Man I have some bad luck. Twice this year I've thought I had a plan to get out of the city and twice my plans have fallen through . I have a friend with 5 acres he is willing to lease me, so I can at least do some gardening and keep my animals even if I'm not able to buy something of my own. He said it's fine for us to put an RV or something similar out there in case something happens and we want to get out of the city for a bit, too. Anyway, back to the reason for my post. I have enough chickens for my family, and if this works out I will get a few more ducks, but i also want dairy goats so I can quit buying store milk. What all do you recommend? I am seeing tons for sale near me, but I don't really know much about goats or what to look for. Can you eat them? If so, maybe a breed of goat that is good for dairy and meat. Any other ideas of what I could do with 5 acres of leased land? There is a well nearby, and a creek, so plenty of water handy. As far as i know, this is flat pasture land. I'm going out to take a look at it this weekend. I hope it works out, I would love to be planning a big garden for the spring.
Sure, you can pet dairy goats. It's a great investment of money. And the milk you'll produce from the goats, it'll be good for your family health and also save you a lot of money yearly. Even you can eat goats as well.
I remember them as a kid (no pun intended), my mother raised them for a time. Nubians were her favorite (long floppy ears) and the milk was quite rich. It is so high in butterfat that I would say that it would have a tendency to greatly increase your cholesterol if consumed on a daily basis. So maybe not so healthy. Would probably be ok for very very active, growing children, but not so much if they sit in front of a play station. Personally I never cared much for chevon, goat meat. But that may be more a matter of individual taste. You could live on it if you had to. Just my .
Goats would be a good choice for someone over cattle in a SHTF situation as they multiply fast and will eat about anything and you can milk and make cheese.
yeah i did some research last night and its interesting how certain breeds are better for getting milk that's good for butter and cheese. we would only want them to eat in a shtf scenario- something to change it up when we were tired of poultry. i am hoping to breed and sell them maybe down the line as goats seem to be a hot item in my area (ive contacted a few people, and most have waiting lists if you're looking for babies). ive thought about sheep for meat too. sounds much more appetizing than goat, but i have no experience with anything but poultry so i want to start with just a couple goats and see how that goes. I plan on growing: sun chokes (in containers because they spread so fast) brussel sprouts greens carrots potatoes maybe blueberries and/or raspberries strawberries asparagus i know everyone likes growing tomatoes, but i hate tomatoes. if i learned how to can them i'd probably be more inclined to make sauces and salsa and then be more in to growing them as well. maybe next year lol. tempted to try more, but this is only my second year gardening and i dont want to get ahead of myself. these are the veggies my family eats most of. if the leased land doesn't work out, i should have enough room at home to grow these things anyway. thanks all for the input so far.
Like chickens and rabbits, goats are a great small-scale meat source. Just make sure you have enough land to prevent over-grazing, because they'll leave nothing green behind them when they start getting underfed. That, and cutting down all their trees, was one of the BIG mistakes they made in Greece.
Nubians are great for dairy...our doe was producing just shy of 2 gal/day at her peak. Rich milk, no question about it. Cheese-making experiments showed that the best use was for a hard, dry cheese similar to parmesan...never had much luck with softer varieties. For eating, Toggenbergs were pretty good. Just different from other "normal" meat.
PM Gopherman for advice on meat and milking goats. Goat meat tastes a lot like venison but maybe a little more fatty.