[Helencus]

I'm considering getting a couple of goats to keep on top of weeds and to produce milk eventually. Im not sure what breed is considered an easy breed to start with any suggestions? Also any suggestions on good books to read in advance.
Cheers
Helen

[Anke]

Re breed - any that you like. (And you will get many different answers on that) I have GG's (I fell for those the first time I saw them!), and BT's (initially ONLY to bump up the milk suply, but now getting hooked on pedigree breeding those as well).

Depends on how much milk you think you need, if you are planning to breed to pedigree standard, and then what billies are available locally. If you check the BGS website (allgoats.org.uk) there is a show calendar on for 2011, and then you could ring the stewart for more info. If the shows are not part of a large agricultural show, you will also be able to see some males.

Books: My favourite intro book is  "The new Goat handbook", by Ulrich Jaudas, out of print, but still sometimes available through abebooks.co.uk, the standard text is  "Goat husbandry" by David Mackenzie (5th edition), again abebooks will have it somewhere (This is the most recent edition and I think most up to date, but it's still 1993!), but there are a few newer slim ones that are worth a look into. Check out the library, even some of the 1980s books are good, if you disregard anything to do with regulations.

Go and see a local goatkeeper!

But make sure you have all the fencing, housing, hay supply in place before you get any home.

Have fun!

[little blue]

think about their size too - you need high fences for tall goats!

you're very welcome to come and see our few, to get an idea of what it entails & just what they are like close up & personal!
 (just remember, Max is up for sale & I've suggested to O/H that maybe one of his little sisters could go with him )

I'm quite a fan of the Katie Thear books, Intro to goat keeping.
Amazon have quite a few... lots are American (but goats are still goats!) 
I've borrowed "A kid's guide to showing goats" tiime and time again from our library, its been dead handy. And we now have a few more vets type books.

[Roxy]

Remember that goats are browsers, rather than grazers, and given the choice they prefer trees and branches over grass .......so you may get the goats and still have the weeds

All my goats from the big tall BT boys down to the pygmy goats have tested my patience with their jumping ability - normal stock netting and two lines of
barbed wire on top are not adequate fencing, and one of my can quite easily scale the gate if he wants!!

[plumseverywhere]

My old milker was a Togg and I have a new pedigree tog coming in the autumn - however..my saanen cross has just come into milk without kidding (a maiden milker) and although we tried not to milk as we thought she'd dry up, she's now producing enough milk to keep the family (7 of us!) and make soap from. So unless you want to breed pedigree's, cross bred goats are sometimes just as good for milk/pet/browsing 

[princesspiggy]

we had a gg once. she was lovely. i recommend that breed if u like tem. Anke - do u breed ggs? 

[jaykay]

Old English  Hardy, friendly, not too big, don't eat too much, don't produce so much milk it's unmanageable, eat weeds nicely.....and they're rare too, so you'd be doing the breed a favour as well 

[Helencus]

Thanks all I'm going to show my total ignorance but I've no idea what BTs and GGs are?

[McRennet]

Hello,

BT= British Toggenburg
BS= British Saanen
GG= Golden Guernsey
BA= British Alpine
AN= Anglo-Nubian

There are plenty more but these are the most common, in terms of abbreviation, not necessarily in number!

Don't worry, Amazon Marketplace like me very much now that I've 'invested' in a load of second hand books all about the humble goat. Shame they don't sell a dictionary to go with them all!


McR 

[Hopewell]

The British Goat Society website has a section on it where you can see what the different breeds look like and a short description of each. They also produce helpful booklets on various aspects of goat keeping.

[ballingall]

Oh dear- we are talking jargon at you!

BT= British Toggenburg (brown and white dairy breed of goat)
GG= Golden Guernsey (Golden coloured dairy goat that originates from Guernsey- often long haired)
BA= British Alpine (black and white dairy breed- wouldn't recommend these for a new goatkeeper, they can be mental)
BS= British Saanen (white dairy goat, very quiet and produce lots of milk)
AN= Anglo-Nubian (the best breed though I may be a little biased. Can be any colour, they have long floppy ears and a roman nose- considered to be the Jersey cow of the goat world)
Toggenburg= the pure type of the BT's listed above- originate from Switzerland, smaller & generally hairier than the BT.
Saanen= the pure type of the BS's listed above- originate from Switzerland, smaller than the BS.

Then you also have Bagots (rare breed, small), Pygmy's (minature), Old English, Boer (meat), Angora & Cashmere (both fibre breeds).

This may help- http://www.allgoats.com/breeds1.htm

[Anke]

we had a gg once. she was lovely. i recommend that breed if u like tem. Anke - do u breed ggs? 

Yes I breed both GGs and BT's, also hoping to use the BT's to start a foundation group for BG (British Guernseys).

I have had my goats for three years this summer, had two kidding seasons. Of the three kiddings out of my two GG's I only produced males so far... so not very successful on the GG side (and have so far only managed - luckily - to breed female 4 BT's...) Someone work that on out!

[Helencus]

Thank you all that's very helpful. I'll take a look at the goat society website. I quite fancy a British breed, will do some research.

[jaykay]

Here's the Old English Goats website for starters
www.oldenglishgoats.org.uk
 

[Mays]

O dear Ballingall... now I want a BA I like mental