Goats

[QuietH3art]

At the end of my first week of owning goats, I have learned a lot. One Myotonic gives plenty of milk for one person at just about a pint a day. It takes me only about 10-15 minutes to milk Diana and we have a wonderful schedule going on now that I've started giving her goat sweet feed during milking. She really looks forward to that morning and evening. Unfortunately, it looks like it will take about 2 weeks worth of milk to gather enough cream to make butter. It takes about 4 days worth of milk to make 8 ounces of mozzarella cheese, which I intend to make tomorrow after I skim the cream off the top of the fourth pint I got this week. I am really looking forward to Dixie having her kid(s) so I'll have more milk each day.
I've researched pasteurization vs raw and have decided to stick with raw while maintaining strict hygienic practices during milking. A lot of the nutritional value is lost in pasteurization. However, if you have infant, elderly or immune comprised people in the household, you are better to pasteurize for them.
For those of you who want more milk for less work, I do recommend that you get dairy goats. Saanens and Nubians are excellent and produce about a gallon of milk per day. They are also easier to milk, with their udders and teats more like a cow's. The Myotonics really require a small hand and a careful technique which involves rolling the entire udder in your hand to bring the milk down. Perhaps I'll do a video of it one day. Diana and I are still learning though and I couldn't have asked for a more patient and understanding goat to learn from.

 

[Gazrok]

I just had one of my customers at work that is a prepper as well tell me about a barter group he is in. We didn't get into many details, but he said people trade labor, skills and things

Don't need to wait until SHTF either. Rural folks do bartering all the time....even sometimes with corporate America. I once traded advertising space to Lowes in exchange for a discount. Another time, I traded a saddle for advertising space in a national trade magazine. I've traded the use of a trailer for some bales of hay, and the use of a truck for tools, etc.

 

[QuietH3art]

So, I think unless you're in a position to have a lot of dairy goats, goats milk is just for drinking. I've skimmed the cream from almost a week's worth of goat's milk (7 pints) and this is how much butter I got from it:

 

[jontte]

but you know that you can make butter!! an other thing learned

 

[Gazrok]

If there is no other source though, post SHTF...at least you'd have it.

 

[QuietH3art]

Fortunately, butter is not an essential nutrient. We can drink the milk without removing the cream and still receive the same nutrients. I do have 2 gallons of milk now - one skim and one whole - the skim is frozen in half gallon containers while we drink the more recent whole milk.

 

[Marv.Schmitz87]

That's too cool! Thanks for sharing your experience. Im gonna add goats to my list of things I need to get into. Right in between bee keeping and bow hunting.

 

[jontte]

oooh,you lucky ones that can have animals....need to get a new job away from town

 

[Gazrok]

Sometimes, so many animals gets a bit insane. We have a menagerie here...6 cats, 6 dogs, 2 birds, 3 horses, 3 rabbits, 8 chickens. One of those birds is a Maluccan (sp?) Cockatoo, loudest bird on the frickin' planet. If she's squawking while the dogs are barking, it's enough to drive you mad, hehe.

Usually, it's just when we come home though, until we get them to settle down.

 

[jontte]

the bird is expessing its joy

 

[Gazrok]

Maybe, but more likely, she just chimes in when they all make noise. Of course, she knows that when Daddy's home, she's out of her cage, and perching with me, so there is that too. Of course, unlike other animals, birds see their owner as a mate vs. a mommy or daddy, so she's often referred to as "my other wife". She can actually talk too, though her vocabulary is pretty limited. Her favorite saying, "Hey Baby!"....but she's been known to swear some too. Best thing is that she laughs like a human, and at the funniest of times. Just cracks us all up.

 

[Brent S]

Sometimes, so many animals gets a bit insane. We have a menagerie here...6 cats, 6 dogs, 2 birds, 3 horses, 3 rabbits, 8 chickens. One of those birds is a Maluccan (sp?) Cockatoo, loudest bird on the frickin' planet. If she's squawking while the dogs are barking, it's enough to drive you mad, hehe.

Usually, it's just when we come home though, until we get them to settle down.

Humm, I wonder how cockatoos taste.

 

[Gazrok]

Hey! (probably like pigeon, but plenty of THOSE around here, so my gal stays a pet).

 

[QuietH3art]

Humm, I wonder how cockatoos taste.

That's one of those hoity-toity meals that is really expensive for just a tiny bit of food.

 

[Brent S]

Hey! (probably like pigeon, but plenty of THOSE around here, so my gal stays a pet).

Hey I've always said I would eat dog if times got tough. I just never said I'd eat my own dog!

 

[QuietH3art]

We have babies! - or in correct goat farmer vernacular - doelings. Delivered between 3:30 and 4:00 this afternoon.

 

[jontte]

they look so cute

 

[jimLE]

awww their cute

 

[Brent S]

We have babies! - or in correct goat farmer vernacular - doelings. Delivered between 3:30 and 4:00 this afternoon.View attachment 2966

Twins? You got your money's worth on that mama! I'm thrilled for you, and can't wait to get a couple myself.

 

[QuietH3art]

Twins? You got your money's worth on that mama! I'm thrilled for you, and can't wait to get a couple myself.

From what I understand, they usually do have two. They are so freakin adorable. I keep going out to check on them. They look like little poodles and they wag their little tails, too.