The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: crazy goat lady on June 08, 2013, 02:58:46 pm
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:goat:
Hi
As per my introduction post we are moving to Spain later this year. I would love to have some goats for milking and pleasure, and just for ourselves. Dont ask me why, but I am loving the goats!.
So please be gentle with me, where can i find a basic guide to goats ie
How many would I need for 2/3 persons to produce milk for cheese.
I am told you have to breed to produce milk...... what happens to the KIDS :o
do they breed yearly or whenever ::)
See said I was green
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Ok. Keeping goats is perfectly normal. Don't let anyone tell you any different. :roflanim:
One goat would produce enough milk for 2-3 of you and you would be able to make cheese. My girl is producing just over four pints a day which is more than enough for the two of us. I make yoghurt and soft cheese. to make hard cheese you need somewhere cool (not the fridge) to keep it while it matures. I lost loads the one year I tried it because I couldn't keep it at the right temperature. Having said one goat is enough, goats don't like living alone and would be far happier to have goatie company. Also the yield goes down each year so, by having two, you can breed from each one alternate years and keep the yield up. You would need to check the regulations in Spain but here you are not allowed to sell milk or cheese or yoghurt unless you are a proper checked supplier, unless it is marked 'Not for human consumption' although what people then do with it is up to them. ;)
Which brings me to yes, you usually have to breed from them to get the milk. Having said that, Plumseverywhere on here has a maiden milker, one who has never been mated but who still produces lots of mik every year, but this is unusual. What happens to the kids is up to you. Some people take them away from their mothers at birth and either bottle feed them or, if they are male, kill them. Personally I prefer to leave the kids with mum and take some milk for us. There isn't a lot spare which is another advantage of having two producing milk. Once they are weaned, you have the option of keeping them, selling them or eating them. That is not easy. The last one I bred was male and I named him Curry so there was no doubt in my mind where he was going to end up. It still took me a long time to actually send him off for slaughter and I think that the fact that someone else offered to take him when she took hers made it a bit easier. He does taste good though. ;) If you raise a male, he either has to be castrated, soon after birth usually, or kept well away from the females. If kept entire, he will stink so well away from the house is also prefereable.
The usual, as I said, is to breed from each alternate years but mine last one and the current milker, her daughter, produce so well that I leave it longer. It's two years since Pom had Curry and she still produces enough. Flo was still being milked four years after giving birth to Pom. Cloud, my younger one, who I bought from a dairy farm, is now 16 months old so I will be looking to get her in kid this autumn so she will give birth when she is two.
In the UK goats come into season every three weeks from September/October time through to February. This may be different in warmer countries. Pregnancy lasts 150 days.
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Thanks
thats all really useful, I am sure it is difficult to send off for slaughter, but it is food for the freezer and at least you know where it came from :farmer:
Thats sounds brilliant because I really only wanted 2/3 so that would be perfect for us. So presuming the ideal is to buy in a nanny with kids in tow and then move on from there?
Very excited..
We are not selling in Spain so as I say it is just for us milk, cheese and the freezer
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Either that or buy two nannies with one who has not long kidded. I would also recommend going for one that is used to being milked. If you and the goat are both beginners, you could find it difficult.
Thats sounds brilliant because I really only wanted 2/3 so that would be perfect for us.
Wonder how many you'll end up with. Not many of us stick to our original plan once we're smitten. ;D
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Either that or buy two nannies with one who has not long kidded. I would also recommend going for one that is used to being milked. If you and the goat are both beginners, you could find it difficult.
Thats sounds brilliant because I really only wanted 2/3 so that would be perfect for us.
Wonder how many you'll end up with. Not many of us stick to our original plan once we're smitten. ;D
sounds like a plan thanks
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They've got some lovely goats in Spain (not to mention mules :D ) proper ones with colour and coat
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Have just returned from rural Spain. The majority of goats I came in to contact with were tethered and had no access to shelter, very saddening compared to how we keep them here.
Loads of goats cheese, in fact a cheeseburger in a cafe comes with goats cheese as standard rather than cows where we were (assume the burger was beef?!)
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most of the rural places we have been to tend have herds with a goat herder walking them, i think everywhere there are good owners and bad, i am sure not all animals here in the UK have access to shelter etc. Goats cheese is very common in Spain , hard cheeses not so. Mmm beef might have been depends what type of place you ate in
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Perhaps not, but it did seem to be the 'norm' to be tethered in the part of northern Spain where we were.
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I know Albie used to send me pictures of his local goats and they were all herded and these lot certainly aren't tethered :)
http://eastofmalaga.net/2012/10/06/goats-on-the-road-i-kid-you-not/ (http://eastofmalaga.net/2012/10/06/goats-on-the-road-i-kid-you-not/)
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That's lovely :) Yes, probably just near where we were staying this year - oh and they were your favouite type JJ ;) I need to PM you - more dog probs nearby your house x
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I know Albie used to send me pictures of his local goats and they were all herded and these lot certainly aren't tethered :)
http://eastofmalaga.net/2012/10/06/goats-on-the-road-i-kid-you-not/ (http://eastofmalaga.net/2012/10/06/goats-on-the-road-i-kid-you-not/)
lovely
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what stunning colours! beautiful :)
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I'd love to see those goats. I'd want to get out of the car to cuddle them.