking operations she says.

“Goats often have twins and sometimes they have three and the dairy goat operations have to find a home for them otherwise they would be culled.

“Basically they come to me from the farms and they go out to new homes quite quickly (as long as they are healthy). We do get the odd one which might need a little bit of attention. We check them out before they are re-homed.

“I am learning a lot about the welfare of the goats and the best method of feed – the tricks of the trade and I try to pass on as much information as I can to the new owners.

“Many people wanting to adopt goats are wanting at least two as they are great company for each other and they are happy to take a white and a coloured.

“I am trying to take on as many young goats as I can. I can’t travel very far from home as I have the commitment to feed the youngsters four times a day.

“At one stage I was bottle-feeding 24. The numbers fluctuate and it’s nice to get the young goats to their home early so the bond with the new owner can develop. Most people have common sense – if you have raised a child you can raise a goat.”

If people would like to adopt a young goat it is good to visit Fiona at her Mamaku Village house. The homes need to be rural as most suburban councils do not allow goats to be kept in urban areas.

Fiona says it doesn’t take much land to have a couple of goats and they will basically ‘eat anything’ but secure fencing and housing along with hay and water is essential.

Fiona also rescues other animals, including chooks, sheep, pigs, and cats so it is good to check out her Facebook page, Mana Rescue, as the first port of call.


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