Hi George,

They are so adorable! Look how tiny they are. I just love kids and lambs....they have to be the cutest animal babies. You and Jerreth must be so proud of your sweet little babes....and, yet, so busy with them too.

Triplets? How rare is that? I'm guessing pretty rare.

How do you protect them from the evil predators? Or, maybe predators that prey upon baby livestock are not as common there as they are here?

No one close to us has any tiny goats out in the pastures yet where we can see them, although some may be in the barns. We do see new calves and foals in the fields around us everywhere, and quite a few baby cottontail rabbits as well.

Dawn

Actually, we've heard of quadruplets and quintuplets. But we've only ever experienced triplets. One of our does regularly gives birth to three.

Our babies aren't allowed out of the "kid house" until they are quite a bit larger and weaned. But we do have a Great Pyrenese (dog) who protects our animals. He loves our horses, cattle (when we have them), goats & sheep. He tolerates and doesn't hurt our poultry. He drives off or kills any predator who threatens any of his domain. So he's pretty special to us (the big lunk).

George

How cute! Pardon my ignorance but you are just the person to ask the question that I have been having ever since we moved to this area where there are a lot of goats around. What is the market for them? Is it the milk? I never see that at the stores or any thing. Surely they aren't sold for meat are they?
Patty

George,

They are adorable! I wish I lived somewhere I could have goats instead of in town where you can't even have hens... Though, I actually really like where I live - just wish they had different rules!

I visited a professor's farm last year and he raises pigmy goats. We went out to the goat's yard and had a blast with them following all around. They had a few kids, and all were so friendly...

Thanks for the pics! Keep us updated. :-)

Ada

Patty,

I can't tell you which ones are which, but I am sure George can. There are milk goats and there are meat goats. I am not sure if there are any goats that are raised both for milk and for meat.

We're surrounded by goats here in Love County and I think almost all of them are or were the 4-H or FFA projects of students who live in this area. From talking with some of them, I think most of them get attached to the goats and often keep them and raise them as pets even after they graduate from high school.

A lot of people do eat goat. I bet George can tell you about cabrito since he has lived in Mexico. Also, many people of certain religious faiths eat goat.....and I am specifically thinking of the Muslim population....and they especially eat goat on their religious holidays. I believe goats raised for Muslim persons' consumption have to be raised a certain way.

Some goats also are raised for the fur/hair/coat (I don't know what to call it--LOL) which can be spun into yard. George can tell you about that too.

And, there are a lot of people--especially those who are into the homesteading lifestyle--that make and sell goats milk soap, which is a wonderful soap by the way.

Dawn

That is correct. There is actually a large and growing demand for goat. Oklahoma is one of the best places, for some reason, if one wants to raise them for profit. There are, by far, more meat goats out there, than dairy. The most common meat goat is called a Boer goat, which most often is white with a brown/red or black head and shoulders. But there are other meat goat breeds. Meat goats are a lot easier to raise, as most just let them breed in the field and raise their little ones.

We raise dairy goats. We started with Nubian crosses. That is, they were mostly Nubian (long ears and large bodies), but one of our original does was 1/2 Saanen (another excellent milking breed). The other was 1/3 Toggenburg, which is the breed most used by commercial dairy goat producers. Our original buck is pure Nubian.

Nubians were actually developed from African stock, by people in Britain, as a multipurpose breed. They don't produces as high a percentage of meat for carcass weight as a meat goat. But they are alright. We usually eat our extra males. This year, so far, we've sold every kid before it's been born. So Jerreth told me "Don't sell any more little bucks, I want meat!"

Goats are, in my opinion, the most practical homesteader's animal of all. They're even a bit better than chickens. Though I would NEVER want to give up my chickens! We find that EVERYTHING about goats (especially dairy goats) is useful. The only down side on them is that they are truly destructive if they can get to one's garden or fruit trees. Ours rarely manage that.

Goats are also extremely winsome. I would say that they would make excellent pets. We truly love our milkers. Wethers (castrated males) are sweet and docile. Bucks are another story.

If anyone ever wants to start with goats, I'd highly recommend that they get two. They are such social animals that it is less work to manage two than one. A lone goat is a PAIN IN THE NECK!

Dairy goats are very profitable to raise. But they are also very intensive work during much of the year. Nubians are in milk for about 8 months of the year. During that time they need to be milked twice a day without fail!

There are various philosophies on how to raise kids. The one we follow is probably the most intensive during their first six weeks. We schedule matings and try to be present for each and every birth. We catch the kids as they are born. Dry them, cut their umbilical cord and remove them from the doe before her maternal instincts kick in. We milk her from day one, pasteurize the milk and feed it back to the kids. This way both the doe and the kids are REALLY bonded with us. Plus, there are a couple of diseases which can be passed from mother's milk to kids, which we effectively eliminate by this process. When the kids are weaned (at six weeks) we can put them back with the flock and they never even think to nurse on a doe. So, we get all the milk, and we don't have to worry about separate pens, etc. But, you can see that it is labor intensive for about six weeks. We have to bottle feed the babies three times a day for the first week and then twice a day for five more weeks.

Jerreth and I make home made goats' milk ice cream, cheese, yogurt and kefir. When properly handled we find that it is not stronger flavored than cows milk.

George

I too think there is a demand for goats, though I wouldn't know one kind from another. I know I am renting a herd of 15 goats for the month of March to clear out the weeds on 2 1/2 acres of land. My neighbor also wants to rent a herd to clear out some brush.