I started out about 4 years ago with 3 sheep and 4 goats, I now have a herd of 23 animals. Overall I have had about 35 in all. My goal was 20 Female and 4 males. I am almost there. This season I have had 10 babies born and all survived. I now have one of them ready to birth for the second time.At this rate I should conservatively get about 40 animals a year and if some have twins 50 that can be butchered. It costs me about $200 a month for feed for all my animals (Rabbits, Chickens Turkey's, Goats and Sheep). I will not have to buy meat again after this summer, unless I want to. That my Monkey Friends is a good feeling. If you have the room get Hair Sheep and not Wool Sheep, get Nubian Goats or Full Blooded Boar goats and Cross them. The Nubians get Huge and the cross gives you a very meaty goat with large Nipples for milking. That is really the difference between a Milk Goat and a regular goat (The size of the Teats). The Board Goats are very beefy and a Nice Billy can go a couple hundred pounds In all it has been a blast raising all these animal and selling the males has helped to pay for some of the feed as well. I will hit my goal in June when the rest of this years babies are born. I can sell or eat them and they will pay for themselves as well. I am moving a small herd up to the BOL next month and turning them loose, they multiply pretty fast when left to their own devices. Some people control the billy and ram to time the birthing, not me, it's mother nature all the way around here. LOL good luck to all who are making the move towards self sufficiency, its been a great ride and the little successes along the way make it all worth while!
No! I have both goats who are serviced by the Billy and Sheep that are serviced by the Ram. I started out with wool sheepcause we thought "Cool we can make our own wool cloths!" NOT!!! That process sucks, as does shearing these stupid things every year. I bought a Hair Sheep Ram and as the females are born I butcher the wool sheep and eat them. I never sell the females only the male offspring, or we eat them.
Had considered getting goat's, however I wanted to hold off until I seen how other things worked out.. Still don't have any goats, but I do have a dog! With a work schedule that doesn't allow me to be around the home much, it is difficult to fend off all the critters that want to eat my food, so until something changes...
Goat will take any scrub bushes / trees / briars and brambles (and your orchard if they bust out) and turn them into fertilizer in very short order.
Goats are cool animals. If you get them a little young right off the mother and bottle feed them for a month or 2 they are like dogs, sheep as well. My big billy is scary though when he gets in a playful mood, 250 lbs of animal trying to play get squirrely!
My mother used to raise goats. I never liked the meat. The milk is pretty high in butterfat, especially from Nubians with their Roman noses and those big, floppy ears. But your ideas could certainly be applied to other livestock, such as miniature cattle - beef without the rapid growth hormones and the antibiotics.
Curry and simmer sauces help. Eating a hair producer probably isn't quite the same as eating a meat breed. Also, what the goaats are browsing on may affect taste to some extent also.
But your ideas could certainly be applied to other livestock, such as miniature cattle - beef without the rapid growth hormones and the antibiotics. Agreed, miniature cattle are probably a better fit for small acreage self sufficiency operations than full scale ones. Home slaughtering and butchery is somewhat easier with less waste, are a little less resource dependant, easier to move without specialised transport. Younger folk can take a more active role in miniature cattle husbandry ,that might be a bit less daunting than with a full sized humungous beast. Miniature Cattle Breeds for home meat production 10 Miniature Cattle Breeds for Your Small Farm | Big Picture Agriculture
Wondered how my Rott would get along with goats.. I had braught a couple rooster up to the house and turned them loose... Well, once the little boy came bounding out the roosters left the AO quickly! Supposed given time and introduced at a very young age he may except them.. Theres that time thing again.
To some dogs....everything smaller than itself is a chew toy. Those roosters ain't no bird brains....
My Rott thinks that the goats are just funny looking dogs the jump up and down a lot and like climbing on top of everything in sight. It was funny the first time the baby goats butted the dog. Dog was like WTF??
Knew someone that got into raising goats.. He was talking of back "breeding??", son to mother's.. Didn't seem right to me.. Planned to do the same thing with dog's he planned to breed and sell and I pointed out that is one of the reasons we has so much genetic problems in dogs right now.. Little boy is just rude!! He likes to bark at bicyclist and seems to laugh when they wobble.. He will take a dislike to a pickup that is driving slow in front of us.. Really seems to tick him off.. And he seems to go after any other critter that comes into the yard.. Even my honey Bee's, if he catches one alone.. Wont go near the hive..