Look what I got to hold today!

[noodleroo]

I'm an animal lover, too. I keep having to go back to the first post so I can look at that adorable picture. I don't have goats and don't know much about them, but I was wondering; what kind of goats are they? How much room do you need to keep them and do they require lots of time to take care of?

 

[terrilhb]

That is so adoravle. Congratulations.

 

[rebbetzin]

Quote:
The two of the goats are purebred Nubians. Two are mostly Nubian, with some Boer, and Alpine in the mix.

There are 4 female goats, in an enclosure that is about 50 feet by 30 feet. They don't take much time really. Milking, takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes depending on how many goats are being milked.

Once a week, I sweep the front half the of the enclosure down to the dirt, removing the droppings, and they go in my compost pile. That takes a good 30 minutes.

Then twice a day at milking time, they get fresh hay and water, that takes maybe 10-15 minutes.

Some days I spend less than an hour twice in one day, other times it can be as long as two hours.

But, remember I only have "goat duty" once a week. There are four of us taking turns with the chores at the goat pen.

It is a great idea to have "helpers" that makes it less of a burden for the goat owner.

For me this is an ideal set up, I milk one day a week, get the milk, and droppings for my garden. It only cost me my time.

 

[noodleroo]

Rebbetzin: Thank you for the information. That was really helpful. One more question; what all can you do with the milk? I know you could make cheese or drink it, but do you sell any or make anything else? I would love to have a couple of goats and I guess I'm trying to justify it to myself...

 

[dkosh]

I absolutely love the picture!

Baby goats and lambs are my favorite baby animals. 3 of my goats are expecting the end of Feb or early March, and I am sooooo excited. 2 Boers and 1 Tennessee Fainter.

 

[chickens4jojo]

So Sweet! Lucky You!

 

[rebbetzin]

Quote:
When the goat milk get "goatie" tasting to me... after 3 or 4 days in the fridge usually, I measure out 12 oz of goat milk, take ziplock bags and put the milk in them, get as much air out as I can, then freeze the milk to use for making goat milk soap.

Here is a link to a post I made last year on my first attempt at goat milk soap.

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5864

I gave it to all my friends and family over the holidays, and even sold some to a few friends so they could give it as gifts.

It turned better than I had hoped!!

12 oz of goat milk, with the recipe I have, makes about 10 bars of soap.

I designed a label and got some help from "Vfem" on a very nice design too.

Here are the labels I made for the soaps I gave away as gifts.

The Vfem label design, I use it for the Oatmeal Lavendar soaps

and this one I reworked from Vfem's original design.

Then one of my friend's said she liked this photo of me, so when I gave her some soap I used it.

 

[noodleroo]

Rebbetzin: Thank you so much again. I still keep going back and looking at the pic because it just makes you feel so good. All the info has been really, really great and I appreciate it. Who knows, maybe by this time next year I might have a nice couple of goats to enjoy, too!