goaty question

[cheepo]

I have chickens rabbits..and am wondering if it would be possible for me to consider goats...
i have a long strip of space the length of the house..maybe 35 ft by 8..at one time i considered ducks,
but reseaching didnt think we needed ducks outside our bedroom window..
i go through sooo much yard waste, that yes is composted but, could sustain another source...
is there a breed, that would be more duable to a small space...but still a good milk source..
how much would need to be alloted for shed...i am only considering having 2 and would not do it if i didnt think
i could offer them a good quality life...

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Would you have a lot of brush for them to browse on. They would only nibble a bit on grass. Their main nourishment would come from branches, leaves, weeds, poison ivy, blackberry vines and the like. Lots of variety would be great. Its possible to browse for them and put their fodder in a wire feeder on a wall. They don't require an extravagent house, but if you plan on milking, you might want to plan ahead and have your milking station set up long before. I'm currently in a rush to finish my barn before my goats kid. They do have shelter, but I would like to finish, so I have my milking stand and a place for the kids. I keep a few SS type reference books on hand, so I can read up on any given topic, I"m thinking about doing. A goat is known as a desert maker. They will strip the bark right off of some tress. DH is not happy about some of the damage to our cypresses. We thought we had lost a few of them. Also, they will climb on whatever they can. Mine are currently bedding down on top of some spools I have in the barn.

 

[cheepo]

Hi rhonda milking station is a good point...I have a mr handy, and i would probably have him build something and would not be part of the space in question..I had thought of goats when we were thinking of buying the land behind us and i thought goats would be good to help clear..the trees and brush.
when we didn't get it...i put the thought of goats to rest...
My yard is an acre, but unique forest trees flower garden...lots of trees shrubs ect...so not the type of place to give goats free roam..but there is LOTS that gets cleared lots of weeds brush ect..
milk here is near 5 a gallon, would be good if we could produce our own...
how big is the barn you have built and how many goats are you considering having??

 

[cheepo]

oops double post

 

[pinkfox]

i agree, if its only grass your going to be feeding ALOT to sustain, goats are browsers not grazers.
they are also highly social
if you realy want goats i go with nigerian dwarfs, get form milking lines to ensure good large teets to make milking easier, but they are a true dairy breed.

stangly enough though, goats arnt as "eat everything" as people seem to think...

if your looking for more of a compoting system look into some of the smaller breed pigs (belive it or not potbellies are a MEAT breed)

or ifthe area is mostly grass and you want milk look into some of the milk sheep breeds...sheeps milk makes amazing butter.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

My barn is about 30X30, but some of it is for my araucana projects, but the goats still have most of the barn to roam around in. I am going to cut their access down to only about a 15X10ft stall and fix them a smaller pen than what they are currently enjoying....which will probably be about 30X50ft. I plan on doing their browsing for them and putting it up in a wire feeder and just giving them rations while milking. That way, I can plant grass and grains in their current run for my poultry projects and perhaps them a bit and I don't have to worry as much about them damaging my DH's precious cypresses. It doesn't take so long for me to fill up a wheelbarrow full of ragweed, which they seem to enjoy and quite frankly, I can afford to give them. To tell the truth, I forage for all my farm animals. I can't freerange them and its the next best thing as far as I can see. Much safer too.

 

[Marianne]

A lot of people do simple hoop houses for goat shelters, too. Ours is a straw bale and plywood shelter and our goats do okay. We have had our goats for one year now and still are using the same bales. I thought we'd have to change them out by now, but since they''re also at the end of a huge hay shed, maybe they aren't getting quite the moisture.
We 'borrowed' some of the neighbor's goats for organic weed control. Who knew we'd get so attached to 'em. I picked a ton of raspberry, grape and sunflower leaves to dry along with the other stuff for some winter feed. They ate it first, leaving the hay and alfalfa for last.

The ducks are fun to watch, but at our place, they're pretty much worthless. I think they need to go live someplace else.