[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Goats (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/21/2010 8:55:28 PM EDT
|
Moved here a year ago and are looking for a place to buy. Found one on 9 acres that looks interesting. Previously had horses on it. The discussion went something like this:
Me: What would you do with 9 acres? Wife: Raise goats and make goat cheese. Me: What do you know about goats? Wife: They make good cheese. Me: Are you really going to be taking care of goats and milking them? Wife: 
Me: What's that look for? Wife: Oh, I thought you said MELTING them. Me: (thought, not spoken) WTF! I believe in prepping, self sufficiency, and all that stuff, but this just seems like a bad idea. I'd like to see her start with a square foot garden, then maybe move up from there. This just seems like a bad idea––the goats, not the 9 acres. But maybe I'm wrong. I'm at least going to be open to ideas. Anyone here have goats and have anything to say? Anything about milking or raising for meat. There is a guy at a local farmers market who sells goat meat and has a sign that says, "Goat meat. 1,000,000 coyotes can't be wrong." Thanks |
|
I have 3 goats.
We are working on breeding them to make more goats that we will sell to make money, and also increase the number of goats we have on hand as an alternate meat source if we ever need to eat them. We had a 4th one, but we ate her last year. Good Stuff. 
|
|
Quoted:
what type of fence and how hall would it need to be for goats. i know they like to get out of stuff. We've kept them in with regular four foot tall woven-wire fencing (the stuff with like 4" squares), with three strands of barbed wire run at the top. That works OK and is a lot cheaper than chain link, but there's a bit of a learning curve for them with it. Until they figured it out, they kept sticking their heads through, then getting stuck... horns acted like fishhook barbs and wouldn't let them pull their heads back through. Our (good!) neighbors got pretty used to pulling over and poking goat heads back through the fence for us when they drove past that section of the property 
We didn't raise them for milk, meat or resale.. ours were strictly a landscaping tool. Penning up a couple of goats with a feeder steer or two is an excellent way to clear off an overgrown field - the cattle eat the grass, and the goats eat the weeds/brush. We've saved many a brushhogging hour that way. Goats have possibly the most personality of any farm animal, but that can be a plus or a minus. A really nice, tame one is a pleasure to maintain, while a mean or mischievous one can be a royal pain in the butt. |
|
My sister kept goats for awhile. They were OK till they got very big (she had a billy that grew up to be the size of a tank).
Goat milk is good IF (a) it is fresh, and (b) it comes from goats that have been fed goat feed, and NOT allowed to forage. They can be terribly destructive of vegetation you wish to keep (i.e. roses, gardens, etc). One tasty treat: Drink a BIG glass of goat milk, just after the mama has had a baby. Report back to the forum about the result. (My older brother did this. IM me for results.)  
|
|
Do your market analysis first!
if you're going to make goat cheese, you have to have a commercial kitchen (you can rent them) to sell it commercially. if you have a big mexican and/or islamic population, you can sell the goats for meat (young, old goat is nasty) goats are foragers, not grazers. So they like leafy things first. They'll eat grass, but only if nothing else is left. Horses are really hard on a pasture, so putting goats on afterward can help the grass recover and knock the weeds down. if you really want to raise/raise goats, then you have to change over your pasture from grass to leafy/legumes/etc |
|
Kids have some Nubians we've been milking.
INDISTINGUISHABLE from regular, whole milk, IF handled correctly. Been making cheese,fooling with fudge,etc Starting to making soap from goat's milk, for sale. Less hoops to jump thru. 
Here, Africans/Jamacans/ME'ers are the meat market, and will PAY. I know folks who allow onfarm slaughter, and are well compensated for it. |
|
Quoted:
Kids have some Nubians we've been milking. INDISTINGUISHABLE from regular, whole milk, IF handled correctly. Been making cheese,fooling with fudge,etc Starting to making soap from goat's milk, for sale. Less hoops to jump thru.
Here, Africans/Jamacans/ME'ers are the meat market, and will PAY. I know folks who allow onfarm slaughter, and are well compensated for it. I demand pictures. 
Mrs. Feral still wants some dairy goats but we haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. Just got a puppy yesterday.......have to let him settle in first. 
|
|
Quoted:
My sister kept goats for awhile. They were OK till they got very big (she had a billy that grew up to be the size of a tank). Goat milk is good IF (a) it is fresh, and (b) it comes from goats that have been fed goat feed, and NOT allowed to forage. They can be terribly destructive of vegetation you wish to keep (i.e. roses, gardens, etc). One tasty treat: Drink a BIG glass of goat milk, just after the mama has had a baby. Report back to the forum about the result. (My older brother did this. IM me for results.)
Do tell. Inquiring minds want to know. |
| I have three goats and plan on getting more, I do plan on learning to make cheese in the future with the goats milk. Just make sure you have your land fenced off as they like to roam. A lot of people I have talked to said that electric fencing doesn't work well for goat but I have not had any trouble with mine, they don't like being shocked. |
|
Quoted:
Moved here a year ago and are looking for a place to buy. Found one on 9 acres that looks interesting. Previously had horses on it. The discussion went something like this: Me: What would you do with 9 acres? Wife: Raise goats and make goat cheese. Me: What do you know about goats? Wife: They make good cheese. Me: Are you really going to be taking care of goats and milking them? Wife:
Me: What's that look for? Wife: Oh, I thought you said MELTING them. Me: (thought, not spoken) WTF! I believe in prepping, self sufficiency, and all that stuff, but this just seems like a bad idea. I'd like to see her start with a square foot garden, then maybe move up from there. This just seems like a bad idea––the goats, not the 9 acres. But maybe I'm wrong. I'm at least going to be open to ideas. Anyone here have goats and have anything to say? Anything about milking or raising for meat. There is a guy at a local farmers market who sells goat meat and has a sign that says, "Goat meat. 1,000,000 coyotes can't be wrong." Thanks You need to take your wife out to somebody who raises and handles goats and let her spend some time out there And I don't mean 30 minutes. She needs to spend some DAYS working around those goats. Beginning farmers often bite off more than they can chew, and that's not a problem––unless the mouthful takes over your life, and goats can do that. They're cute. But they stink. They're stubborn (some of them anyway) as a mule and can climb anything. They can be really sweet, but if they're mean, they can knock you flat and will do so. All that said, if I were going to milk something, a goat is probably a helluva lot easier for this 120 lb woman to muscle around than is a holstein. However, I hate goat milk. I think it's disgusting. (I must respectfully disagree with whoever said you can't tell it from whole milk. I can, most DEFINITELY tell. Blech.) But a lot of people like it. If you do, then that's not an issue. The thing is....if you're going to MILK the goats, then you're going to need to BREED the goats, which means there has to be sperm involved, and either you're going to AI, or you're going to have to keep an intact male. And THAT is a whole nuther level of goat in my experience. I like to ride horses, and am a right fair horsewoman. But I ain't keepin' no stud horse. Intact male anything (with more than two legs) is just a lot of trouble. Maybe your wife has handled livestock before, and if so, then she understands the subtleties involved in handling any animal. She may love it. Or she may HATE IT. The time to find out whether she loves it or hates it is, IMO, BEFORE you take that plunge. No internet forum is going to make you understand how your clothes smell after you've handled a goat. She needs to get some hands on. YMMV Kitties |
|
Quoted:
Kids have some Nubians we've been milking. INDISTINGUISHABLE from regular, whole milk, IF handled correctly. Been making cheese,fooling with fudge,etc Starting to making soap from goat's milk, for sale. Less hoops to jump thru.
Here, Africans/Jamacans/ME'ers are the meat market, and will PAY. I know folks who allow onfarm slaughter, and are well compensated for it. Have you tried making butter from goat's milk? My sister did... wore her arm out before she learned that there isn't enough fat (or the fat is different) to make butter. |
|
One more thing: Some adult billy goats can be safety hazards.
What the rest of the world sees. What the billy goat sees. I am not kidding about this (pun unintentional). |
|
Quoted:
could goat free range? i'm thinking of getting a 110 acres, if i do it will be the "BOL" and would like something to "clean up" on the land, but don't want to put up alot of fences. if they could it would be nice to have something there i could have as meat. Team member "itsARanchrifle" has several goats (maybe 15 or more?) that free range his ranch. One of my goats is down there now getting "plowed". 
I'll send him a link to this thread, he might be able to give better input. Gene |
|
Yep my goats roam a lot. We have 1400 acres and they still cross the cattle guard to go to the neighbors. Get a Billy while it is still young , that way you can give it some crackers or feed by hand.
You will need something to guard them. Donkey , llama , or dog, Or the critters will eat them. If you get in a routine of feeding them around the same time at nite you can pen them up. |
| We have two dairy goats.... Nubian/Lamancha mix. They aren't yet a year old, so they are not milkable yet. They can be troublemakers, and love to climb on stuff and try to sneak out. We have a 4ft wire fence, stapled on to an existing wooden horse pen, and it works good. |
|
Quoted:
We just got back from itsARanchrifle's ranch, where my goat has been free ranging (and getting plowed by his big Billy goat) for the last month or two. In that time, she easily packed on 20lbs or more. So free ranging does work. Nice to see you again Gene. You have a great family. How is the new Billy kid doing? |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
We just got back from itsARanchrifle's ranch, where my goat has been free ranging (and getting plowed by his big Billy goat) for the last month or two. In that time, she easily packed on 20lbs or more. So free ranging does work. Nice to see you again Gene. You have a great family. How is the new Billy kid doing? We had a great time down there, thank you so much! My son is asking when we are going back again, and my wife wants to get a bunch of your manure for the garden next time we come down.
The little kid is out there screaming for his mama, poor thing. He's staying close to "big bertha" though. I realized when I got home this morning, that I had your beer coozy in my back pocket. I'll bring it back next time. 
For those who are wondering, A couple months ago I had taken my large nanny down to itsARanchrifle's ranch to get her pregnant, since he had so many large billy's running around. Yesterday we went down to pick her up, and as we were getting ready to leave, he gave me a little billy kid goat, to help me get my goat breeding off the ground. I have two nanny's, and one billy (he's fixed though). Both of my nanny's are (hopefully) pregnant right now. Once they give birth, I'll give one of big bertha's female babies to him, so he has a different mix for his herd of goats. pics coming soon Gene eta: Pics In this pic you can see the "saddle bags" on her sides. Before she went down there, she did not have them. As you can see, they eat mostly corn here at the house, and what ever plants / leaves / etc, that we give them. Down at itsARanchfile's place, she was able to free range, and that really fattened her up. 
And here are all four goats together 
|
|
Quoted:
For those who are wondering, A couple months ago I had taken my large nanny down to itsARanchrifle's ranch to get her pregnant, since he had so many large billy's running around. Yesterday we went down to pick her up, and as we were getting ready to leave, he gave me a little billy kid goat, to help me get my goat breeding off the ground. I have two nanny's, and one billy (he's fixed though). Both of my nanny's are (hopefully) pregnant right now. Once they give birth, I'll give one of big bertha's female babies to him, so he has a different mix for his herd of goats. pics coming soon Gene Great pics! And what a pretty baby! It always breaks my heart when babies cry for their mamas. They get over it, but I can't help hating it. 
|
|
Quoted:
i think people with goats need to post pics once a week to keep my goals in sight also what kind of feed are you feeding them? anything special goats need?I'll see what I can do about more pics for you.
As far as food, it seems everyone does something different. I feed mine straight corn (either whole or split). The lady I bought my goats from, feeds hers a mix of goat pellets and tortilla mix (the tortilla mix is, from what I can tell, partially ground up packages of old tortillas that I'm guessing come from a grocery store, or a tortilla factory? No idea where they get them, but they (the feed store) grinds them up (still in the plastic bags), and dumps in into a huge pile. Part of the grinding process, is to remove the plastic bags, which for the most part, does a pretty good job. You back your truck up the pile with some 50 gallon drums in the back, and they load the drums up with a tractor. I tried a 50 gallon drum of the stuff with my goats, and they didn't want it. They preferred the corn. I also give them some sweet oats as a treat. My wife planted a pretty large garden this year, so we have been feeding them leaves & vines from there. We also have around 50-60 trees on our property, a mix of all different types. As I'm doing yard work, and trimming the low hanging branches, I give those to the goats (they REALLY love the pin oaks!) Since we feed them all sorts of "good" stuff, they won't eat the grass in their pen , so I have to go in there and mow it. 
I guess the goats are happy, because I never hear them complain.
|
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Kids have some Nubians we've been milking. INDISTINGUISHABLE from regular, whole milk, IF handled correctly. Been making cheese,fooling with fudge,etc Starting to making soap from goat's milk, for sale. Less hoops to jump thru.
Here, Africans/Jamacans/ME'ers are the meat market, and will PAY. I know folks who allow onfarm slaughter, and are well compensated for it. I demand pictures.
Mrs. Feral still wants some dairy goats but we haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. Just got a puppy yesterday.......have to let him settle in first.
google nubian goats. docile, lovable, friendly, produce great milk. |
|
Quoted:
i think people with goats need to post pics once a week to keep my goals in sight also what kind of feed are you feeding them? anything special goats need?I don't have pics, but I have a streaming cam of their stall. During the day they are usually outside, but around 6pm or so they come in for the night. http://sgtnam.camstreams.com/ |
|
I don't know how I missed this thread. I have Nigerian Dwarf goats. They are great for people with smaller lot sizes, or kids. The bucks top out around 60-70lbs, and the does are 50-60lbs.
They produce great milk in very usable quantities, and need correspondingly less feed to produce than a larger breed. I have gotten over a quart a day out of a first fresher. That adds up to nearly two gallons per week per goat, and the production increases for subsequent pregnancies. Once you build your fences, they are very low maintenance critters to keep around. Milking them is somewhat time consuming if you want to, but there is no requirement to milk them if you don't want. Feel free to ask questions about them, or pm if you live in the DFW area and want to come check them out. 
|
|
Quoted:
i think people with goats need to post pics once a week to keep my goals in sight also what kind of feed are you feeding them? anything special goats need?I feed mine a a commercial goat pellet that runs 8 or 9 bucks / 50lbs at the local feed store. I also pregnant does and nursing does a dairy goat feed which runs an extra buck or two per bag. Most of their food is made up from forage they find in the yard or hay during winter, or dry summers like this one. Make sure to get your hay from craigslist or similar. I can usually score square bails for about 3 bucks each online. Goats don't need fancy horse quality hay, they do just fine with weedy stuff which is cheaper. Often, if you call someone selling hay and ask, they will offer to sell some lower quality bails for less than the advertised amount. Hay from the feed store is always at least double that price, and usually triple in my experience. |
|
We feed very little store bought feed, except for pregnant and/or lactating does.
We mix sweet feed, black oil sunflower, and a few otehr thinhs together, place whatever they forage and hay. DO NOT feed bucks a high grain diet. They will get urinary/bladder issues/blockages. And they can and will pop. 
Our does are off getting rebred now. |
|
Quoted:
how long does a 50 pound bag last per goat? The answer depends on the time of year, and the goat in question greatly. In the spring and summer, there is plenty of browse available in my pens, and so bucks, whethers, and does with no kids get fed very little. At this rate, a 50lb bag could last several goats (don't forget I have dwarfs, not full size goats) several months. In the winter, there is much less browse available, although I do supplement with hay pretty decently. Because of the way ruminant digestion works, having food to digest really warms them up, so even though they are only dealing with North Texas winters, I feed them twice a day. At this rate, a 50 lb bag will probably feed one goat about a month to a month and a half. Pregnant and nursing does are another story altogether. Initially while they are pregnant, you don't want to feed them to much extra. I've heard this can lead to un-healthily large kids, and difficult child birth. However, as they get closer to their due date, I figure they need more nutrition to support themselves along with 2 or more kids. After they give birth, I try to give them at least a pound of food twice a day. Their bodies are producing a really unnatural amount of milk because they have been bred for dairy purposes. Producing that much milk takes lots of energy, it also takes a stunning amount of water. So, I expect a single nursing doe to consume more than a 50lb bag each month. |
|
Quoted:
One more thing: Some adult billy goats can be safety hazards. What the rest of the world sees. What the billy goat sees. I am not kidding about this (pun unintentional). So does this mean I'm part goat? |
|
Quoted:
how long does a 50 pound bag last per goat? quite a while. Ours usually get a half a scoop in the morning, and a half at night. They eat mostly hay/alfalfa. Surprisingly, with the colder weather, they've been eating more alfalfa, and less grain. We've only been giving them grain once a day, and they don't even eat it all. I would say a 50 pound bag will last us 2-3 weeks with 2 smaller goats. We usually buy about 250-300 pounds at a time from the feed mill. Much cheaper. We store it in garbage cans, so the mice can't get to it. I just checked the cam, and it looks like they're sitting at the hay again. they're getting a little chubby. lol... |
|
Quoted: Quoted: We just got back from itsARanchrifle's ranch, where my goat has been free ranging (and getting plowed by his big Billy goat) for the last month or two. In that time, she easily packed on 20lbs or more. So free ranging does work. Nice to see you again Gene. You have a great family. How is the new Billy kid doing? How do y'all manage the CAE and CL? We had a nubian doe and a boer buck. The buck was fine but the nubian came down with CL. Tried excising the lump with no success. After much research, it appears that these are NASTY for goats and almost impossible to get rid of off of a particular plot of ground. I know some heards are certified CL free, but now that we've had it on our land, I'm afraid of investing in goats again. |