[RUSTYME]

Ok , no money atm , but i intend to get 2 goats once i have the money and the shed sorted , and the feed .
What i am not sure of is what i have to do registering wise , ie herd number etc .
I have a cph number .
They will be for milk production , with offspring being sold on for meat or milkers , dependant on whether male or female .
What make i get will to a large extent depend on money i have at the time .
I like togs , ggs' , old english , bagots but £ may mean i have to go for heinz 57 .
What would be a fair price for youngish females (goats that is , not going into the slave trade) .
I don't really need huge amounts of milk , i can give surplus away , but will be making , cheese , butter , yogurt .
I go through
12 pts milk per week
1/2lb butter
1lb yogurt
1lb cheese
 i can expand on any info above as needed , as i know to an extent i am asking how long is a piece of string regarding price .

[sokel]

If you are wanting enough  milk for milk ,cheese yogurt etc you would be best getting one of the Dairy breeds
We have a BT that is giving us 5 1/2 ltrs a day we also have a GG that is giving 3ltrs a day
If you are wanting to sell the females for breeding and the males for meat you would be best going for registered Females or putting the females to a pure Boer
We seem to get a lot more people wanting our 50% Boer females than the amount of Kids we get

[Lesley Silvester]

I would agree with that. So many people want them for showing so they would need to be pure bred or 50%/50% at most. And definitely dairy goats or crosses.

[shygirl]

wev milked our bagots and have struggled to get more than a wee cup out of them - though they were still with their kids. but its very delicious creamy milk. we were thinking about slaughtering a wether though at 16mths hes still small and not alot of meat, so friendly though, so havent decided yet.

[Lesley Silvester]

He'll probably be a bit tough by now. Mine Saanen/BA was 20 months and needs slow cooking. Delicious though.

[sokel]

We did an 18 month old boer wether last year and tbh we didn't think the texture was any different to the ones we have done at 8 months

[Lesley Silvester]

That's interesting. I tried grilling a couple of chops when he first came back from the abattoir and they were like chewing leather. Same with a joint I roasted. I just put it down to his age.

[sokel]

We do tend to do things like Moroccan goat etc with ours and we tend to cook on a low heat for longer.
We also do stuff in the slow cooker so that cooks all day long

[Bionic]

When I was in India I had something called First class mutton curry ( you can look it up on the internet) except that is is made with goat and not mutton as we know it.
If you like Indian food then this tastes fantastic and cooked long and slow.

[Anke]

Hi Rusty - to keep goats off-the system is going to be quite difficult - when you register your herd number with Animal Health they will want you to register with a vet, and if you breed and the sell any of your goats (kind of essential if you want milk) you will need to buy ear tags etc - all of these require a credit card/bank account and recognised postal address.

In order to have milk for the house all year round you will need to kid your goats in alternate years and run at least one of them through for nearly two years. When they are feeding kids there is usually little milk left over for humans, at least for the first three months. Your lack of fridge may be a bit of a problem - you need at least 4-5ltrs of milk to make a pound of hard cheese.

Also making butter with goats cream without the help of a cream separator is unlikely to give you more than a smidgen of butter at a time, probably better to make soft lactic cheese (like Philadelphia in the shops) and use that instead of butter on bread and use lard (from your pigs that will use up all your excess milk, even when it has gone off!) for cooking.

You will need to work out what to feed your goats - you won't get much milk from grass and greens/hay alone, especially over winter - oats, sugar beet shreds, flaked maize, peas are all good. Serious problems if you fail to make hay.

Just some things to think about...

[Dogwalker]

Will your hands manage milking?

[tizaala]

flock number from Animal Health Dpt. your local trading standards will give you the number for them over the phone. they will come already tagged , you will need a herd book for your records and movement sheets, again from trading standards free.
You can sell excess milk for pet food without having to jump through health and safety hoops. and you are allowed to home slaughter for your own consumption.
Just a few basics.

[sokel]

We have never had to pay for our Tags when we order them and although they do ask for our Herd number at Hubbocks we always collect them from the shop and usually pay with Cash
I would think if you have an address for your Holding number you could work around the Tags

[RUSTYME]

Thanks peeps ,
i have a bank account and debit card and can continue using  that .
I have a holding number and can use a care of address with that . Already registered with a vet .
May get a 3 way fridge to run on gas or 12v , if not i have the river that i can build a cold room next too .
Before 1953 ish , nobody had a fridge round here , only those who had generators had leccy , but still no fridge .
Many made their own cheese , butter etc .
I will be growing my own barley , wheat , oats and rye as well as sugar beet ( for sugar for me) mangles and maize , swedes and turnips  .
I will grow my own hay , but will likely continue to buy  haylage as i do atm , if i don't manage to get enough to get by on .
 A seperator is on the to get list , as is a large glass butter churn , my aunt gets them on boot sales regularly .
My mum kept goats in the late 70's and 80's had a dozen or so . The cost of food got  a bit dear so i grew what she needed .
It is good to get a list of the do's and don'ts , must haves and so on , there will still be something i haven't thought of though lol .
My hands are fine atm , sometimes they play up and i stop doing things i don't need to do , just do what i have too , milking would be a have too .

[Lesley Silvester]

A good way at looking at things.