OMG -- He suggested goats!

[aoxa]

I went on a farm tour, and the owner said that bucks pee all over themselves. Guess the smell attracts the ladies

 

[CluckyJay]

My mini lamancha milk is so sweet and mild. Yummy! At this point I am gonna pay to have someone cover my ladies. I may get a buck in he future. We have a few acres for the stench though. lol I have a standard lamancha and she is so darn sweet!!!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
We bought some delicious goat milk locally and it tasted almost like cow's milk (it was Nubian) for the first 3 days or so. When it sat in the fridge for longer than that the goaty taste started to come through.

I wanted goats there for awhile but then I realized that I would never feel like getting out there to milk them...we use about 6 gallons a week in our family now. From what I have read the important thing is to taste the milk of the breed you are getting, and feed them high quality alfalfa/feed so it comes through in the milk with the taste.

 

[cassie]

I went on a farm tour, and the owner said that bucks pee all over themselves. Guess the smell attracts the ladies

They do that and worse. They are so bad they are funny. The pee is not what causes the odor though. That is produced by two scent glands situated behind the horns. It is possible to "deodorize" a buck by cauterizing the scent glands when disbudding him as a baby. It doesn't completely eliminate the odor but it gets rid of most of it. Bucks smell during the breeding season. The rest of the year they are tolerable. I don't think the ladies really care if the buck smells or not.

 

[SkyWarrior]

I went on a farm tour, and the owner said that bucks pee all over themselves. Guess the smell attracts the ladies

A friend of mine said that bucks pee on their heads and then butt things to put their scent on them.

I know deer pee in their beds and lay in it (hence they really stink!), so maybe it's related?

Owning dairy goats is really getting into farming proper. They require a lot more hands on care than chickens. We have goats, and it is true they are great escape artists. The only fencing that will keep them in is either small guage wire mesh, at least 6 feet high, or livestock electric mesh fencing. They will need good housing, fairly substantial and draught/water free. If the winters are severe, they will need to be kept inside a barn, as they can freeze to death in the harshest weather. We pack their house with straw and use a heat lamp on nights when it gets below -10 centigrade. They spend their days in the winter in a stable. A dairy goat will need milking twice a day. As well as grazing, they need a good quality goat mix, for essential vitemines/minerals. For three goats we buy a £12 bag every 3 weeks. In the winter, we feed them on haylage, they need about 5 pounds a day. As you can see, unless you have a passion for goats milk, and or cheese, it's unlikely that you will break even. I say do your research first before you commit to them. Good luck anyway

Well, we have a llama, 2 horses, 4 geese, 14 ducks, and a bunch of chickens. I took care of 25 sled dogs back when I could afford to race. I don't know but I suspect dairy goats aren't too much more work.

We have a pen with 5 foot twisted wire fencing with an electric wire on the top. We were thinking of running an extra hot wire about wither height for the goats. My barn where I keep the chickens and the hay has enough room for a small goat pen that we can keep two or three in. We were thinking milk from the girls and meat from the boys, selling any extra kids we don't want.

Basically, goats would be my extra bid for self-sufficiency.

My mini lamancha milk is so sweet and mild. Yummy! At this point I am gonna pay to have someone cover my ladies. I may get a buck in he future. We have a few acres for the stench though. lol I have a standard lamancha and she is so darn sweet!!!

So you would recommend either lamancha or nubian?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Oh! I also wanted to tell you about the hand milker that I saw recommended for the smaller goats...it was akin to a manual pump that humans use for expressing milk. I forget the brand name but if interested you can search for goat hand pump milker or something like that. Apparently if the teats are really tiny like with mini-Nubians and Nigerian Dwarfs (also I heard have good milk), it can be so much easier because you can only get a couple fingers around the teat from what I read.

http://udderlyez.com/

FOUND IT!!!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Oh! I also wanted to tell you about the hand milker that I saw recommended for the smaller goats...it was akin to a manual pump that humans use for expressing milk. I forget the brand name but if interested you can search for goat hand pump milker or something like that. Apparently if the teats are really tiny like with mini-Nubians and Nigerian Dwarfs (also I heard have good milk), it can be so much easier because you can only get a couple fingers around the teat from what I read.

http://udderlyez.com/

FOUND IT!!!

(I talked to one girl from Craigslist when I called about her goats and she said she used it with her NDs and it made milking so much easier.)

Somehow this duplicated itself...unless I made a boo boo- please note my comment at the bottom of the above quote...I tried to edit and not start another post.

 

[Matthew3590]

Nothing makes my nannies more wiled up then my male goat walking by after he bathed in his pee. My nigerian males do not smell at all until fall to early spring.

 

[conny63malies]

TRy the Henry milker. I think i would buy this style milker for 2-4 goats http://www.henrymilker.com/

Somehow this duplicated itself...unless I made a boo boo- please note my comment at the bottom of the above quote...I tried to edit and not start another post.

 

[HCFarms96]

Okay, here's my two cents worth on getting goats...
As for getting a buck, well, that's totally up to you. But, not only do they smell awful, they can also cause your milk to have a slight peppery taste {or so has been our experience with trying goat's milk that came from a farm with bucks}.
Also, if you are getting two milking does, be prepared for lots of milk! We get a gallon per day at peak production from one doe. Of course, if you only milk once a day instead of twice, you'll have much less.
The best advice on keeping goats I can give is read, read, and read some more. Research is your very best friend. This is a great forum with lots of friendly people to help you on your journey of keeping goats > http://thegoatspot.net/phpbb/index.php?sid=a9380f85be91526b4ff89b1ef69be175 Also, this book is an excellent read with lots of good information > http://www.amazon.com/Storeys-Guide...5802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330567579&sr=8-1

Have fun on your adventure, for it is sure to be one!