Jan 08 2009
Get Your Goat
Goats are amazing creatures, absolutely the poster child of self reliance. A prominent livestock husbandry author, Frank B. Morrison , stated that the only animal comparable to goats regarding their ability to recover from domestication and get along quite nicely without humans is domestic cats. If you can’t fully appreciate that comment, find out more about feral cats , LOL!
While a goat’s physical requirements are usually fairly easily met, there are other considerations. Goats are herd animals, and a happy single goat is an anomaly. Goats are often willing to accept humans, cats, chickens and even the family dog as herd members; for most goats, it doesn’t have to be another goat to be a herd member. Another goat is, of course, the best option for the goat but many of us simply don’t have the room even if we choose smaller breeds. Goats are listed among the top seven intelligent animals, right up there with chimps, dogs, dolphins and ostensibly man. What this means to you as a prospective goat keeper is that there must be things for your goats to do—always remember that a bored goat is an evil goat. Goats are as interested in games as dolphins and will go to great lengths to create a game. This may be figuring out the latch on the gate of their pen, how to get things out of your pockets, high grading their feed, and various other questionable hobbies. It also means that they are trainable. A goat that stands up on you is just as ill behaved as a dog that does; same thing for butting and nipping. Even training for basic manners can be a challenge as frankly goats are generally clever enough to figure out that if you know they can be trained, you’re probably going to expect them to learn things which may not interest them. Think along the lines of training a cat. Or think of spending a week-end with a precocious two-year-old. The general rule there is that if they are not doing something you want them to do, they’ll be doing something you don’t want them to do. The above must be taken into consideration before you bring a goat home, or you’ll simple become another one of those people who hate goats.
One goat of one of the larger breeds (Nubian , Saanen , Toggenburg ) can fairly well feed itself on a quarter of an acre of properly planted pasture. If it’s a milking doe, you would still have to give her concentrates (grain mixture) at milking to support her extra production. Goats are browsers like deer, not grazers like cattle or horses; a properly planted goat pasture has little grass and lots of legumes and forbes. Bushes are best as long as you’re careful that they are not poisonous . Technically speaking, if you are buying the right hay and providing treats such as fallen leaves, squash, bush and berry trimmings, banana peels, etc. a goat can live comfortably in a pen about ten by fifteen. But, like kenneling a dog all the time, it’s not good for the animal and if that’s your only option planning to take the goat on at least once daily walks is extremely important, particularly for a milk doe. If you take your goat out on a walk, however, never go without some sort of defense—canned air horn, pepper spray, stout stick, etc.—as even a well behaved family dog may attack a goat with little or no provocation. Finding a safe route is a priority, whether you are walking your milch doe or carting with your draft goat.
There are smaller breeds that may be a better choice for a backyard milking goats. Nigerian Dwarf goats have gotten more available in the last few years. Kinders are an excellent choice too. People do milk Pygmy goats ; the milk is very rich, as Pygmies are actually meat goats and the milk from meat animals typically has a higher butter fat and milk solids than animals breed for quantity production. It’s much easier to milk one of the small breeds with some sort of a device such as the EZ Milker or some version of a milking machine because their teats are so small. Younger children are often good milkers for does with small teats, and I’ve seen more than one younger household member take great delight in being responsible for a chore that not only bonds them with an animal but also provides a useful contribution to the kitchen.
Do you remember when you got your first pet? Perhaps particularly your first dog… While the concept of keeping an animal is engaging, the reality is enduring. If you’ve never had goats before, the best scenario would be to set up a situation amenable to two or more goats, and get yourself a nice wether (neutered male goat) as a first goat; I highly recommend asking around in your locality for a goat rescue, or searching PetFinder.com for one near you. Once you’re comfortable with being a goatherd, add another goat—this time, you might look for a doe not only for the sake of herd structure but also for the future option of having your own fresh, healthful milk. The best way to find a doe is to seek out local breeders of the breed you’re interested in. They may actually have a doe currently in milk available, which will cost more in the beginning. DO NOT undertake a milking doe unless and until you understand and can commit to her needs. The primary difference is that she must—MUST—be milked every twelve hours. Whether that’s 4a and 4p or 9a and 9p is up to you, your schedule and the goat…but if you are as much as fifteen minutes late for milking, she can be in pain from the pressure in her udder, and it will ultimately cut down on the amount she produces. If you will not be available, arranging for another household member, a neighbor or a friend to come over and milk at the proper time can be an answer, but goats are often picky about who handles them and if the doe is not familiar and comfortable with the alternate person she may not milk out well and will almost certainly generally misbehave in the stanchion. That’s probably the most important difference, though a milking or pregnant doe does have different nutritional needs, too.
Adding a goat to your self reliant lifestyle is certainly a major commitment (or at least should be approached as such) but the rewards are great. Not only are goats wonderful and endearing animals in and of themselves, but also goat milk is actually good for your body—and fresh goat milk is a fantastic food.
