[Orinoco]

Hi

We have made the decision to keep goats, with the intention of eventually selling milk and cheese, we know there are certain boxes we need to tick to enable us to produce and sell products to the public (currently don't know what they are), but most importantly we don't really know anything about keeping goats or how to milk.

We are looking for advice to start us walking in the right direction, currently we cant commit to milking twice a day (hopefully in about 3 or 4 months) and although our paddocks are well fenced I believe a little extra is probably required and some sort of shelter available in each paddock.

We need to work out if its feasible to produce an income over and above the running costs.

All advice/tips welcome or if there is already a post somewhere covering this

Ta

K

[wytsend]

Whereabouts are you...............possibly meet up with a local experienced goatkeeper.
If in Devon/southwest........would be willing to offer any help.
As to income.............that could be a difficult one.  There are people who do cover their costs but generally set out in the first place to do so.           So getting things right to start with is obviously very important.

[tizaala]

Before you even think about selling to the public you need to talk to Trading standards about the rules and regulations, the will send out an adviser to tell you everything you plan to do , and how you want to do it is not good enough, they will leave you a book 6 inches thick with all the compliances and hoops you have to jump through, We would have had to spend over 10 grand to upgrade all our kit and meet the regs , sod that , so we just make it for ourselves and give it away for pet food, you are allowed to do that, once they get it home they can please themselves what they do with it. ,


We were even told not to use dried herbs in our cheese as the people that picked them might have gone to the toilet in the field and not washed their hands afterwards,...So how come Tesco are allowed to sell these dried herbs ? 

[Lesley Silvester]

We were even told not to use dried herbs in our cheese as the people that picked them might have gone to the toilet in the field and not washed their hands afterwards,...So how come Tesco are allowed to sell these dried herbs ? 

How ridiculous. Presumably supermarket suppliers only have staff who don't go to toilet or pick their noses or anything else classed as unhygienic. If you were using your own dried herbs then you would know whether they were clean or not. If you used shop-bought ones, you have to assume they are produced under hygienic conditions. Legislation gone mad.

[Anke]

Hi

We have made the decision to keep goats, with the intention of eventually selling milk and cheese, we know there are certain boxes we need to tick to enable us to produce and sell products to the public (currently don't know what they are), but most importantly we don't really know anything about keeping goats or how to milk.

We are looking for advice to start us walking in the right direction, currently we cant commit to milking twice a day (hopefully in about 3 or 4 months) and although our paddocks are well fenced I believe a little extra is probably required and some sort of shelter available in each paddock.

We need to work out if its feasible to produce an income over and above the running costs.

All advice/tips welcome or if there is already a post somewhere covering this

Ta

K

How do you know if you like goats? Have you been around some, helped with the goaty tasks on someone else's farm etc etc (go Woof-ing)... please go away first and check out that you actually like to handle goats, that you can handle their antics and that you actually like to drink goats milk. Go to a few shows (show calendar with contact details etc on the BGS website), especially ones with males present -you will need to be able to handle billy perfume, even if you don't keep your own boy
Very difficult to set up as a dairy - have you done some market research as to how you would sell your milk/cheese etc - as in will you have any customers? Are you in Scotland? - unpasteurised milk is a complete no-no up here for some reason...
And if you decide to go ahead - better arrange a sizeable overdraft with your bank manager...
I don't want to sound completely negative, but seen too many people buying goats with elaborate plans.... and then "free to a good home" a few months down the line...

[Orinoco]

Thanks for the comments,

I will speak to trading standards, we all need a start point, mine is facts and figures, if there is a profit above running costs, it  may be worth the initial investment, as goats milk and cheese are part of the original plan but it may take a bit longer or it may turn out that i dont  have sufficient land and as far as profit goes its a non starter.  I would rather have an idea on the feasibility before i commit emotionally or if there is no profit and they are for petting only this will change what i will be looking for from goats.

Re the antics other than escaping to next door, this is the bit i am most looking forward to.

There will I am sure be some goat people locally (East Yorkshire) who i can contact, but I dont want to mess anyone around, so still looking for more of an idea on financial feasibility, then goat keeping research, then visit (info they can provide would stick better), then prepare and then start small.

One step at a time, thanks again for your help

K