How many goats and why

[mzgarden]

So as many of you know, we have two nubian does (due in 3 weeks), a nubian buck and a sweet wether.
Our thinking was the milk from the does would provide us various dairy products and I'll make soap - so 4 in this combination seems right.  Now we have kids coming and are trying to think about keeping vs. selling kids - and trying to do this before we get sucked into their cuteness and keep everyone, lol.

So, we are just the two of us - DH is on the property most of the time and after Dec this year, I'll be retired as well.  We can't legally sell milk, but we could sell chevre, soap, lotions, etc.  I can't imagine DH would be willing to butcher a wether, although we've done pigs, deer and chicken with no problem.  For those of you with bigger herds -- how are you using them to justify keeping more and what do you spend time doing -- milking (and then what?), making soap, etc.

I'd love to keep more, but I don't want them to be yard-art.  Just trying to get some ideas for why we should or should not keep some of the kids, other than because goats are addictive, adorable, fun and keep you on your toes.

[motdaugrnds]

You've posed a very good question. It is one I actually struggled with for quite awhile. So I'll share some of what I've learned.

Since you have Nubians, I'm guessing the does will each give at least a gallon of milk daily (when kids are not nursing); and that means, with 2 does, you get 2 gallons daily. (Kids will take half of this for awhile.) With both does to kid you could easily wind up with 4-8 or 9 or 10 ROFL kids; and in that case you can forget having much milk for your house until those kids have a fully functional rumen and are eating well on their own. Now with this in mind, you need to ask yourself how much milk do I need to make what I want to make. What can be done is simply to make a list...believe me, a list helps.

There were 3 of us for awhile, then 2 and now only one. I always kept 3 "grown" milkers and those does provided more than enough to do what I wanted. (I did not make soap. I only made cottage cheese on occasions. Most of the milk went for drinking...a gallon a day EASILY, ice cream and cooking...making "condensed milk".)

To justify feeding 3 does and the herd buck, I made use of their milk as well as the meat. Waiting until the kids were weighing about 100 lbs is when I burtchered them. With 3 does, I would often have 4-8 goats and that would provide enough "red" meat for an entire year for 3 people.

As for their keep, they all free-range; and for about 3 months out of a year they didn't need "grain" to keep good weight on. (I only give my goats grain now when they are not feeding young, giving milk for the house or are pregnant.) Hope this helps some.

[mzgarden]

motdaugrnds, thanks, it all helps - except maybe this one little sentence, "With both does to kid you could easily wind up with 4-8 or 9 or 10 ROFL kids" I think I Fell on the Floor when I read that, lol. Seriously, your inputs are always appreciated.

[Deleted]

We have four does. The plan is to try to keep the best of them. I have an older doe who is not the greatest milker ever...we bred to a high milk yield line of Oberhasli and hope to get kids that are more productive than their mother. Our biggest problem isn't selling the cute kids...it's the idea of letting go of older does that we've had time to get to like. I'll be kinda sad to see old Heidi leave when we have a replacement for her.

[Deleted]

When we got our first 2 yearling dairy does in the summer of 2011, we were told "2 goats can easily turn into 20". We laughed. We bred them that fall to a Boer buck, just because I insisted we keep no kids - they were all going into the freezer. They both had twin boys, all 4 tasted really good. We gave out samples of meat and folks started asking "when will you have more?" We soon discovered that 2 Nubian/Alpine cross does can make creative uses of milk necessary.

Then we heard about a elderly woman not too far away, who a mutual farmer friend said needed to find a home for her Boers because she was having health problems and couldn't take care of them. Five Boer does and a buckling arrived in november 2013, looking pretty lean, the does supposedly bred. That brought us to 8. The following spring, our dairy pair each gave us triplets, and one of the Boers gave us a single buckling. (what does that say of their prior care?) We kept him. Of the double triplets, we lost one from each set to parasites. Part of our learning curve. The other 4 went to to our and others freezers. The buck the Boers came with died the following summer. We ended up buying the Boer buck that previously we paid stud service for our dairy does. That made just 9. Two become 20? We laughed.

In the summer of 2014, neighbor "Tom" gave us use of 35 acres of his what was his parents 'old home place' as pasture for our hogs. We only used a small portion, but cut hay from part of it. He let us store it in the old 'home place' barn (40x70, post and beam). In January of 2015, a 'neighbor' the next county over, milking 40 does with a state certified raw milk dairy, dropped dead of a heart attack while doing morning chores. When his wife found him after getting home from work, she realized the goats had to go. Immediately. We mentioned this to "Tom" and he said "why not get some and put them in the old barn?" We ended up with 6 of them, supposedly all bred as they had an Oberhasi buck they moved between pens every few weeks (see any parallels here?), but she didn't know for sure as her hubby did most of the goat work. At the time, 4 were still milking, though not giving a lot. One of them had mastitis in one side. We dried her off and treated, but it never really seemed to clear up. She and two others from the same pen turned out not bred. Two of them have since been become goat burger. The third became 'adoptive mom' to some of the kids we let stay on moms for a few weeks, and came into milk herself. Turned out to be a darn good milker.

So, with all that and kid additions, at peak, we had 30 goats this year. This is about our limit, both with what hay we can put up, and time demands for their care (with everything else we're doing), and we're not laughing any more. The demand for goat meat and milk products locally has shown us that even if we could do more, the demand would still exceed supply. We'd like to get all our critters on one farm, but while we're looking for a new place, this arrangement is working pretty well for all parties.

As to how many YOU should have, it all depends on how much space you have for them, how much hay you can provide and store, and whether your local market has enough demand to make the venture more than just keeping pets. Not that there is anything wrong with that either. Goats sure have a way of being adorable, when they aren't making us pull our hair out.

[Deleted]

Seriously they make the best mobile yard art!! I like to give my heavy milkers some time off, it is wearing to their bodies to be constantly popping out kids and being milked for upwards to 10 months ect..so you might want to stagger your breedings.
Example last year somehow Faline (I did not do on purpose) managed to kid twice, first time she was a FF and had a single and she milked well, 2nd time she had twins and milked excellent. She is getting a break this year, Pawnee was suppose to get a break this year but it did not happen, she looked poorly, her baby was weak, her milk did come in but I am slowly drying her off. As with all animals including humans pregnancies take it out of ya, so you really should have enough milkers that you can stagger them