Keeping Goats

 

“Heidi gently stroked first one goat and then the other and ran round them to stroke them on the other side; she was perfectly delighted with the little creatures. “Are they ours, Grandfather? Are they both ours? Will they go into the shed? Will they stay with us always?” asked Heidi, one question following the other in her delight.” (Heidi, by Johanna Spyri)

 

Goats are magical creatures. This article aims to persuade you of this fact.

Most people love them or hate them to the point of absurdity. Some folks- usually those who grew up with larger, calmer, easier to contain animals, have memories of a particularly aggressive buck named something like Billy Chuck or Stinky Joe- fully horned- during fall breeding season. Others- usually women- will wax eloquent over the very thing that drives their husbands crazy; the goats’ unique personalities.

Usually prejudice against goats comes from a transgenerational disdain that perhaps began when the Saviour used them to illustrate the unrepentant sinners who would be separated from the sheep of His fold at the end of the world.  It is true that goats had it coming. They will invariably consider anything forbidden them (or on the other side of the fence) as more desirable than what has been offered them. They tend to be mercenary, and when bored will nibble fingers, loose threads of your favorite sweater, zippers, buttons, and any beautiful plant you have just spent Mother’s day afternoon transplanting from that very expensive nursery you visit once a year. Many of the farming books in our library that were written before 1950 speak of them with utter dismissal:

            “Goats are easier and cheaper to shelter and to handle at breeding time; per capita they are smaller eaters. Having said that, you have said all that is good of them. Granted their milk is high-class human food, yet it does not taste that way…if milking must be done one might as well get something more than a teacupful for the effort.”

The above was written

in 1938 by a Henry Tetlow, who admits shortly afterward that he’s never milked a goat or a cow, which explains his ignorance about the milk of say, a Nigerian Dwarf, which is the sweetest milk in the world, and the yield of an average dairy goat which can easily average a half gallon per day. He wrote We Farm for a Hobby and Make It Pay to chronicle the events in his family’s life after the “bank holiday” of 1933 when “civilization appeared to be crumbling to bits.” In order to reduce expenses Henry’s family goes about making the home place pay its way. And then writing about it to make it pay further. In one single page Mr. Tetlow informs us that he was a Yale graduate, that his ancestors introduced the use of soap to North England, and that his family lived in a farmhouse used by Lord Howe during the American Revolution-back when the house was the White Horse Tavern and the neighbor’s grandmother saw General Washington ride by after the battle of Germantown. This was a man who clearly was too busy to devote himself seriously to goats.*

Similiarly, Vermonter Samuel R. Ogden wrote a book in 1946 called “This Country Life” in which he too attempted to encourage the average city-dweller to make the bold leap into the rural life. His writing is accompanied by charming pen and ink drawings as well as photos, opening with one of a teamster negotiating a snowy up-hill road with a team of horses pulling a bobsled piled 5 feet high with pine logs. He writes:

“If you can drink goat’s milk, and what is more important, if you can milk one, your milk problem may be happily solved by the raising of goats. My own experience at keeping goats can not be called an unqualified success, a result, no doubt, of-among other dislikes-a dislike of milking them.”

It’s very hard to argue with that. It appears to me to be less of a goat problem and more of a Samuel R. Ogden idiosyncrasy. In my experience with goats, milking parlor troubles are usually solved by milking with one hand and holding one of the back legs in the air, so that the doe must concentrate on the unexpected feeling of having only three legs to stand on. Eventually the doe will tire of the game, and over a few days stand patiently. I understand if that sort of thing seems nuts to you- but Cowboy up and keep reading. The adventure awaits.

Even before that Three Billy Goats Gruff story, goats have been lending themselves to legend and lore- tougher than trolls, with a magic to their very name that opens doors.

You may be in your mid-forties, and look like a potato that is allergic to hair salons, dentists, and nice clothes, but if you tell young folks that you make goat cheese you are suddenly magicked into all that is trendy, hip, and admirable. It’s almost like being mistaken for Mother Teresa. You suddenly skyrocket to a level of social legitimacy that is, frankly, inexplicable. People instantly trust you, and want to be your friend. They whisper things like: “where can I get your cheese?” and you whisper back: “My sister is our goat cheese dealer on the black market. This is the suggested donation and this is the secret location”.

Even babies are impressed with you if you hand milk goats. After a hiatus from chores due to childbirth, I once brought my toddler into the barn and parked her baby sister in a  stroller in front of the milking stanchion. As I proceeded to fill a pail with frothy milk both baby and toddler grew wide eyed. “Woah, Mama! You are amazing!” cried my 2 yr old as baby kicked, flailed, and hooted with excitement. I didn’t mention that the goat was really doing most of the work there- we mothers take what we can get when we can get it! When that particular baby grew up to the ripe old age of 7, she told me one day that “all you need to be rich is to have a farm like this,” and she nodded toward the goat barn, and went inside for a snack of graham crackers and fresh goat’s milk.

“ A health rule for goat care is to walk the herd every noon through woodland. When trained, they will not stray from their keeper and that herbal and twiggy-eating walk will ensure them great health” (Complete Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable by Juliette de Bairacli Levy)

 

Years ago my husband and I considered buying a plot of land located on a steep hill, overlooking a nature preserve. We envisioned a life that was like that of Heidi and of Pippi Longstocking combined. We had been inspired by old world traditions of building living quarters directly above the barn, to harness livestock warmth, and being young and completely innocent of pesky little things like building codes, we were drawing up plans of a chalet built into the hillside over a goat barn. I was looking forward to a trap door in the kitchen, with a ladder leading down into the goat shed, where I would begin my days with my baby strapped to my back, watching the sun come up while hand- milking a pair of Alpine goats.

The property was located in Marine on St. Croix, MN. Marine is a very historic town- called the birthplace of MN, on account of the famous lumber mill that was fed by the stream that charges down the valley seeking the lovely St. Croix River. It is filled with citizens in second summer homes who do not greet any kind of change warmly, except as something new to fight over and sit on for years in the town council meetings. They have successfully barred from the city- population 602,  a Catholic Youth Camp, and couple who wanted to host art events in their barn, a cave’s existence on Nason Hill Road (“Kids could get hurt.” It was filled in with concrete.), and 4^th of July fireworks (“Draws too many people.”) For a while folks in town complained that the general store was selling candy cigarettes which could tempt children to sell their souls to the devil that is nicotine, and they disappeared  briefly too. In short, a more NIMBY place you ne’er did see, despite it’s many charms.

We had very little hope then, that our proposal of a goat farm within town limits would be accepted, and we would be granted an exemption from the ordinance which clearly states no livestock within town limits allowed!

Yet once again, the magic quality of goats came through for us, and we were granted not just permission, but blessed with joyous enthusiasm from the village’s two civil servants as well. It was not the first time I noticed that goats seem to pry open the hardest hearts, and win admiration from all quarters- even unexpected ones!

“Records of early settlements in Virginia and New England indicate that milk gaots were brought to the United States by Captain John Smith and Lord Delaware” (The Whole Goat Handbook by Janet Hurst)

Goats are known as “the poor man’s cow”, and as such, they are a ubiquitous animal worldwide. They are one of the earliest known domesticated animals on record. They have the grazing habits of deer, and can survive on much poorer fodder than cows.  You can feed 5 goats on what 1 cow will consume. They are less susceptible to parasites than sheep, and are easier to milk and manage on a small homestead because of their smaller impact on the land, and their size- which makes them a gateway animal to many who are just starting out, or for those who want to heavily involve their children in chores from a young age.

“So many people have been goat-reared on the sierra, that  there are, understandably, many beliefs concerning this. They say that children fostered by goats grow up into noble adults.”

                                                Spanish Mountain Life by Juliette de Bairacli Levi

 Because of the way that the fat in goats milk is naturally homogonized, it is easier to digest than cow’s milk. Many who cannot drink cow’s milk, have no trouble with goat’s milk. It is said that all farm animals will thrive on it, even better than on their own mothers’ milk.

“In Africa, some goats are herded door to door and milk is bought and sold on order. The buyer presents an empty pot, and the goat herder milks the animal on the spot!” (The Whole Goat Handbook, Janet Hurst)

When we started farming nearly eighteen years ago, goats and chickens were our first forays into animal husbandry. Impressed by the fact that they could be transported in cars, and could pay for themselves within one year with the sale of their offspring and their milk/ cheese, we brought pair of dairy goats home and kept them initially on a wooded portion of the farm we were renting. There we soon learned another benefit of keeping goats. They adore buckthorn. The woods were over- run with the invasive  European species, but our goats kept stripping the small trees’ of their leaves, and soon we were able to pull dead buckthorn- notoriously difficult to pry out of the ground- with ease, and our woods became a sylvo-pasture of beauty while blocking the biting winds for the goats in their calf dome shelters in our harsh MN winters. We did not have a barn, nor fund for a shed, but the calf dome was sufficient for keeping the drafts from the goats, if we paid attention to which direction the prevailing winds were coming from, and which direction we faced the door. Goats are very cold hardy, but drafts can be seriously detrimental to their health.

In our area, there is a small company called “The Munch Bunch” which uses goats to help clear brush and buckthorn from local parcels. Using electric shock collars programmed with perimeters detailed with the help of GPS, this company hauls a herd of meat goats to a given property two or three times each year, and the goats’ owners are paid to selectively graze the goats and gradually tame the underbrush of the woods. It’s a beautiful example of conscientious stewardship on the part of the land -owners, since the goats leave less of an impact on the land than heavy machinery would. For the business owner/farmer, the goats bring in revenue multiple times before being sold for meat or breeding.

One of my earliest fascinations with goats began with reading the travel stories of renown herbalist Juliette de Bairacli Levi. She speaks of goats with tremendous enthusiasm and respect. In one book, she told of a nanny goat that will always have a special place in her grateful heart, because it would let her child nurse straight from the teat when Juliette herself was unable to nurse her baby due to typhus.

“Luz’s gypsy goat, black and tall and shaggy, topaz-eyed, never stood over her cradle, but did often come to the baby to nuzzle her, and did know the hours of her feeding and would alone mount the steep steps to the upper mill-stream and there seek out Luz wherever her cradle was situated.” 

Perhaps our modern American sensibilities are abashed to hear tell of something like that, but Juliette’s writings should not be ignored. I have often found her to be absolutely correct as to different cures for both goats and humans that can be had by using the herbs we can find in the wild.

“(My daughter), being Andalusian born, followed the custom of that region and fed directly from the goat’s udder. Thus, despite the great heat of the summer, her drinks of milk were always sweet and fresh. The number of Sierra Nevada children who have been fed by goats,sheep, and even cows and donkeys, is very great, although it is becoming more rare nowadays. It is also frequent custom among the Arabs, and was very probably taught to the Spanish by the Moors.”               

    -Spanish Mountain Life by Juliette de Bairacli Levi

 

I think part of her love for the goat is how it tends to self-medicate very successfully if allowed to browse at will for periods of the day. Two plants that we grow on our farm for our goats’ health are comfrey and kale. Comfrey’s country name is “bone-knit” and it is famed as a poultice herb for healing broken bones and ligament tears, but it can also be used internally as a tonic having large quantities of choline in it, which promotes metabolism and allantoin; responsible for cell rejuvenation. It is also high in potassium and acids which are anti-inflammatory. Of interest to SFJ readers, comfrey used to be fed out in spring by English Gypsies to cows and horses to “expel winter torpor and bring the animals to a fine bloom within a week”. I have found that any goat that appears off in any way, or is suffering under any ailment, will greedily devour comfrey leaves when fed out by hand.

Every march we also seed a flat of 50 cells to kale to plant out a row of the nutrient dense veggie which we feed in the evenings by the hand to the goats as a tonic and treat. It’s a favorite with them, and a good chore for toddlers, who seem to thoroughly enjoy the tug of war it entails.  Kale is high in vitamins, and is grown in Scotland as a winter forage for animals. Our Kale plants become Suessian by season’s end, and are the last frost hardy plant to survive in the garden.

Mint is another valuable medicinal plant for the herd. Goats can be susceptible to heat stroke- especially when caught out in a pasture without a lot of shade cover. Bairacli’s remedy for goats of mint leaves (even dried ones from tea bags!) mixed with honey, has saved the life of two of my own goats over the years.

“The only drawback with goats is that thy are over-clever and therefore often rebellious and difficult to manage. (It is said that they only willingly accept orders from the Devil!)”  (Nature’s Children, by Juliette de Bairacli Levi)

It has often been said that if the fence won’t hold water, it won’t hold goats. In my years of rearing animals on a small farm, I’ve found that the daily habits of the farmer and consistency builds compliancy into animals. We fenced the entire perimeter of our farm with 16ft livestock panels. This was a significant investment. At the time each panel cost us $20, but it was an investment we have never regretted- especially as we do live in a relatively populated area with neighbors close by. We also chose to fence several paddocks adjoining our goat barn with these panels. We use these paddocks for Winter quarters, and to hold the goats when we are rotating pastures, and house them at night. Each morning we lead the goats to temporarily fenced off pastures which we make using electric netting and solar charged battery powered chargers.  We source the chargers and netting from Premier. Two things make this successful: first, we train the goats to the fence while they are young. Secondly, every time we feed a grain ration we use the same call and buckets, so that when we lead them to new pastures, we call them and shake the buckets, and the goats follow us without lead ropes. We always call them in French at the top of our lungs: “Allez GOOOOOATS! Allez! Allez!”  This ensures that we never tire of our daily chores because we are living our own personal award-winning foreign film.  I cannot stress enough that when you have goats, you tend to live on the exotic and periodically excitingly volatile side of life.

 We prefer the electric netting, even though rolling them up and setting them up again is a chore. Ultimately it’s better for the farm, as nothing is fenced off from us long term, and each portion of the farm can be tended to according to it’s unique fertility needs, and it’s better for the goats as well, as permanent paddocks will ultimately mean parasite issues. Temporary shade can be created with as little as a tarp stretched over a bent 16ft livestock panel wedged between 4 t-posts. It is important to remember that goats will not graze as efficiently as sheep or cows or horses, because of their preference for twigs and bushes….they do graze grassland, but you can often achieve better grazing by combining them with other (friendly ) livestock in the same paddock.

            Most of the major dairy breeds are seasonal breeders. This means that you can often have your bucks running with your does all grazing season or winter long. Breeding behavior usually begins in the end of September, though most of my does “take” in mid- October. A notable exception to this is the Nigerian Dwarf, and by extension, the Mini-Nubian, which has the Nigerian genetics. They can come into heat all year. This can be beneficial to the small homesteading family which wants to stagger breeding in such a way as to ensure a milk supply all year long. In the two weeks before heat, increase the grain ration and start spending time out by the goats. You can tell a successful cover by the way the doe will stand for the buck, and the buck falls forward and off of the doe at the end- very similar to a the way of rabbits. Then mark your calendar for 5 months forward! A doe’s gestation lasts 150 days. Some of the signs of impending labor and delivery are a swelling of the udder, mucous, and most telling: the seeming disappearance of the ligaments on either side of the base of the goat’s tale. If the pregnant doe is standing off to the side, not joining the others out on pasture or at the feeder and seems out of it, you can be pretty sure labor has begun. Plan on staying home the next three days, but don’t hover! Over the years I have wondered if many of my interventions were as necessary as I imagined them. When we were first keeping goats and didn’t know much about them, we would often come out in early spring to find kids at our does’ sides, hearty and hale, up and nursing, dry, and quite obviously in no need of intervention! As Juliette de Bairacli Levi writes in her Herbal Handbook for Farm and Stable, “A properly reared goat provides the perfect example of natural birth. No shepherd is required in attendance upon her.”

 Once in a while you will have a kid born in unseasonable weather outside the barn, who is in need of reviving, or a doe who is not interested in becoming a mother. These are times when you are called upon to help. Often a kid may need some help initially latching on, but once they learn, they don’t need to be taught again. I’ve had many kids who play dumb when I attempt to latch them on a second time because I can’t seem to catch them nursing, but who do just fine without that, and are in fact, very good at snacking when we are not out at the barn to watch. Monitor the kids during the first weeks of life, watch their body condition to ensure they are getting enough. They most often always are- being very resourceful and scrappy by nature. This spring, I had a fist timer who lost her twin bucklings at birth because they were born earlier than expected when I was in the hospital for a surgery and not at home to keep and eye on her. This left her with a milk supply alongside her mother who kidded soon after, and gave us triplets. It wasn’t long before the largest of her mother’s kids figured out that he could sneak a drink or two off of the bereaved half-sister/Auntie. Soon she was accepting all three of them whenever they come looking for second breakfasts after nursing off of their Mama. This arrangement suited me just fine, since I was in all likelihood going to have to bottle feed one of the triplets to ensure that all the kids got enough milk. For more on kidding season, please see my article on Kidding Season Triage.

Invest in a disbudding iron and plug it in after the kids are one week of age, to “burn” the horn buds’ rings of growth to prevent horns from growing. The smell is awful, the screeching is gut-wrenching, but the results are worth it. No horns to get entangled in fencing, injure other goats or people, and the kids recover remarkably fast. Hold the iron on the bud for 15 seconds on each bud. To be honest, this is a job my very kind husband takes on while I go wash dishes and listen to Pavarotti in the house.

“Heidi grasped her bowl and drank and drank without stopping, for all the thirst of her long journey came back to her. Then she drew a long breath and set down the bowl. “Do you like the milk?” asked the grandfather. “I’ve never tasted such good milk before,” answered Heidi. “Then you must have some more”; and the grandfather filled the bowl again to the brim and placed it before the child, who looked quite content as she began to eat her bread, after it had been spread with the toasted cheese soft as butter. The combination tasted very good, with frequent drinks of milk.” (Heidi, by Johanna Spyri)

On our farm, we utilize the presence of the kids to give us breaks in milking. Our two Mini Nubians give us one half-gallon in one milking. Since, there are only 5 of us at home, that is more than enough to supply our needs. We separate the kids at night and put them into a large dog crate together, when we want to take the morning’s milk. On the eve of days which promise to be unusually busy, or on Sundays, when we want to take a rest from our daily chores, we leave the babies in with the herd and let them have the morning milk as well as the afternoon’s. This also works well if we have to be away overnight for a wedding or visit or camping trip.

“For the self-supporting farmer, the goat can quite easily be the perfect dairy animal.” (The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It, by John Seymour)

 

It does not take dairy animals long to get into a smooth routine, provided you are consistent. They will even learn who goes first on the milking stand, and not fight each other too much when you open the gate. As our does get used to the milking drill, we often do not need to restrain them in any way. They will stand for us as we milk. You can milk from the side or from behind. Ever since I saw an Amish friend milk from behind, it has been our preferred method. My only exception has been an older doe I bought in, who was used to being milked from the side. She is such an asset in our barn, that I have chosen to let her have her preference and not go through the trouble of teaching an old doe new tricks. It takes about one week to learn how to milk by hand. Initially it will feel impossible and clumsy because when we drum our fingers on a table we typically start with the pinkie and end with the pointer finger, but when milking, the motion is the opposite way; you close off the milk that has come down into the teat from the udder with a pinch of the pointer finger and thumb, and then bring down each finger’s pressure one after the other- middle, ring, pinkie, till the teat is emptied of the milk. Open the ring created by the pointer and thumb to let more milk down into the teat, close it off in a pinch (to prevent the milk from squishing back up into the udder, which can cause infection and mastitis) and repeat. At first it is a slow labor, but with perseverance even small children can learn to milk successfully. This Spring our resident nine-year old learned to milk and after only  a week she was able to take the chore on unassisted. An added unlooked for benefit is that the hand-milking action develops muscles in the fore-arm that are not often exercised. I am in general an out-of-shape, plumpish housewife that is fond of baking, but two years ago I attended the Washington County Fair  and set a record at the U.S. Army Recruiting Tent for lifting 40lb water tanks over my head 79 times without stopping – more than any other man in attendance at the fair, including the very fit soldiers manning the tent, despite having no strength in my upper arms whatsoever. I simply gripped the jugs’ handles and squeezed with the death grip you gain after weeks and weeks of hand milking, and shook the jugs up and down, using the water’s own heft to pull the jugs up for me. I now have the T-shirt to prove how hand-milking goats gives you surprising super- powers.

“The (goats) had begun to climb up to the bushes again, each one after his own fashion: some leaping carelessly over everything, others cautiously seeking out the good herbs as they went along.” (Heidi by Johanna Spyri)

 

There are many different breeds of goats. They can be used for fiber, meat, milk, and packing. Among the dairy breeds I prefer the Nubians and Mini Nubians for the high butterfat content in their milk- which is best for cheese making. Because of the Nubian’s larger size, they are also a great option for crossing with a meat breed like the Boer, to get kids that will flesh out nicely for cabrito. I live near the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which hosts a diverse ethnic population. I have never had trouble selling extra goat kids for meat. Even though my kids are generally smaller than their meat breed counterparts, the demand is high in my area for whole young goats, which the Hmong like to roast for parties over an open fire. The Nubians do tend to be christened “Drama Queens” because they tend to be more vocal. Mini Nubians are not, however, and are my current favorite breed because they eat ½ of what a Nubian consumes, but give 2/3 or better the yield of milk. They are easier to “sort” (read: prevent from bolting past you at the gate!) with your knee, being shorter in stature too.

For sheer volume of milk, you cannot beat the Sanaan. They are the Holstein of the Dairy Goat world. There are those who complain about their temperaments, but the Sanaans I have had over the years were always the sweetest goats I owned. There is something so beautiful about a white creamy goat glowing in the spring sun on a green sward! Because of their high yielding capacity for milk production, they will often consume more than their counterparts. Access to free choice baking soda is a must for all goats as a guard against bloat, but this is most especially true for high yielders like the Sanaan. Once we locked our does out of the barn while cleaning it and kept them overnight out on pasture since the weather was fine. A fallen tree, however, was taken advantage of by the goats as it was an especially tasty treat not usually found in that paddock, and because they were cut off from their baking soda, we found tragedy had struck in the night. Our Sanaan, having consumed more of the rich leaves to keep up with her milk production needs had suffocated due to the horrible malady of a rumen swelling with bloat. If you ever see a goat down on its side struggling to breath with a distended belly, get a sharp knife, dip it in rubbing alcohol or pass it through a flame, roll the goat onto it’s left side, find the ribs, and four finger’s width below the last rib, jab the knife in till gas begins to hiss with its escape. Twist the knife slightly, and then remove it once the swelling is relieved. After that, if the goat lives, you have bragging rights forever because you are pretty much a Viking.

For temperament, Alpines have been our favorite- though that commendation comes with a caveat, as they have also proven to be our strongest escape artists over the years, capable of great leaping capacities- which teaches others in the herd to consider the same. Their babies tend to have more flashy color, and are great fun to watch during their evening romps.

I have not had good luck with Toggenburgs. One Toggenburg I knew had a very strong flavor to her milk. Another was a Toggenburg cross, and though sweet, was also prone to “water births” or false pregnancies. It is my understanding that this last characteristic has nothing to do with the breed, however, and was just an anomaly present in that particular goat. If you like wattles (jiggling growths that hang down underneath the chin), you will like Toggenburgs! They are a characteristic of the breed.

We have scratched the surface of the many different breeds that exist. I have chosen to focus here on the ones that we personally have had experience with.

“Goat cheese... produced a bizarre eating era when sensible people insisted that this miserable cheese produced by these miserable creatures reared on miserable hardscrabble earth was actually superior to the magnificent creamy cheeses of the noblest dairy animals bred in the richest green valleys of the earth.” -Satirist and New York Times Columnist, Russell Baker

 

Russell Baker never tasted our farm fresh goat cheese. But he does poke fun at a strange phenomenon. Goats are such winning creatures, and so many people have such fond memories of their mothers reading Heidi to them from out in the hallway so that both the boys in their bunkbeds and the girls in theirs could hear the tale from the coziness of their beds, that strangely some of them will go to great lengths to convince themselves that they like the “goaty” logs of chevre they tote home from Aldi in their re-usable bags. Yet for all that, those store-bought cheeses linger on the charcuterie board long after the triple cream brie and the aged Irish cheddars have been ravished along with the flat seed flecked crackers lying along side them. Milk from hand-milked pastured goats which is rapidly cooled in the freezer and then chilled in the fridge makes far superior cheese- in fact, one of our favorite things about owning goats has been the cheese you can make from their milk. Fresh chevre is easy to make. Starter culture can be sourced from New England Cheesemaking Supply Co. It can be stored in the freezer until you are ready to use it. Simply take a pasta pot, heat 1 gallon of milk till it is warm to the touch (around 86 degrees), add the pouch of starter culture and stir for a few seconds to activate the friendly bacteria. Cover and let sit in a relatively warm place overnight (for at least 11 hours). In the morning, strain using cheese cloth or (our preference:) in plastic cheese molds. Flip after 3 hours, and then salt the entire surface of the cheese before storing it in the fridge. Cheese kept in the fridge will last 1-2 weeks like this, but will most certainly be devoured before then! For many years one of my daughters would ask for a goat cheese all of her own on her birthday- our family can easily polish one of them off for an afternoon’s snack with crackers! You can also make a batch with dried dill in it, layering dill in with the curds as you strain the whey from it. For years we sold our cheese to CSA members in shares. During kidding season, farm members would invest in the herd with an up front monthly contribution of around $25. Then, each week, they would receive as a dividend, one fresh goat cheese, wrapped in wax paper and newspaper, fastened with a sticker bearing our farm logo and the member’s name. We would deliver these cheeses to a fridge in our local town hall, or to a mini-fridge installed on a member’s front porch, or sometimes, even in a cooler which we dopped off at a drop-site along with our veggie shares. This allowed us to provide for our dairy herd’s needs, hone our skills, and share the wealth of deliciousness without breaking state laws. Inadvertently, we also made some life-long friends and fans of our farms this way- not to mention a club of folks in the know about a local and limited source of something you could never find in the stores. Fresh goat cheese from a hand-milking farm which uses herbal worming regimens and rotationally grazes does not have the off-flavor of store-bought chevre. It will convert the most suspicious goat cheese doubter- and ours tends to taste more like a fancy cream cheese than something you pretend to like at your boss’s dinner party because it’s trendy. I have even made cheesecake out of our goat cheese to much acclaim. Some of our members have frozen it, thawed it out, coated it in bread crumbs, and fried it! The possibilities are seemingly endless! And that is something that could be said of goats in general too.

In a book called “The Year of the Goat” by Margaret Hathway, I once read an account of a woman who kept Angora goats and ran a business which specialized in mohair products. She would buy many of these handcrafted items from local stay-at-home wives looking to supplement their family income. Located near the Mayo clinic, in Southern Minnesota’s Amish country, she once sold socks to the late King Hussein of Jordan who was in town for medical treatment . He bought enough to supply the entire Jordanian royal family. You truly never know where raising goats will take you by helping you stay put.

So! Just to sum up: if you are new to farming, build your confidence with a pair of dairy goats. They will reward your efforts with friendly company, nutritious milk and cheese, and babies to build your herd or sell. With such a small amount, you may even be able to make your own hay off of your own backyard with little more than a scythe and a fork.

If you are looking for something to do in your retirement that will not break your back, consider a breeding pair of Boer goats which you can use for meat and brush clearing.

If you are already farming, but looking for a project for your kids or grandkids to take on all on their own, consider the Mini Nubian. Start a business transporting them in dog crates in the back of your van to birthday parties, for a mobile petting zoo.

Are you a mother who would like to earn a little extra spending money to fundraise for that accordian or trip to Italy or child’s violin lessons you’ve always wanted? Join the millions of women around the world who have started side hustles around a pair of goats.

Are you a father who is sick of a desk job in front of a screen? Invest in a herd of goats, a livestock trailer, and a truck, and rent out your goats for brush clearing and land maintenance. Approach your local state or county park and pitch the sustainable option of livestock managed land. Earn money, and free fodder for your herd! Involve your children in your work, and watch your life change overnight.

Goats are an interesting and often over-looked option for just about anyone looking to get going or keep going in a land-based enterprise. They have been domesticated for thousands and thousands of years, and have been found in all corners of the globe, helping all kinds of folks in all kinds of walks of life go the good kind of crazy.

 

“It will be summer again in no time, and then you will come back, and then it will be more beautiful than ever. Then you can walk all the time, and we can go up to the pasture with the goats every day and see the flowers, and everything will be jolly from the very first.” (Heidi to Clara, in Heidi by Johanna Spyri)

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*I am not giving up on his book, despite his blatant lack of regard of one of my most favorite animals, chiefly because he launches into a story about a pig on page 214 that someone covered over with a page of fifteen 3 cent stamps printed in 1945 with President Roosevelt and the White House on them. The mystery as to what happens to the dead pig in the back of the car must be solved!

Other helpful info on goats:

For general info read fellow Scandia, MN resident Carol Amundson’s FFA published “How to Raise Goats”

For more info on the importance of copper for Goat Health: “Natural Goat Care” by Aussie Pat Coleby

Home Cheesemaking (Book and DVDs) by Ricki Carrol

For Goat specific electric fencing (netting) go to premier1supplies.com or call 1.800.282.6631