I want a milking Goat...... Any advice :D

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Beatrice5

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Yes I am crazy, on top of 3 horses, 3 dogs, 3 cats, 9 chickens, 4 kids and a husband I have dreams of a milking goat :D

Tell me fellow HHO ers do you/ have you ever had a goat? What are they really like and do they make good pets / milk makers?

Been reading an article in the small holders magazine and it;s got me thinking ( very dangerous I know)

Looking forwards to your replies LOL
 
That reminds me EB. I used to know a fascinating man who was a leading geneticist in his time and who kept goats. He used to castrate and raise the billies and then getthem butchered for his freezer. He reckoned they were better than lamb any day. I confess I never tried it!
 
Don't?

My mother had milk goats, muggins here had to hand milk 8 of the blasted things before school every day:mad:

I have milked everything from Togs through Guernseys to Anglo nubians and pygmys over the years, other than the knowledge that you know where the milk comes from, and the benefits for some allergies and skin conditions it is cheaper to buy the stuff if you add up feed costs etc. On the other hand, they are nice creatures to have around - if you get a good one. Some can be evil if spoiled and the best place for them is on a plate.

I love goats but refuse to tie myself to daily milkings again, I breed kids but the does feed them, I also buy in dairy bucklings at 5 days ($5 a head from the dairy farm up the road) and put them on the milking does, doe kids are sold on, bucklings go in the freezer. I have pygmys at the moment and a huge, very sweet, but very useless castrated pet Saanan that I can't bring myself to put in the freezer.

Also, goats are escape artists, they prefer grass to weeds, and anything that you are particularly fond of over grass (roses, flowers, pot plants, vegetables)! They don't like rain, shouldn't eat brassicas as that gives them bloat, and contrary to rumour, do NOT always make good companions for horses. Horses can, and will, kill them if they want to, goats that aren't de-horned can seriously damage a horse, on the other hand, if they get on well then they DO make excellent companions. I had one Boarder here (came with his goat) if the goat escaped (and she did, all the time) then the horse would pace and scream for her, when she came back to him he'd nip her and give her a good old telling off, she didn't care. She was a horrid bint, but old Waylon loved her.

If you want a goat, get a good book and go for it. Have fun.
 
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And I use to keep cows, so as I couldn't take offspring to slaughthouse after the secound time, the piglets no probs as they all went together. I ended up keeping 3 cows until I had them put down at home aged 19 13 and 10 together and I don't keep pigs or chickens anymore.
 
DON'T

I used to breed British Alpines and they gave a gallon to 10 pints of milk a day at their peak so I was chucking it away, and none for a few weeks each year coming up to kidding so I would have had to buy milk in if we had not also have dairy cattle.

I then sold my goats and went to work milking them at a factory farm where I was milking 3,000 goats.

If you want a goat as a pet then get a castrated male.

For milk my advice is buy it from the supermarket, most stock goats milk nowadays.
 
we had an anglo nubien x british saeen & although a sweetie to handle, what a pain in the butt to keep in, broke down fences, chewed through ropes, would pull,pull,pull untill teather pin worked loose ect.........
but was easy to catch, just take our old horse out there & in she came good as gold, they shared a stable untill old boy died & then she became just nasty!

for the work involved just for milk, buy it.
 
Echo Bravo said:
And the younger the better as goat meat makes a very nice curry.
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I wouldn't waste a good young goat on a curry!!!!!you save currys for billies etc.
I'm down to 17 goats nowadays and only milk if I want the milk.
You never keep a single goat as they are herd animals and nowadays the regulations have wiped out the goat trade unless you have huge herds.The BGS is struggling for members.
 
I'd agree with the others - DON'T!!!:D Definitely cheaper to buy the stuff!!
It is quite a tie too as they have to be milked twice a day so going anywhere without organising someone to milk them for you is a no no! We used to have 2 golden guernseys that we milked, who were lovely goats and we did get alot of milk from them everyday, although I did go away for the day once and left my mum to milk them - they used to run if they saw my mum coming with the bucket, and sit down if cornered:D - my mum was hopeless at milking them and despite loads of attempts at wringing their udders to bits,only got half a mug out of each goat instead of a jug full each! - she just couldn't get the hang of it so not for everyone!!:p
Plus you can't have just one goat you need at least 2 so they have company, they do escape given the chance, will eat everything you don't want eaten and leave the weeds, they need feet trimming/worming etc regularly and long haired ones need grooming or clipping.
We still have one left but she hasn't been in kid now for years as she's 10yrs old and we got an old reject goat to keep her company, but the reject has small horns and bullies the other one so they have to be kept separate in the winter, so make sure you either have horned ones together or dehorned in a group and not mixed if housed.
They hate wet/mud etc so need a nice little house to keep warm and dry all year round - they also need alot of hard feed when milking!

To get the most milk out of them it is better to hand rear the kids and milk the mother also reduces the chances of mastitis if a kid accidentally bites them, so that's more time and a tie. And as others have said you've got to fork out too for a stud fee for a billy, keeping your own is an option as long as you have somewhere well away from your house to keep it :D - they pee all over themselves to make themselves irresistible to the girls so are pretty manky to handle, and the pee really does smell and doesn't come out of clothes easily!!!!!
You've also got castrating and dehorning any billy kids you get, if you're not going to put them down at birth, they are difficult to find homes for if you don't want to keep them yourself - we had 6 kids in total from our 2 and all were billies!!!
And ours are terrified of the horses - they do graze in the same field as the oldies but the youngsters just play football with them and chase them all over the place!!
So they do make lovely pets but I would never have a milking goat again!!!!:D
 
I wouldn't go near it, you think that horses are tying but get into milking animals be it cattle, sheep or goats and you'll really get to know the meaning of tying!
On top of that the legislation required now between holding numbers, movemnet licences, ear tags and vaccinations ( not unlikely we'll end up back there with Blue tongue or similar) then it fast becomes a complicated and expensive venture!
 
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