# Goats!



## coyotech (Dec 26, 2012)

I'm starting a small herd of dairy goats, and they're all doing fine so far. I'm hoping all the does will be having kids and giving milk late this fall and we'll have goat kids to sell this spring. 

Anybody here experienced with goats and can give some tips towards keeping healthy goats with little budget, maximizing the amount of milk the milk goats can give, how long they can be milked and so on? I'm in New Mexico. 

Goats are getting more and more popular in this area. I guess a lot of people are feeling like they need to be able to support themselves and not depend on supermarkets and McDonalds for food. Parcels are big here, but paychecks are small. There is growing interest around here in the old ranch skills like herbs and home remedies, making soap, raising animals, gardening and so on. I have friends with goats, but would like other people's experience and expertise as well.


----------



## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

What breed did you go with?


----------



## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

Join a Goat Forum, search Mother Earth News for articles about goats, and have fun with your goats. We raised goats when I was a child and they provided a lot of free entertainment.

You may not have any/many new kids this autumn. Does are in season in autumn and kid in the spring, generally speaking.


----------



## coyotech (Dec 26, 2012)

I have 3 alpine mix goats and 1 smaller nubian. All are sort of medium sized goats. We got 4 goats for free from different people, and I bought 2 goats. I sold 2, as well. With my budget, getting these goats is a like miracle


----------



## coyotech (Dec 26, 2012)

Thanks for that information about kidding times. The does have been in heat in heat the past couple of weeks, going by our buck's efforts and funny faces  That's why I hope for kids in 5 months...although that would be more like January, not late fall, if he just started now. He's only now getting old enough to do his work. Would the does respond to the changes in a buck, as he becomes mature enough to mate?


----------



## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

coyotech said:


> Thanks for that information about kidding times. The does have been in heat in heat the past couple of weeks, going by our buck's efforts and funny faces  That's why I hope for kids in 5 months...although that would be more like January, not late fall, if he just started now. He's only now getting old enough to do his work. Would the does respond to the changes in a buck, as he becomes mature enough to mate?


Our goats always go into heat in July and birth in December. So yours may be the same.

The "natural" time is dictated by the breeder in most cases... Meaning they don't keep a buck with the girls all the time so they decide when the birthing happens then call it nature.


----------



## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

Yea I kinda have one for you.
This is often true. [not always true]
The buck pees on his front ankles then rubs it on his head and over time it develops into a real nice perfume [if you are a goat]Then he rubs on the female and she falls deeply in love and lets him have his way.
Until she is pregnant and then hates it but he now has an ingrained behavior pattern.
And all goes well the kids are born and its time to begin collecting milk.
And as you milk her 1 stray hair from billy falls off her and the milk is ruined before you can do anything about it!
So the local chickens etc enjoy lots of rancid milk while you go insane trying to figure out why the milk sours before it hits the bucket and you install more and more expensive and labourous equipment and methods utill you finally give up and get rid of the goats OR pen up billy.
Then you wash every nanny who has been near billy immedietly after she steps outside his pen which is double fenced with a wash area in the outer fence to provide a buffer between him and her so she does not spred him among the milking herd.
I prefer washing all animals in the cheapest doller store conditioner I can find as I have had way to many animals of every species have issues with any soap [including baby shampoo and soaps designed for the particular species in question and none using conditioner and warm water. This includes me.]


----------



## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

Jimthewagontraveler said:


> Yea I kinda have one for you.
> This is often true. [not always true]
> The buck pees on his front ankles then rubs it on his head and over time it develops into a real nice perfume [if you are a goat]Then he rubs on the female and she falls deeply in love and lets him have his way.
> Until she is pregnant and then hates it but he now has an ingrained behavior pattern.
> ...


Our goat milk doesn't smell of buck and we run them all together for as long as we have had them. We also don't make it a practise to bath farm animals...


----------



## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

Maybe I just had dirty white girls?
But on a serious note everybody gets a bath at least once 
a year draft horse, dog etc ( well not a chicken)
It amazed me how often at bath time I had a better chance
to find health issues and if not so we had a bonding moment. 
And cheap conditioner has added several dollars to my pocket. 
Kind of like painting the car red before you sell it.


----------



## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

I'd have to agree with Jim on the 'stinky buck' thing. My bucks are in full rut right now and I'm holding off on putting them together with the does so I can stagger kidding, and subsequently milking in the spring. Also because December and January in Iowa are not good times to be having baby animals. Most people say that breeding is determined by the bucks and their cycle more than the females, but if you're lucky enough to have bucks that rut almost all year long you will have milk all the way through the winter, which is wonderful.

You will have loads of fun with your goats. I love mine!! They super easy keepers, don't eat gobs of food and provide lots of nutritious milk. Good luck!


----------

