Friday, February 3, 2012

future farm critters - part 4: goats

I've already eluded to the fact that I'm not real sold on goats. When I first started thinking about farm animals, goats were at the top of the list, but when I think about why, my only conclusion is that it's because people talk about them so much and how cute they are and all, but I'm in this for the end product. If cuteness is a by-product, all the better! But I'm not going to get any animal just because it's cute.

So goats can give milk, meat, and/or fiber, depending on the breed. In order to get milk, the goat has to be a mother, right? Which means you must have babies. Which means you might have boy babies, who are only good for meat and/or fiber. I don't care about fiber, so they're really only good for meat in our situation. Truthfully, I've never eaten goat, but I really doubt that it's better than pork, lamb, or beef. I'm down for trying unique or exotic meats, but I'm really only semi-adventurous when it comes to food, and what if we end up with a freezer full of goat meat that we just don't want to eat?

And I've read that, for whatever reason, male goats stink to high heaven, and I think we're gonna have enough stink as it is with all that excrement from cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens.

I don't know if goat's milk is better than sheep's milk, but at least I can eat the sheep without question, and my favorite cheese eva is feta, which is made from sheep's milk. I'm sure we can adjust our palate from store-bought cow milk to sheep's milk when the time comes.

The one redeeming quality of goats is that they're good for clearing shrubbery. But the other livestock breeds I'm interested in are well known for their foraging ability that is almost on par with goats. Besides, I don't think we even have that much shrubbery to clear anyway, and what we do have can be done with a bush hog if it really comes to that.

I'll probably end up insulting someone, but goats are kinda in the same boat as horses for me. Like, what are horses good for? Riding: ok, so you ride a horse somewhere, then what? I supposed if you had hundreds of acres of farmland, a horse might be a worthwhile investment instead of motorized transportation. Maybe people who don't want to own a car would rather have a horse instead. Draft work and plowing: makes more sense. But a pig can do that for me. And then I get to eat bacon and ribs and sausage and tenderloin. And I want to do the whole no-till gardening thing anyway, so I only need it done once (if at all). I suppose people do eat horses (didn't they just pass a law about that?), but I'm not going to join those ranks. Ew.

Besides, we already have a horse. His name is Clyde Dog.

He's supposedly a St. Bernard, but we suspect he's actually a Clydesdale in disguise.

Although goats can apparently be very friendly and fun to watch, I think we will have our hands plenty full with the vegetable garden, forest garden (aka fruit trees), bramble, mushroom, and wildflower patches, watch dogs, barn cats, sheep, swine, cattle, canning, freezing, root cellaring, hunting, and most important of all, porch sitting.

Goats = perfect for someone else!

10 comments:

  1. Not to sell you on goat or anything, but what I've had from the supermarket tastes like beef to me. It doesn't have the gameyness of lamb or venison.

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  2. Hmm, and see I tried venison (killed on our land) for the first time a few months ago, and I didn't think it tasted gamey at all. But it was the tenderloin. And I did have a cocktail or two before trying it. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions on the flavor in an attempt to not overwhelm myself with too many animals/projects for the beginning homesteader. :)

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  3. I have been wanting goats forever and do plan on getting them. My reasons are for brush clearing--------I have A LOT of brush to clear. I especially want them for poison oak clearing--I have poison oak trees! Their manure is supposed to be good for the garden too. Manure is a big reason for me on adding any livestock to my property. I actually got my chickens primarily for the manure. My soil is decomposed sandstone--so there is no nutrients in it at all and I have grown tired of spending my money on bags of soil or compost. The other reason I want goats for my property, as opposed to sheep (my friends have some--I've drilled them with questions)..is that I have a super steep cliff dwelling property and I think the goats would have a better time navigating my place than sheep. Plus I don't want to shear the sheep...maybe someday-but not enough time these days. I have lived on property with groups of separated male and female goats----males STINK really bad. I will not have males. I don't need the milk--though think it is kind of cool-but since I don't eat meat, would not want to keep having baby goats to figure out what to do with. I have read a lot about goats and even saw that some people do use them like pack horses with packs on them or to pull sled type things--so I have thought about having them help me at least haul their own feed up my steep driveway. If I had the kind of land that you guys got--judging from your pictures, I would have sheep for sure. I might still get goats though too. :-)

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  4. I can definitely see the value of goats in brush clearing, manure, or as pack animals. We don't want to shear sheep either! That's why I'm focused on hair sheep instead of wool sheep. I hadn't thought of just keeping unbred females (no milk). Maybe once we get to know our property better, we'll decide that a couple unbred females would be of use to clear the underbrush within the wooded areas, although I'm not sure what I would do with such an area after it's cleared or if that would even be a good ecological choice. Jay and I both tromped through our woods at length last time, even doing some serious bushwhacking when we got off a trail, with zero evidence of poison oak/ivy/sumac! Goats also need predator protection, and I'm unsure that I'd want to devote an LGD to safeguarding a couple goats in the woods. Trying to balance practical vs. fun will indeed be challenging!

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    1. I know--the predator issue is a real one. I would have an enclosure of some sort for night time since dusk/dawn and night time seem to be the times when animals get taken by the larger predators. I like the idea of a LGD but honestly think I would feel too guilty keeping it just a working dog while my Princess Moonshine gets treated like a human in the house. My land is so steep that any flat areas are something I really want to be able to use. I have a few flat areas that are covered tightly in brush-so that's what I want to use the goats for. And for my poison oak 'trees' as well. I haven't made the goat area yet so I am not ready to go ahead and get them..but I have been thinking about it for years.

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    2. I don't think you would have to worry about treating an LGD as a working dog - as long as you rear them with the livestock from puppyhood, they don't want to be in the house with you anyway. I've read that they like the occasional scratch behind the ear but are pretty aloof with humans for the most part - otherwise, they wouldn't be inclined to watch their stock, which should be their top priority. I think most people around here lock up their stock at night, though - LGDs seem to be more popular with rolling farms than steep mountain land.

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  5. That's funny, I've had venison tenderloin a couple of times and it tasted as strong as calves' liver to me (which I like).

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    1. Probably has to do with regional flavor. Maybe some deer are more strongly flavored than others? I didn't think I liked gameyness, but maybe I really do and am just know discovering it! I've always thought of supermarket meat as being terribly bland.

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  6. I have some friends who have been farmers for umpteen generations and he says he wont own goats because you cant build a fence that will hold one, the little bastards always get out. Are u thinking abt cattle at all? Herefords do really well in brushy, scrubby areas...

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    1. Yes, we're mostly interested in pigs, cattle, and sheep. I still stand by my position on no goats! I haven't read anything to convince me otherwise at this point.

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