Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE => Topic started by: JoelinGA on June 26, 2008, 11:49:47 am
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We're just about ready to get us some goats. I was just thinking of looking for any ole breed to clear out this field that we have. But my wife wants to be able to get milk from them and make cheese and what not.
What breeds would be recommended for that?
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It depends on what you want as far as a dairy goat. There are larger ones that produce more (we prefer Nubians) and then there are smaller ones like the Nigerian Dwarf who produce less but their butterfat is a bit more, and then there are the mini's who produce less but look like the larger breeds. The lil' guy that is on my icon over there is a Nubian. His name is Max and is going to be our herdsire. He's something else lol We love the Nubies because of their personality and they are one of the highest producing butterfat in the large breed of goats..for making cheeses I feel they are the best of the larger breeds.
As far as your weeds...any goat will clear out the weeds..just be careful not to put them around tree's that are 'pit' producers..as in cherry, peach and so on...it will kill em'
Stay away from the boer (meat goat) they just are not a good safe bet for going into goats. Kiko's are the way to go for meat..we have some nubians that we sometimes breed to our registered Kiko buck to give the offspring a 'higher' tolerance to worms and disease ..less hoof trimming and so on..
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Thanks, I had heard about Nubians. We might try and go with them. How much should we look to pay for a pair of nannies and a billy?
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Well that too depends on what you want....if you want ones that are not registered they can go for anywhere from $50 on up ...I personally wouldnt pay over 90 for an unregistered and that is stretching it ....We got a break on our buck and paid $100 and he's registered....on the doelings or nannies you can go from $125 on the low side and can go up into the thousands..you will pay good money for good breeding, but in the end results it's really worth it. Personally I'll never buy anything that isnt registered anymore(I dont want someone elses problems)...theres just such a difference in everything about them.
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Toggenbergs are also a good milk producer and smaller than the nubian but larger than the dwarf or mini's. I prefer a mix of nubian and toggenberg for milking.
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Brian, do you have pics of the N/T cross? Do the ears go up or down? I never milked much, just some when the kids were nursing. I like toggenburgs cause they are a mid size & very cute looking like little deer. Jody
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Brian, do you have pics of the N/T cross? Do the ears go up or down? I never milked much, just some when the kids were nursing. I like toggenburgs cause they are a mid size & very cute looking like little deer. Jody
It depends the cross can turn out with toggenburg ears or nubian ears, horned (toggenburg) or polled (nubian). The one feature that does seem to dominate in any toggenburg cross is the white stripes on each side of the face.
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Thanks Brian, found a farmer that has a mix Toggenberg and Alpine. Going to go take a look at the ones he's willing to part with in the next couple days.
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(http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/9379/1001538editedeg1.th.jpg) (http://img93.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1001538editedeg1.jpg)
Here is my milk supplier for next year, we bought her a couple of weeks ago and then got a little billy to keep her "company" wink wink nudge nudge if you know what I mean! :mrgreen:
I doubt she pure bread but I'm pretty sure she is mostly Saanen, the billy we bought is a Saanen/Pygmy cross.
(http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/9715/1001655dv3.th.jpg) (http://img93.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1001655dv3.jpg)
This is Jazz our billygoat!
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Thanks Brian, found a farmer that has a mix Toggenberg and Alpine. Going to go take a look at the ones he's willing to part with in the next couple days.
I should mention that with my Boer/Nubian billy and Toggenburg doe both had to be dehorned but the 2 offspring have been born polled so far.
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Whats involved in the dehorning process?
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Nubian are the most common it seems for the backyard milkers. I have a few - They are way noisy!! Sounds like screaming bratty kids. The Sannen are all white and they produce the best. Alpine are almost as good but not as many available. The Oberhasli look really cool - coloring like a bay horse. They dont seem to produce as well from the ones I know about but they are good looking. Then there are LaMancha - the ones that look like they have no ears. They are the most calm and quiet and are good producers.
Goats need to be bred each year to get milk. Then you get babies - usually two and as many as four. The gestation is 5 months so plan when you want them. Dont breed to an average barnyard buck, he may carry disease and then all your herd will have it forever. Plus, the babies can be bred the first year, at 70 lbs, and you dont want them with disease either. Pretty soon, you will have more goats to milk than you have time for.
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I've had nubians and they were really naughty goats. Weren't particularly noisy, but could get out of everything and as soon as they do, say goodbye to your raspberries, trees (they'll strip all the bark and girdle the tree), and everything else around. This is true of all goats, but my nubians were particularly good at it.
I now have pygmys and they are great. A bit more noisy than the nubians (and no where near as naughty as them or the angora I had). I have been really pleased with these goats. Good milkers too. Here are some links to pymgy milking
http://kinne.net/milkpyg.htm
http://www.npga-pygmy.com/
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Thomashton, I would wish that I could like goat's milk, I really do. I got so turned off of goat's milk about 27 years ago when I had two Nubians. I can't bear the thought of drinking it. I wish I had a milk cow, we had a Jersey once upon a time too, about 25 years ago, and I yearn and long for raw cow's milk, I can still taste that milk, in my mind's eye, of so many years ago. It may come to pass one day. Have the most wonderful and awesome of days, Cindi
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I understand. Goat milk is easily tainted if the buck is anywhere near the freshened does. It can smell and taste "bucky" and "goaty" and be a real turn off. However, if no buck is around and the teats are cleaned, the milk strained of "strings" and put directly into the frige then fresh/raw goat milk is great.
Many people have had goat milk from the store that tastes "goaty" or "gamey". Fresh from the goat isn't like that. Store-bought goat milk can't compare.
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BTW, I'm getting a new (pygmy) doe and a young buck to keep my (now) three pygmy does company for a while until he gets the job done (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). Hopefully I will have half a dozen kids running and jumping around in the spring.
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Cindi, goats milk is different for sure. To me it's best ice cold..once it starts warming up it has the "taste". I had toggenburg does but never did get into the goats milk. The lady I'm getting my cow from gave me a couple of quarts of fresh that a.m. milk from a Dexter cow..OH MY GOODNESS!! **sigh of contentment** I can't wait for Rosie to calve next spring so she can share with me! I really want the cream for butter, nothing like fresh unsalted butter for cooking & baking..or on hot sourdough bread w/my own honey! :-D Jody
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The lady I'm getting my cow from gave me a couple of quarts of fresh that a.m. milk from a Dexter cow..OH MY GOODNESS!! **sigh of contentment** I can't wait for Rosie to calve next spring so she can share with me! I really want the cream for butter, nothing like fresh unsalted butter for cooking & baking..or on hot sourdough bread w/my own honey! :-D Jody
Oh Jody, I am sighing now......like I have said, I yearn for that fresh cow's milk.....I kid you not. I think that once a person has had that taste, especially when the cow goes on the fresh new grasses of spring, and the like milk, there is not a taste in this world that can compare to that fresh milk, chilled the moment it is drawn through the teats of the cow. The more and more I think of it....seriously, the more and more I know that I am going to have to get a milker. I would want a Jersey, just like our old Candy girl.....she was a sweet and beautiful gal. The Jersey has an extremely high butterfat content and I recall clearly all the products that we made from her cream.....oh again....that takes me to a beautiful place in time, so many, many years ago...
My next-in-age-down (2 years my junior) Sister, her Husband, her three (then) children (not the same Sister that we abode with here now) all lived together in a beautiful mansion-type house, on a mountainside in a place called Deroche. We lived with them for the summer and well into the wintertime, when we moved elsewhere, closer to the places where my Husband and I worked. The 2 hours travelling to work each day was a hardship that we could no longer bear. This is where we shared the Candy girl with my Sister, it was her cow. It was a place of serenity and beauty and those early morning hours, sitting with Candy, helping relieve her of the burden of the milk in her udder, was a beautiful space in time....nothing can compare to that...not even my bees. Oh rats, I am ramblin' and I apologize for heading off topic, I truly do (but then...... :roll: ;) :) :), am I really sorry, :evil:). Have the most beautiful and wonderful of these days, love our life we all live and share. Cindi
Jody, when your Rosie calves, could I come down and get you to give me some of her milk, hee, hee........I would move heaven and earth to get some of that suff, hee, hee.....
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Personally, if I were to breed for a milk goat I would cross a Toggenberg with a Saanen, they are much calmer that way. For meat I would cross a Boer doe with a Pygmy buck, though he'd need a step stool.....heavy muscle and shorter bone structure. A Boer buck might crush a Pygmy doe but would be truer short boned and heavy muscled.
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Cindi, of course! Even sharing with the calf there will be far more than my family will need. I am so excited to get to know another type of animal! Chevy my toggenburg wether has never seen a cow so it should be fun to watch him snort & bounce about. He is quite the character, very people oriented but also very very stubborn! Jody
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Does the diet of the goat have any effect on the taste of the milk?
Reason asking, the field we are getting back into use is REALLY grown over with god knows what. So plan is to get the goats to clear it up a bit so I can get in with a wood chipper and open up some space to plant grass or what not.
Also, what's the best way to separate a billy from the rest? We have this one big field, should I section off a corner and make that the "billy area"?
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I would go with Nubian, And someone said eailer fresh cows milk o my kingdom for a gallon of fresh cows milk, Homemade butter and buttermilk :-P
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JoelinGA, yes the diet can change the taste of the milk, you will just have to figure out what plants they eat you don't like. Separating the billy from the does is a must in my opinion. The billy smells so bad that if he even brushes up against the does they will smell too & milking & handling won't be pleasant :-P. They pee on their beards & rub it on the does...one of the most disgusting animals I have ever been around!! ewwww! You will have to make a high, non climb STURDY fence. They will go under, over & through to be where they want to be. If he has horns he can lift hotwire with them :-x to get under so make sure its tight & close to the fence & posts. Good luck! I will have fresh cows milk next summer :-D mnnn, fresh butter & might even try simple cheese, wonder how hard it is to make fresh mozzarella? It's so good on baguette with fresh pesto & tomato slice..oh my, I can't wait!! :lol: Jody
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JoelinGA, yes the diet can change the taste of the milk, you will just have to figure out what plants they eat you don't like. Separating the billy from the does is a must in my opinion. The billy smells so bad that if he even brushes up against the does they will smell too & milking & handling won't be pleasant :-P. They pee on their beards & rub it on the does...one of the most disgusting animals I have ever been around!! ewwww! You will have to make a high, non climb STURDY fence. They will go under, over & through to be where they want to be. If he has horns he can lift hotwire with them :-x to get under so make sure its tight & close to the fence & posts. Good luck! I will have fresh cows milk next summer :-D mnnn, fresh butter & might even try simple cheese, wonder how hard it is to make fresh mozzarella? It's so good on baguette with fresh pesto & tomato slice..oh my, I can't wait!! :lol: Jody
Definite must, seperate billy from nannies if you want to drink the milk, unless you like beer. Beer tastes like pee, at least it used to back in the days I still drank beer and had a sense of taste.
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Here is a good website on making Mozzarella cheese, looks pretty easy.
http://www.leeners.com/mozzarella.html
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Thanks Mark, doesn't look like rocket science! I can taste it now! :-D Jody
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Mtn1849. That be me that said, oh my kingdom for some fresh cow's milk, I still say that. I am seriously and more seriously thinking of getting a milk cow that will calf next spring, so I can have that fresh cow's milk. Ooops, kind of off topic here. I am green with envy with Jody getting that cow ;) :) :) :), the taste of the fresh milk, all the products that can be made with the cream, particularly ice cream.....beautiful day in this great life. Cindi
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We had a saanan, she was adorable. They are heavy milk producers, and she had a sweet temperment. There are other breeds with more creamy milk though. Don't know about that- I am a cow milk kind of girl.
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Joelin
Did you ever get milk goats after this post? I'm interested too. I'm in Rome so I'd like to know a breeder/supplier too.
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We are using Alipnes for milking, so fat they have been graet however we are just starting off.
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AS far as my personal preference, it would be an alpine. As mentioned in a previous post, Nubians are way to vocal for me (seems as if they never run out of things to say at the top of their lungs). My alpine doe consistently produced 1 gallon of milk every day. The tricks I found to eliminating any off tastes in the milk was after straining, to place the fresh milk into the freezer in order to drop the temperature as quickly as possible and to remove all wild onions from your paddock :)