Goats are great critters to have if you want meat and milk production. But they take a real commitment in time. When they are milking (say March thru December) they need to be milked twice a day, EVERY DAY. They start coming in heat in late summer, thru fall. When bred their milk production tapers off and most people "dry them up" at least two months before they kid, just to give the goats, and themselves, a break and let the mothers devote all their strength and nutrition to kids they are carrying. Their gestation period is about 5 months, so a doe who is bred in October, for example, will have 2, 3, or more kids about March. When the kids are born they are the cutest but orneriest little guys. Then the whole cycle starts again, with twice a day milking and feeding of the kids.
If you are already tied down with children at home, and want them to experience raising and caring for animals including all the real world aspects of it (life, death, birth, sex, joy, sadness, responsibility, etc, etc) goats are a good way to do it. They are very productive, clean, healthy, intelligent and beautiful animals. But very good fences are required to contain them, and to protect them from predators like dogs.
A couple of good milk goats would provide a family of 4 with all the milk they could use, plus some extra to feed a pig, some chickens or turkeys, etc. You shouldn't have a buck around unless you have say, more than 5 does. It's best to bring the buck to the does when they start coming in heat. He's always in the mood for love, but if you go hauling your does in a truck or trailer some distance to the buck, sometimes it spooks them and they aren't receptive to him.
One thing to really watch out for if you are looking to buy goats is a disease called CAE, which is an arthritis disease that is passed from mothers to kids in the milk. Goats carry it for a few years before developing symtpoms, then they become crippled. It's very important to avoid buying goats from herds with CAE, or at least to make sure the kids were not fed milk from a doe with CAE. Any reputable dairy or breeder will have their animals tested for CAE, and will be trying to avoid passing it on to their goat kids.
If you are already tied down with children at home, and want them to experience raising and caring for animals including all the real world aspects of it (life, death, birth, sex, joy, sadness, responsibility, etc, etc) goats are a good way to do it. They are very productive, clean, healthy, intelligent and beautiful animals. But very good fences are required to contain them, and to protect them from predators like dogs.
A couple of good milk goats would provide a family of 4 with all the milk they could use, plus some extra to feed a pig, some chickens or turkeys, etc. You shouldn't have a buck around unless you have say, more than 5 does. It's best to bring the buck to the does when they start coming in heat. He's always in the mood for love, but if you go hauling your does in a truck or trailer some distance to the buck, sometimes it spooks them and they aren't receptive to him.
One thing to really watch out for if you are looking to buy goats is a disease called CAE, which is an arthritis disease that is passed from mothers to kids in the milk. Goats carry it for a few years before developing symtpoms, then they become crippled. It's very important to avoid buying goats from herds with CAE, or at least to make sure the kids were not fed milk from a doe with CAE. Any reputable dairy or breeder will have their animals tested for CAE, and will be trying to avoid passing it on to their goat kids.
