I haven't used goats myself, but I'm fairly familiar with them. The Jury is out on dehorning. I guess it's a personal preference thing. There are good arguments both ways. Unless they damage each other, I'd leave them on. However, never let them learn play with you. They'll bust you good when you least expect it.
I doubt that goats can take severe cold like llamas. Farmers in cold climates have to have good shelter for them in the winter because of it. I haven't heard of using blankets in the mountains, but it should work for late season hunting. It's one more thing to haul along, though.
They're probably the easiest to train of any of the pack animals available. If they're imprinted when young, you just have to get them used to a load. They'll pretty much stay with you after that. I've heard of them sort of taking over a camp if you let them. They'll move right in, even inside your tent. That's probably an extreme brought on by them being pets, not tools. I'm guessing your partners would object to sharing a tent with a goat.
I don't know of anyone personally who's lost goats to predators, but we have our share of coyotes around here. I'd hate to have to take along a guard dog or llama just to run them off. If they're a problem and if you're camping with your truck, I'd load them up at night to protect them.
Alpines are very popular with good size to them. Boers can get up to 300 sometimes and are real load haulers. I don't know what the coat issue is. I haven't heard of it.
I'll bet your partners will kid you to no end until they hike 3 miles out carrying only a rifle while the goats pack the meat. That makes the Heidi jokes disappear fast.
