Goat Raising

Goat Raising

Goatkeeping is one of the simplest live-red: operations, and the equipment for the"backyard dairy" is just as simple: A home-ala,fe stanchion and a manger for feeding arethe basic requirements. You may wish to add atiding milking stand, attached to the wall, to the milking task a bit.

By their nature, goats are affectionate andgentle. They are highly intelligent and can betaught almost any trick that can be taught adog. The milk they give is easier to digest thancow's milk. Also, goats are easier to handleand less expensive than cows.

Breeds: There are five principal breedsof dairy goats in America.

Nubians are of English, African andOriental origin. They are characterized bylarge size, long drooping ears, arched nose,and any color or combination.

French Alpines range from white to blackspotted. Ears are upright, face dished, eyes

Saanens are of Swiss origiri. They arewhite, of good size, with short, erect ears,dished or straight faces.

Toggenburgs are a Swiss breed. They aremedium-large; brown in color with light mark-ings down the face, on legs and under body;ears short and erect; face dished.

La Manchas are very calm goats andexcellent milk producers. They have small,almost unnoticeable external ears and long,straight faces.

Within each of these breeds there aregrade classifications such as purebred, recordedgrade, American, and crossbred. A purebredgoat is one whose parents are registered as thesame breed. A recorded grade goat has onlyone registered parent with the other one beingof mixed or even unknown breed. Americangoats are the result of three successive crossingsof a grade goat with a purebred. When twopurebred goats of different breeds are mated,the result is a crossbreed. In addition to thesetypes, there is the unrecorded grade goat whoseparentage is unknown.

As with any animal, the purebred type isthe most valuable goat though it will not always produce more milk than an unrecordedor crossed type. The main advantage to anyof the graded goats over the unrecorded onesis that you have proof of the goat's age, recordsof its parentage, and perhaps even some infor-mation on the dame's milk production. A pure-bred, grade, American, or crossbred goat costsa bit more than one that has no papers, but atleast you know what you are getting.

Buying horned goats is usually ill-advised,because of the harm they can cause. Horngrowth can be stopped when the kids are tinyby applying dehorning paste or cauterizing thesmall from buds.

Milk: Goat's milk is more easily digestedthan cow's milk because of its smaller, moreeasily assimilated fat globules. For the samereason, it is also more nourishing, for peopleare nourished not by what they swallow but bywhat they digest. Tuberculosis does not existamong goats, so their milk needs no pasteur-ization and runs no danger of losing its vitaminsor having its calcium salts altered by heat.

Many people start to use goat's milk to help them through an illness, and then developa taste for it. Goat's milk is sweet and pleasantto the taste. Goats are particularly discriminat-ing in their feeding habits. The doe is odorless and clean and nearly always produces high-quality milk.

A good doe will give three to four quarts of milk a day-plenty for most families' needs.To produce this amount of milk about fourpounds of hay and two pounds of grain dailyare required. You should purchase two or moregoats, however, and by having them freshen(produce milk) at different times of the year, areasonably constant milk flow can be main-tained throughout the entire year.

Breeding: Young females may be bred to freshen at 14 or 15 months of age if thewell developed. The gestation period Ismonths, and the usual practice is to have the does freshen once a year. Fine, purebred males are available within driving distance of most communities and it is seldom necessaryvisable for the small owner to maintain afor breeding.

The average suburban lot can provide ,much of the maintenance for goats, ancunsprayed leaves and trimmings fromfamily garden will go far to meet the feed requirements. Add alfalfa hay, or any good leguminous hay, with a light grain ration and the goats will thrive at nominal cost.

Feed represents the major portion ogoat-raising budget. Goats, like cattlesheep, are ruminants. They have a sestomach that lets them store large amourroughage in one compartment while "chewing their cud" (breaking down plant fibersadding the enzymes needed to extractents). For this reason, goats should have regular access to hay, grass, bark, and roughages.

There are various commercial rationspared specifically to insure proper nutritivegoats. Hay and grain make good feed, with the proper protein and mineral (espe4calcium) supplements. Organic garden can add kelp, molasses, cider vinegar, comand other nutrients to their feed.

Manure: The goat also convertsinto high-grade manure. The goat's digesystem is such that few if any weed seedsthrough her undigested. The compositiogoat manure is about the same as that of smanure, but of course varies dependingthe kind and quality of feed she receives.goat is, by nature, a browser rather th she utilizes leaves and twigs of deep-plants to good advantage. Disregardingminerals and some other similar in-ents, goat manure will contain about:

Wate - 64percent

Nitrogen - 1.44 percent

Potassium - 1 percent

Phosphorus - 0.22 percent

The manure of the goat, being dry and inis clean and odorless. In fact, thern dairy doe is perhaps the most nearlyess and the cleanest of any animal, andpremises can be absolutely free of anyif reasonably sanitary conditions are-rained.

Housing: Goats do not require costly orrate housing. Only a few essentials mustremembered: House them in a clean, dry. free from drafts but well ventilated.stay, they will stand almost unlimited coldat in any climate.

Minimum space requirements for goatsapproximately 20 square feet per animal., sand or gravel floors are desirable sinceremain dry and are easy to clean whengoat house or pen is scoured each spring and fall.

Bedding can be made from sawdust, straweven ground cornstalks. Old bedding makesexcellent contribution to the compost heap.Stock fencing is often preferred overin manger construction. A keyhole-d manger is one way to minimize hay. since the shape discourages goats fromg uneaten hay.

Goats require a constant supply of clean,water. Salt and mineral blocks are essential.

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