The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: zackyb on October 26, 2010, 12:23:20 pm

Title: What goats are easy to rear and best for eating and or milk please?
Post by: zackyb on October 26, 2010, 12:23:20 pm

Hello All

I am new to AS and am planning on creating a small holding with some pigs and a couple of sheep and possibly some goats

I have knowledge of pigs but no knowledge of goats at all. I want to give them a good life and we have about four acres so would be sectioning off one part of one of the fields for them.

Could you please advise a good book I could use and what types of goat you would recommend that are easy to rear that will give good meat and or milk?

Thanks in advance
Zackyb

Title: Re: What goats are easy to rear and best for eating and or milk please?
Post by: little blue on October 26, 2010, 07:24:39 pm

Boer goats are raised specifically for their meat.

But you could potentially raise any (especially castrated male kids) to eat, as a kind of "by-product" from your milkers  - seeing as they have to have kids in order to produce milk!

easily handled milkers could be Toggenburgs, Sanaan, Alpines - depends really on your choice, size, whats easily available.
have a look at them, and see what you like the look of (eg my husband isnt so keen on the anglo nubian, so we didnt get them!)

a search on a well known book site will show you plenty of books...
Katie Thear's "starting with goats" is good & reasonably priced as a basic one, alot are American so the regulations dont apply.  Storey's guides are good (American though) and if you do eventually get goats, invest in a good vets' guide too...

Title: Re: What goats are easy to rear and best for eating and or milk please?
Post by: Anke on October 26, 2010, 07:33:45 pm

The one book that I found most useful can be bought from abebooks.co.uk as a secondhand copy, as far as I know it is out of print.

Ulrich Jaudas: The new goat handbook, published by Barrons.

There are quite a few others, check your local library, I am sure they have a selection from the 90s. Still not out of date for most aspects.

Also the British Goat Society website has a lot of info on it.

My personal choice is Golden Guernseys, but it depends what you want your goats for. If you are after milk but not pedigrees, look at Herdbook registered goats (prefix HB), and you can check their "pedigree" for milk as their parents etc are known. You can then breed your (milky) females to (meaty) Boers and rear the offspring for meat. But you will need to buy at least two goats to start with, they are herd animals and will need goat company.