Posted on 06/19/2013 6:52:08 AM PDT by stillafreemind
I just bought two milk goats, and I'm thrilled with them! Are you thinking of a similar purchase? If so, you may want to read up on goats and milking. This article is meant to help new goat owners by giving them an outline of sorts. Think long and hard before buying a goat, but enjoy them if you get one!
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.yahoo.com ...
I must say that I was skeptical about the whole deal. We read up on goats and milking, but still. The deal was..I would NOT milk nor take care of the goats. I would TRY the milk..but no promises of converting.
After 3 months..I must say I have changed my mind on the whole goat thing. The article was absolutely right..if ya don't want to commit..don't get the goats. That being said, I still don't milk the goats..but I do mess around with them..they make me laugh. I figure the girls need to learn responsibility and they love the goats so it all works out.
The thing is..the milk. Oh My Gosh. All I can say is..the milk was NOT what I was expecting. It is so good that I can't think about going back to store bought cow's milk. I also waited this long to tell ya all..because I wanted to make sure of the following...my gut has never felt better! I don't know what the heck the deal is..but my gut feels like it has healed or something. Since the goat milk is the only thing different in my diet..it certainly makes me wonder.
Anyway..I don't suppose that there are many who want to read this..yet I never figured myself as a person who would ever own a goat. Go figure.
When we had ours the wife made alot of cheese out of it. We enjoyed that along with the birth of kids every spring.
Well, I’m reading it; and I have no anticipation to get a goat, OR drink the milk. But, I am interested in your experience. So, thanks for posting.
I had friends in MN who kept goats as a small business for a number of years. They live in an underground house, and the goats grazed on the roof! They finally gave it up because the work got to be too much. They sold the milk and had a customer list to keep up on, etc.
I can see how the goats make you laugh. They are my favorite exhibits at the County Fair. Do you provide toys for them> Around here, goats want to climb, and a lot of the farmers put apparatus in their pens. They always go right to the top to gaze around.
The gals are toying with trying to make cheese. If it’s as good as the milk..wow I WILL be impressed and have to eat my earliest words about goats.
Neighbor dropped off some empty reels from the electric co-op.
They do love to climb..I’ve been surprised that they have stayed in so long without escaping. I didn’t realize how different they are from cows. Cows graze the grass..the goats WANT the weeds.
It has been some time since I’ve tried goat milk, but my recollection was it had a rather gamey taste, that didn’t taste quite so gamey if it was served very cold.
It’s been maybe 30 years, and I recall that back when cow milk was around a dollar a gallon, goat milk cost about the same — per quart.
I have no idea how the price relates today. Haven’t thought about it in a while.
I’m sure you know this, but don’t tie them out to graze. My neighbor had one and no fence. So, they tied him out on a long tether to graze amongst the trees. (This was when I lived in Washington State at the edge of 1000 acres of State Forest.) Feral dogs attacked the poor goat and killed him. He could not get away.
Did I mention that these neighbors were not the brightest bulbs in the box?
Did I mention that I have a soft spot for goats, even if I don’t want to raise one myself?
Your empty reels sound perfect. The farmers around here will nail together all kinds of scrap to make Rube Goldberg climbing structures for the goats. It’s fun to watch them. It’s probably the parents of the 4H kids who do this. Even the city kids will have a goat, or two, living at a nearby farm as a project for 4H. There are days that I wish that I were younger so that I could have a goat too.
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What breed goat did you get? Do you have to let them get pregnant every so often to keep them as milk goats?
Have you sent their pictures to former President Bush? (Shameless “My Pet Goat” reference.)
Hey, this is interesting. Back to fresh basics:) I live in a city and can’t have a goat but I love reading this.
Goat cheese fresh in salads...lots of stuff to try.
Thanks for putting up.:)
Good info. We are thinking of getting two small dwarf nigerian goats sometime in the near future. I have to decide if I want to fool with milking them. How hard is it?
“Well, I’m reading it; and I have no anticipation to get a goat, OR drink the milk”.
Goats stink, so people think the milk must also stink. It does not. It is already homogenized and tastes great! Very creamy. Babies who can’t tolerate cow milk often do well on goat milk.
People in 4-H often will raise a calf on goats milk as the calf will NOT develop scours the way they will on their cow milk.
I had heard about the goaty taste and/or smell. Well..again..before we bought them..we read about them. This same author had an article Good Tasting Goat Milk tips
http://voices.yahoo.com/good-tasting-goat-milk-tips-12066404.html?cat=22
We do what she suggested..strain it in to a glass half gallon jar and stick it in ice. A time or two it didn’t taste quite right..but the girls had doddled getting the milk into the ice bucket. Can’t believe what a difference it made.
I’m considering it. Have been occasionally taking care of my friend’s goat, who are adorable, clean, funny, and gentle. Very little mess or health issues compared to horses or cattle. But it is a headache being there twice a day to milk no matter what other issues one has in one’s life (broken car, late night at the office, being personally sick, kid problems, etc.) You HAVE to do it.
Also, to keep the milk going that goat is going to have to be bred and have a kid every once in awhile. The billy goats are a stinking mess. Breeding animals can be a joy or a real heartache and in any case is exhausting. One starts having more and more goats and more and more responsibility.
It’s also fun to learn how to use the goat milk to make cheeses and yogurt. These are delicious! So rewarding to make your own. But the goat milk itself smells nauseating in my opinion.
If you go to an arab forum to read about goats, you’ll get a completely new set of goat-judging criteria :).
>> Buying a Milk Goat? Things You Should Consider
It’s just a hunch, but one thing you should consider is that if you’re buying *a* goat and you want milk, you’re gonna want a *female* goat.
:-)
All kidding aside, I have seriously considered getting a few goats, for milk and meat and vegetation clean-up too. Did you know goats love poison ivy and can eat it without problems? I read that somewhere.
Thanks for the post!
We had an opportunity to buy Alpines. They are sooo funny and sooo loving, it was the right choice for us. Plus, their milk almost has a sweet taste to it.
One girl has twins on her now. The other one is being milked and has been for about a year and a half. Late this summer we will dry the one girl up, rest and breed her for kids in the spring. The momma goat will have the kids taken off and she will be the milk goat for a while.
Hey..I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I never dreamed it would all work out this good.
The girls didn’t have any trouble getting on to it. I suppose I will break down and learn..just so I can milk them if I HAVE to..lol.
We have a milk stand that the goats jump on to get milked. It has a head lock and they eat while they are getting milked. I think there is a picture or two in that first article I posted. The stand really makes a huge difference I think.
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