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November 20, 2008, 04:33:15 PM

Permaculture Forums | substance | general homesteading | Topic: goats rule!

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goats rule!

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Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593

July 12, 2008, 07:32:36 AM

really they do! goat were one of the first domesticated animals and with good reason. they can provide milk and meat on a managable scale. Many people scoff at the idea of owning goats, I have got more than a few incredulous snickers when I tell people I raise and use goats for milk and meat. Some how the old ideas have permeated through the generations and persist. Cows were always a sign of status and wealth and goats were associated with poverty. Why? because cows are expensive! you need much more land to feed a herd of cattle than goats and people of lesser means had to be more practical. Indeed several attempts at colonization of the new world would have been more successful if the adventurers had left their egos behind along with their cattle and brought goats instead. Goats are so much easier on the land in comparison to cows. They are alot safer than cattle and produce more milk per lb of body weight than cows. Goats can survive and thrive on forage that cows would starve on. A dairy goat could be kept on a small lot with a little care in providing feed and provide a family with plenty of milk and a few kids to sell or put in the freezer each year. one of the best things about goats is how personable they are usually more than happy to put on a show running and jumping off of anything they can get on.


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Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford

paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1339

July 15, 2008, 09:33:10 AM

Ahem ....

And just to round out the picture a bit ...

Goats require far more industrial strength fencing - although some people have domesticated goats so that they are house trained and are eventually not fenced at all.

Goats will kill a baby tree by eating all of the bark off of it.

Bucks will stink like you never knew stink could happen (although there are ways to mitigate this).

If you are used to the taste of cow milk and cheese, it is possible to get goat milk and cheese to taste pretty close to what you are used to, but it could take a lot of trial and error.


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Leah Sattler
Administrator
Posts: 593

July 17, 2008, 06:18:54 AM

I'll admit that goats require more complicated fencing

if givenplenty of room they generally would much rather eat tender leaves than bark. the resort to bark when the yummy stuff is gone.

I your only experience with goats milk and cheese is the commercialy available kind I am sorry for your terrible experience. I cannot stomach the goats milk from the store it is NOT what goats milk from a homestead tastes like. My theory is that the dairys utilize breeds that are known for producing large quantities of milk with high protien for cheese production not milk that has drinking quality and those breeds also happen to be known for producing stong flavored milk outside of the dairys. I have tried to get someone to distinguish between my goats milk and cows milk tastewise. They can't. like many any things the icky stuff you buy at the store that is mass produced is nothing like the real stuff. If you want to try REAL goats milk go to a small farm,homestead or dairy with nubians or lamanchas.


	Logged

Put a bit of sunshine in each day;
Others need its cheer and so do you-
Need it most when outer sky's dull gray
Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do.
-"scatter sunshine" Jaunita Stafford

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