So I want Goats.......

[freemotion]

Don't give up too quickly. There is probably someone nearby who wants fresh raw milk badly enough to learn to milk and to fill in for you. Ever hear of a cow share or a goat share? That is when someone contracts to pay a percentage of the upkeep and care of a dairy animal in exchange for a share of the milk. Payment for housing and daily care is factored in, too, even during the dry periods. It is not about getting milk cheaper than in the store...it is about getting high quality raw milk that is not available in any other way. The first place to look is online, to see if there is a chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation anywhere near you. It could meet an hour away, but that doesn't mean there isn't someone right down the road from you who is a member and would jump at the chance for raw milk.

 

[BarredBuff]

Don't give up too quickly. There is probably someone nearby who wants fresh raw milk badly enough to learn to milk and to fill in for you. Ever hear of a cow share or a goat share? That is when someone contracts to pay a percentage of the upkeep and care of a dairy animal in exchange for a share of the milk. Payment for housing and daily care is factored in, too, even during the dry periods. It is not about getting milk cheaper than in the store...it is about getting high quality raw milk that is not available in any other way. The first place to look is online, to see if there is a chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation anywhere near you. It could meet an hour away, but that doesn't mean there isn't someone right down the road from you who is a member and would jump at the chance for raw milk.

Thats an idea....I will mention the goat thing again maybe in a week or two. If auntie dont have luck.......I REALLY WANT GOATS!

 

[FarmerChick]

the kid that is born will milk the momma


you can take milk at any time from the doe. on the weekends you don't take milk just leave the baby to drink all it wants.....unless you are planning on taking the kid off the doe???

 

[BarredBuff]

Im forming a plan. How long do they stay in milk? Whens the latest point the kids can be weaned?

 

[FarmerChick]

you can let the kid stay with the doe for a long time and she will produce milk.......she will wean them on her own at different times for different moms

up to 6 mos. give or take some will let the kid nurse.

most people wean the kids at 3 mos old and sell them or get them off the doe to bring her in heat etc to rebreed

 

[ChickenPotPie]

I'll pipe in. My son wanted goats really bad, too. He saved up his money and bought two Toggenburg does - one nice and showy already in milk and one pregnant doe that was more "dairy". He kept them at the 4H ranch. I drove him there every day to feed, water, and milk. We milked only once a day. Driving there and back twice a day would have annoyed me.

We moved to the country and that's when the big planning, problem solving, and $$$ came into the picture. We, too, tied them out. That does not work. It's dangerous. Just don't do it. We built a 12x6 goat shed with slanted roof and slatted half door. We used cattle panel and T-bars (metal fence stakes) for a 25x30 pen. We sunk treated post into the ground and put up a pallet gate between them.

We hung a horse hay rack inside the pen for them. They eat alfalfa/orchard grass hay. It's $14/bale. Alternatively, they should eat straight alfalfa grass hay. In milk, they get 4 cups of sweet feed while on the stanchion. That's twice a day.

There is an English walnut tree in their pen which they skylined immediately. We wanted them to graze to cut down the cost of keeping them. We looked into all kinds of fencing. It was all sooo expensive. We settled on electric netting. We LOVE it. Even our naughtiest goat stay within it.

We put the netting around our orchard so that the goats could freely walk in and out of their goat shed/feeding pen. They skylined all the orchard trees and even keep the poison oak back. The orchard looks lovely now. They keep the grass mowed so that makes it look even nicer and I don't worry so much about rattle snaked being able to hide in tall grass.

Their orchard is about 1 - 1 1/2 acres and we still give them hay. We now have 3 does about to kid plus one buck. Yup, you do need a buck to keep the milk going. It's called "refreshing". The buck is not cheap. Most people find a goat that belongs to someone else to breed to. Sometimes they can't find one and go a year w/o milk if the breed they have is a seasonal breeder.

I highly recommend buying a doeling that is young enough to bottle feed. It's temperament will be MUCH better than one that was not. Sometimes, I HATE the does that were not bottlefed. They're flightly, naughty, are escape artists, and then, oye! Good luck catching them - the little boogers!

I, too, like the Fiasco farms website. It's great. I get all our supplies from www.caprinesupply.com and www.cheesemaking.com .

For milking, I have a stripping cup, stainless steel milking pail, Povidone-Iodine surgical scrub and paper towels for disinfecting teats before milking, spray for closing the teats after milking to prevent bacteria from going up and infecting the doe, metal filter funnel, dairy filters, and 1/2 gallon milk jugs to fill with filtered milk which then goes straight to my deep freeze for fast cooling.

Milking is a chore, no doubt about it. I'll be milking 3 does twice a day this Spring for at least 9 months and I'm not looking forward to it. You really are tied down when you have animals to milk. I wish I had a milking machine but they're incredibly expensive - well over $1,000 and often over $2,000.

Kids can milk off their mothers but it does not always go well. Mothers might reject them or injure them. I really think bottle feeding it best - it's a headache but it can pay off in the long run. When your goat is 150 - 200 lbs, you'll be glad you can manage her because you bottle fed her.

My son's doeling nursed for about 9 months! She just would not give up and her mama let her. I read that is not good for the doeling. It can retard her ability to give a good amount of milk in the future - something about her ruminant gut not being as developed. It's tied to milk production somehow.

Anyway, I'm with the others. Sometime, you will have goats. My son picked up on something real quick after he joined 4H. As he watched the kids around him for a year or two, he told me "Mom, I know how kids can get ANY pet they want". When I asked him how (I already knew the answer) he said "Just join 4H". It's true, too. I've met so many parents that were dead set against their kids getting a pet. I've seen several kids make deals with their parents that if they join 4H and stick with it, that they reconsider in 6 months. Well, after about 2 or 3 months, it's the parent who is DYING to buy their child that rabbit, goat, cow, pig, horse, etc that they were completely against just a little while ago. I've seen it again and again. lol

That's my tip to you. Just don't tell your mom you got the idea from me.

Oh, I forgot to add a pic of my son and one of his kids. I was across the country when his doe went into labor. He and his dad found the first kid newly born. While my husband ran across the ranch to get towels and such, my son (8 at the time) helped his doe deliver the second kid. You can see that he is very proud of his kids and rightly so.

 

[eggrookie2010]

Chicken Pot Pie...very informative since hubby and I are going back and forth about goats or sheep. I vote goats. Nice story about your "kid" too!

 

[ChickenPotPie]

LOL Eggrookie, if it's of any help to you, I've heard from many a sheep owner that sheep are as stupid as posts. Other might disagree. I've never had any experience with them.

(side note: goats seem to be on the other end of the scale - crafty little devils)

 

[Denim Deb]

Love the pic of the kids.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

ya, goats are crafty little bogies! i have heard the same bad news about sheep... mean and people shy... i'm going with angora goats myself... soooooo cute!