GOAT THREAD

[Farrier1987]

OK, so I have my chickens, about 20 that give me a pretty egg basket. Leghorn, bantam, Americauna and Marans, olive eggers and mixes thereof. And my incubator doesn’t plug in, it is that kind with feathers that won’t get off the nest. I get a new roo every year for new blood. Get outside eggs to set some times too, to get new egg colour and/or genetic diversity.

I also have a mini horse and two goats and a big garden. Enough for an old guy on an acre.

I am thinking there are others somewhat like me on PTO, and I want to start this thread about goats.

So for a start, I will tell about my goats. The two Alpines I have now are named Priya and Butterfly. Butterfly is a doeling, Priya’s from last spring.

Butterfly more or less named herself. Black with white markings, and a butterfly in the middle of her face.

Pryia (pronounced PREEya) Is a Hindi/Urdu word that means roughly deer or honey or sweetie. An appellation of affection that a man might call his wife. It is also used as a girl’s name. As we got Priya from some people of Indian roots, I asked an Indian friend what might be a good name, and Priya seemed right.

I bought Priya almost two years ago. Bought her fresh with her first kid, year and a half old. They kept the kids. Paid $300 for her. She paid for herself and all my chicken feed and hay that first season. I drank the milk and made cheese, and sold about 2 L a day for $3 a litre. The person buying says she makes soap with it, so I am sure there are no legal implications.

Bred her to the neighbor’s pure Alpine buck Nov 2014. Had twins, boy and girl. Sold the little buck, kept Butterfly. Priya is bred back to Butterfly’s daddy, due in mid March. Butterfly is due around the first of May, bred to a Saanen buck a few miles away.

They stay outside mostly. When we bought the place 5 years ago, there was a huge doghouse, probably 6x8 or so. I keep a foot or so bedding in it and mostly they are good. Very cold or miserable nights they whine and complain until I put them into the stall in the combination chicken house/barn/garage.

Dried Priya up in the new year, even though she was still giving over a litre per milking. Want her dry for about 2 months before she has babies, so she can put the nourishment into the babies. Need to vaccinate/booster about a month before they kid, so the antibodies are well up to pass on to the babies in the colostrum. Wormed them both when it was real cold out, so any eggs get killed by the frost. Or at least most of them. They say that worm medicine is the cheapest feed you will ever buy.

So I bring them in morning and evening, give them each about a soupcan of grain on the milking bench. Priya knows all about that, but I like doing it with Butterfly too, so that after she has kids, she is used to getting up there. I pet and handle her and close the head stall. That way, there should be minimum rodeo when I start to milk her.

Enough for today, but if I get encouragement from members, I will post about goat stuff semi regularly.

[thegawd]

Man thats awesome! we tried the goat thing and wanted to do exactly what you are but we couldnt keep them contained and it was a lot more work than we initially thought. We had unregistered Nigerian Dwarfs and would like to get back into them one day.

Sounds like you got things figured out! right on!

[TomK]

Farrier..awesome post..theres a lot i don't know about goats and no one around here has any...keep it up...I'd enjoy learning more...thank you :running-chicken:

[Jaye]

I have always liked goats but don't know all that much about them. There were a few members on the old forum who kept goats, and I found their posts interesting and informative. I don't know if they made it to the new site, but hopefully they did, and can join in the conversation too.

[thegawd]

the goat lady... is she on here? guna check.... yup same with goatgal... not sure of any others.

[Jaye]

Yes those were the members I was thinking about. Also Michelle.

[windwalkingwolf]

We got a nanny and her daughter, Ma and Aggie, about a year ago, and two bucklings last summer, Pa and Rusty: one for breeding and one for the freezer. All are Saanen crosses. Both girls are pregnant and we are expecting our first kids sometime between February and April LOL . Very excited about that. Extras will go in the freezer, but I'm terrified I will get attached. Rusty will be hard enough, he's a sweet guy and shunned by the others.

[Killerbunny]

I used to know an Indian lady called Priya!
Love to hear about the goats. I did Email Michelle don't know if she made it over I think she has a Facebook page?

[Poultryprincess]

I "dream" of having goats. Only have 2 acres, so nice to see you are able to have them with an acre of land.
Being "City Folk" it causes major drama when a chicken or duck must be killed. ( our arrangement is I hold the bird & he chops the head - like he said, I should suffer just as much as he does....especially since they are My birds )
Hubby doesn't want goats because he doesn't want to have to put any down.

I am VERI interested in your trials & tribulations with your goats.
PLEASE Share what ever info you have ~ even your intro story is wonderful!!!!!

[kenya]

Lovely info! I had a Nubian goat years ago used to get out on me though! Got out one day and ate all the neighbours sweet corn that was up about 3 or 4 inches ,went down all 5 rows and ate it all, he came over with the shotgun ready to shoot her with me standing in the way so he couldn't and his wife trying to pull him away. She finally talked him down . LOL