What good are goats?

[KattyKillFish]

my aunt keeps hers for milk & meat. both are delicious. they are also great at eating all the weeds.

 

[griffin45]

Goats, sheep, donkeys, chickens, pigs. Each has their own little system that compliments each other or your check book. What the goats won't eat the sheep will and everything that the goats and sheep eat the chickens eat again. Then take the pigs and get the whole cycle started again. (Donkeys are for protection and are a great alarm system. They are hard on a pasture if you are not careful though).

Chris

 

[Anny]

Goats are lawn mowers and edgers. They will eat thing in the horse pasture the horses wont touch. So you wont have to mow. They can also be used to clean brush up near the street (with supervision of course)

They also poop... lots of good poop for your compost.

Plus they are darn cute and amusing to watch. Like dogs.

 

[Goattalker]

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That is the funniest thing I have ever heard. Goats are browsers, they eat the tops of what they like unless they are starving.

 

[mistylady]

Our Boer goat likes brush and will go out of his way to eat it before eating grass. The Alpine goes for the grass first. They compliment each other! Sheep will eat grass off as close to the ground as they can. That and having to shear them is why we don't have any. I had them as FFA projects (many years ago) and they really are dumb but sweet. The goats are pretty easy keepers - worm them every now and then and keep their hooves trimmed. And they are great for letting you know if someone is out by the barns. They bleat to get attention. Our watch-goats.

Be prepared for more "goat eggs" than you ever imagined though. They have mastered pooping and walking at the same time. Talented critters. LOL

 

[ksacres]

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This is true for the vast majority of goats. Very few are good "lawn mowers" unless they have no other options. It's also not healthy for them to be forced to eat that way-increases the chances of picking up large parasite loads.

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

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My sis keeps Katahdin 'hair' sheep..... no shearing.

 

[Beekissed]

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nope.. after 2-3 turns, you run some pigs to grub the whole thing and re-sow it.

I'd disagree with this one. Chickens next~as Salatin says, birds always follow herbivores in nature and do a great job of eating the intestinal parasites and fly larvae. No grubbing out and re-sowing needed. Just keep rotating your grazing paddocks and the good, nutritious perennials will thrive on their own if given a resting period between grazing. If you must re-seed I would find grasses that are native to your soil or they won't do well after the first year or so.

For clearing land, I would use goats. For developing pasture, I would use the hair sheep or even a milking breed of sheep, if you desire milk and cheese.

 

[FrizzleFreak]

yeah...
goats: milk, meat, some of them hair, however you can't really get milk AND hair from the same animal.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was an amazing book.
"Yes, potatoes are a root vegetable. Can you think of another root vegetable?"
*boy thinks hard* "Spaghetti?"

Goats give you beautiful pastures. Especially if you have horses. However, you need a good fence (just because it keeps in a horse or sheep doesn't mean it'll keep a goat) and be prepared to sacrifice anything that isn't grass.
Sheep: Only a couple steps up from insects, brain wise. They are cute, and fuzzy, and tasty.
If you get lambs for eating, then you don't have to keep them long or shear them often.

 

[Xtina]

Thanks guys, this is all really helpful! You guys are wonderful teachers.