Raising Goats.pdf

Goats serve many purposes worldwide. They produce delicious milk, healthful

low-fat meat, and fiber for spinning. They are excellent at brush control, and they

may be used to carry camping supplies on hiking trips or hitched up to help with

light chores around the yard. They are inexpensive to maintain, require simple

housing, do not take up a lot of space, and are easy to handle and transport.

Scientifically, goats belong to the suborder Ruminantia — that is, they are

ruminants, like cows, deer, elk, caribou, moose, giraffe, and antelope. Ruminants

are hoofed animals with four-part stomachs. Within the suborder Ruminantia,

goats belong to the family Bovidae, which includes cattle, buffalo, and sheep. Of the

six species of goat, one, Capra hircus, is domesticated.

One nice thing about goats is that they do not require elaborate housing. All they

need is a shelter that is well ventilated but not drafty and provides protection from

sun, wind, rain, and snow. You can easily convert an unused shed into a goat house.

Each goat requires at least 15 square feet of space under shelter and 200 square feet

outdoors. A miniature goat needs at least 10 square feet under shelter and 130 square

feet outdoors. You'll also need a sturdy fence — don't underestimate the ability of

your goats to escape over, under, or through an inadequate fence.

Goats are social animals that like the company of other goats, so you'll need at

least two. If you will be breeding your goats, the herd will probably grow larger than

you initially expect. Plan ahead by providing plenty of space.

Goats are opportunistic eaters, meaning they both graze pasture and browse

woodland. Those that harvest at least some of their own food by grazing or brows-

ing will cost less to maintain in hay and commercial goat ration. Each year the aver-

age dairy goat eats about 1,500 pounds of hay and 400 pounds of goat ration.

Nondairy goats do well on hay and browse, with little or no ration.

Despite what you may have heard, being opportunistic eaters does not mean

goats eat things like tin cans. A goat learns about new things by tasting them with

its lips. Young goats like to carry things around in their mouths, as puppies do. If

you see a goat with an empty can, it could be playing with it or eating the label,

which, after all, is only paper made from wood. Although the goat may look cute

carrying a can, it's a bad idea to leave such things where a goat can find them; the

goat may cut its lips or tongue on the sharp rim.

Another myth is that goats are smelly. A goat is no more smelly than a dog, unless

you keep a breeding buck, which will smell pretty strongly during the breeding

season. But unless you plan to breed your does, you don't need a buck. And even

if you do plan to breed, you may find it more convenient and economical to use

someone else's buck if you have only a few does.

So what's your reward for keeping goats? If you raise dairy goats, each doe will

give you about 90 quarts of delicious fresh milk every month for 10 months of the

year. You and your family might drink the milk or use it to make yogurt, cheese, or

ice cream. Surplus milk may be fed to puppies, chickens, pigs, calves, or orphaned

livestock and wildlife.

From each meat wether (castrated buck), you will get 25 to 40 pounds of tasty,

lean meat, which may be baked, fried, broiled, stewed, or barbecued. If you raise

fiber goats, from each adult Angora, you will get 5 to 7 pounds of mohair twice a

year. From each cashmere goat, you will get just less than 1 pound of down per year.

Each doe you breed will produce one kid or more annually; some does kid

twins year after year. Every day, each goat will drop a little more than 1 pound of

manure, which makes good fertilizer for the garden.

The ultimate reward, of course, is the fun of raising healthy, contented goats.

More than 200 breeds of goat may be found worldwide. Each breed has character-

istics that are useful to humans in different ways. Some are efficient at turning feed

into milk or meat, others at turning feed into hair for spinning. Some breeds are small

and produce less milk or meat than larger breeds, but are easier to keep in small

spaces. Your purpose in keeping goats will determine which breed is right for you.

Dairy Goats

A dairy goat, sometimes called a milk goat, is one that produces more milk than it

needs to nurse its kids. In the United States, there are six main dairy breeds,

Alpine. An Alpine has a long neck and a two-tone coat, with the front end a dif-

ferent color from the back, A mature doe weighs at least 135 pounds, and a mature

buck weighs at least 170 pounds,

LaMancha. LaManchas come in many colors and are the calmest of the dairy

breeds. A LaMancha is easy to recognize because it has only small ears or no visi-

ble ears at all. A mature doe weighs 130 pounds or more. A mature buck weighs 160

pounds or more.

Nubian. Nubians come in many colors and are the most energetic and active of

the dairy breeds. You can tell a Nubian from any other goat by its rounded face

(called a Roman nose) and long floppy ears. A mature doe weighs 135 pounds or

more. A mature buck weighs 170 pounds or more.

Oberhasli. The Oberhasli looks something like a refined deer. Its coat is bay

(reddish brown) with black markings. A mature doe weighs at least 120 pounds, and

a mature buck weighs at least 150 pounds.

Saanen. A Saanen is all white or cream colored. A goat of this breed in any other

color is called a Sable. A mature doe weighs 135 pounds or more. A mature buck

weighs 170 pounds or more.

Toggenburg . A Toggenburg has white ears, white face strips, and white legs set-

ting off a coat that may range in color from soft brown to deep chocolate. A mature

doe weighs 120 pounds or more. A mature buck weighs 150 pounds or more.

Alpines, Oberhaslis, Saanens, and Toggenburgs are closely related and are sim-

ilar in shape. They all originated in the Swiss Alps and are therefore referred to as

the Swiss breeds or European breeds. These goats have upright ears and straight or

slightly dished faces. They may or may not have wattles consisting of two long flaps

of hair-covered skin dangling beneath their chins. These breeds thrive in cool

climates.

LaManchas and Nubians, on the other hand, originated in warmer climates and

are therefore grouped together as tropical or desert breeds. The Nubian originated

in Africa, and the LaMancha comes from the West Coast of the United States. As

a general rule, both breeds are better suited to warm climates than the Swiss breeds.

If you buy a young female, or doeling, you can't tell for sure how much milk she

will give when she matures, but you can get a good idea by looking at her dam's milk

records. An average doe yields about 1,800 pounds, or 900 quarts, of milk per year.

A doe's dairy character gives you a fair idea of whether she will be a good milker.

Characteristics of does that prove to be good milkers include:

• A soft, wide, round udder

• Teats that are the same size, hang evenly, and are high enough not to drag

on the ground or get tangled in the doe's legs when she walks

• A well-rounded rib cage, indicating that the doe has plenty of room for

feed to fuel milk production

• A strong jaw that closes properly, so the doe has no trouble eating

• Strong, sturdy legs

• Soft skin with a smooth coat

A dairy goat may be born with horn buds that will eventually grow into horns.

Kids with buds are usually disbudded, because mature dairy goats without horns are

easier to manage and are less likely to injure their herdmates or their human han-

dlers. If they are to be registered or shown, they are not allowed to have horns. Goats

born without horns are called polled.

If your dairy herd includes polled does, make certain your buck is disbudded

rather than polled. The polled trait is linked to a gene for infertility; if you breed

a polled buck to your polled does, half of their offspring will be incapable of

reproducing.

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