Dairy goat advice wanted!

[freemotion]

My personal philosophy makes me lean towards natural, which means horns....but in nature, goats would form their own herds, and not be mixed and matched and closed up in buildings and pens.

However, I have a run-in situation, plenty of room for them to get away from each other.

And....it is unnatural to castrate, but you bet I do! It is unnatural to fence and shelter in buildings, but I do that, too! So I am working on the horns issue.

I don't believe she will be mean because she has horns....I just don't want her to take a swipe at my sometimes-rude keggers and skewer one of 'em!

I will go see her and see what I think, hopefully on Tuesday if the weather holds....forecast is nasty, and we are still digging out from Friday-today....then freezing rain coming later in the week.

I plan to put her on the milking stand and touch her all over, lead her, pick up her feet, and just see how she reacts and how much handling she has had. She does not have to be perfect, just have a reasonable attitude. Any other suggestions?

 

[Madfarmer]

Goats require a certain level of care. Before you consider bringing them home, you should make sure they're blood-tested for CAE & CL, although you may already be infected with your other goats. If these goats are purebred, they are tatooed. The tatoo numbers will be on the test results. Read up on goat nutrition, including mineral requirements. You needn't feed alfalfa hay if you feed alfalfa pellets, which are probably easier to get where you are. Alfalfa cubes are less desireable, because they're bigger than goat bite-size & you.d have to break them up. Go to dairygoatinfo.com & read the "Goats 101" information. Good Luck!

Madfarmer

 

[PotterWatch]

I have purebred goats that aren't tattooed, so I don't think that part always applies.

 

[freemotion]

I already know she is not purebred, and that is ok by me. She averaged 3 quarts a day last season. That is ok, too. I plan to make a lot of cheese and yogurt, maybe some soaps. I may just milk her once a day, like Fiasco Farms does. If I got 7 quarts a week I would still be hard pressed (cheese pun!) to use it up.

I am getting her because I value REAL food and it is almost impossible to get, and more and more is disappearing from the store shelves. My local Whole Foods carries fewer and fewer whole foods! And it is a 45 minute drive each way, and so frustrating when they don't even have what I went there to buy.

So I am working towards some self-sufficiency so that my dh and I can have a truly wonderful diet and reduce our negative impact on the earth. Also reduce demand for animal products that are produced in cruel situations.

To that end, I am growing much of their food now, good grass and browse, I even over-seeded part of my field with dandelions (that was hard! How many years have I battled dandelions as weeds!) I have mangels, pumpkins and rutabagas for the goats and chickens, along with whole grains and hay. Next year I hope to cut my own hay, some at least. With a scythe. And buy a side of grass-fed beef for the freezer for us, since we don't have the land to raise it...and cityboy dh wouldn't let me, anyways. Too personal.

So with the new addition of a dairy animal, I am thinking the additions to what I am doing need to be a free-choice mineral supplement and alfalfa pellets for now, and maybe seed some alfalfa into my pasture in the spring. Maybe finish up with the rutabagas before I will be milking her, they have a strongish flavor. Rutabaga yogurt, yum!