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Didn't find any other threads of them so here we go........
.......eventually, I want to have goats on the ranch. There are, of course, so many questions.
Some questions have been answered before in other threads, such as not to have their marching ground over the entire ranch (ie, them having "access" to the front gate area) but to limit it.
A question on my mind right now is do they need attendance daily so I can't take off for a weekend or can some kind of automated system of gates be set up.
In my experience, keeping goats is significantly more challenging and time-consuming than buying a blouse.
In all seriousness, goats are easy keepers but are really difficult to keep contained.
Why do you want goats? If it's for dairy, you can't leave them for long, no. For everything else they're more trouble than value-added, in my experience. Well, they're very edible, but it's hard to eat your own goats, because they're personable critters. Where I grew up it was common practice to trade goats with someone else come butcher time so you didn't have to eat goats you knew.
......Why do you want goats? If it's for dairy, you can't leave them for long, no. For everything else they're more trouble than value-added, in my experience. Well, they're very edible, but it's hard to eat your own goats, because they're personable critters. Where I grew up it was common practice to trade goats with someone else come butcher time so you didn't have to eat goats you knew.
Well, a thing or two or three or so.
In no particular order.......
.....for an agriculture exemption.
.....as grass trimmers.
..... in the ranch's "philosophy", I see it as "I want to have a salad, what do I need on the ranch for that? Lettuce, tomatoes, and sunflower seeds can be grown. Spices and herbs as well. The cheese can be feta (ie, goats). For meat, I need a catfish pond (probably a catfish pond with crayfish at the bottom).
.....for other uses which may just be milk or something else not yet thought of.
As far as butchery, that is not likely to be me. A year or two ago when I was talking to a co worker, I said, "Oh, I don't think I could butcher a goat for mutton.". To which he said........
..... in the ranch's "philosophy", I see it as "I want to have a salad, what do I need on the ranch for that? Lettuce, tomatoes, and sunflower seeds can be grown. Spices and herbs as well. The cheese can be feta (ie, goats). For meat, I need a catfish pond (probably a catfish pond with crayfish at the bottom).
.
Goats can be a handful. I've only had pet pygmies and quickly learned how the word "capricious" was derived. They get into everything and are tough (maybe impossible?) to train to stay out of trouble.
Keeping them, and probably the financial records showing you're selling them or the milk/cheese, will satisfy the tax man.
Milk producing goats need to be milked daily, so keep the kid (hers, not yours) around to help you with that chore when you want to take a day off.
If you have an adequate market for goat meat near you, you may be able to make a sizeable profit in raising them. Check with your local meat processor or Latino food market about local demand.
Some people keep a herd of goats and rent them out to clear land of unwanted vegetation. They're better than a spill of Round-Up. If you don't have adequate pasture to rotate them thru, they may devastate your land too. And don't forget you'll have to feed them thru the winter with hay/feed, maybe an added expense.
Your "philosophy" sounds like you're shooting for self-sufficiency. (Good for you!) Consider keeping chickens for protein-- just three eggs per day provides all the high quality protein you need.
Goats can be a handful. I've only had pet pygmies and quickly learned how the word "capricious" was derived. They get into everything and are tough (maybe impossible?) to train to stay out of trouble.
Keeping them, and probably the financial records showing you're selling them or the milk/cheese, will satisfy the tax man.
Milk producing goats need to be milked daily, so keep the kid (hers, not yours) around to help you with that chore when you want to take a day off.
If you have an adequate market for goat meat near you, you may be able to make a sizeable profit in raising them. Check with your local meat processor or Latino food market about local demand.
Some people keep a herd of goats and rent them out to clear land of unwanted vegetation. They're better than a spill of Round-Up. If you don't have adequate pasture to rotate them thru, they may devastate your land too. And don't forget you'll have to feed them thru the winter with hay/feed, maybe an added expense.
Your "philosophy" sounds like you're shooting for self-sufficiency. (Good for you!) Consider keeping chickens for protein-- just three eggs per day provides all the high quality protein you need.
As said before, I am not sure about butchery.
On one side of the coin, a horsewoman friend on the coastal plains is already to get me started with goats and she has no problem with sacrificing one to the table. On the other hand, my house builder told me that it may be a way to get one cheap by acquiring the prize of an FFA/4H teen who knows it isn't going to be killed.
Conceptually, following the philosophy of option 2 could be better because one of the things I am trying to do is set up relationships with the local family businesses, such as my well drillers, my builder, my lawn people, etc.. Conceptually, that may be the alternate way of being able to take off for a weekend by paying members of those families to check in on my ranch.
Thank you for the tip about kids; that's the kind of information I need and can use. It is also the way I like to think in terms of "what ancillary / auxiliary systems can do such a task?".
I'm addressing chickens in the chicken thread in this forum.
The use of poison I keep to a minimal on my land. I have a professional service that uses specifics to keep pests (ants, roaches, scorpions, wasps, rats, others perhaps) out of my house. It's expensive, my yard man tells me I am wasting my money with what could be done with a sprayer and a bucket from of poison from a big box store, but I only want certain things away, not all of them.
I just have the grasses around the house trimmed but not the rest of the ranch, so there is plenty of land for them to eat on. The deer probably do that already but probably not quite enough. There are a whole bunch of considerations, for good and bad, out there in the wild of the ranch from being able to get out there such as for tree trimming (haven't done that at all yet), wildfire concerns, keeping "habitats" for bees, bats and other "nice" creatures (but rats and rattlesnakes aren't in that group), to the more fantastical such as living as a "Red Riding Hood Witch".
Hay and feed, well, the "concept" of that is a side equation and in some ways, a rather well known one to me. That is, just having three cats is quite expensive. So for every animal added, be it for the house or for the ranch, there is the consideration of what it will cost to support them.....and how I will finance it.
Do people brand goats or, these days, chip them?
I'm not sure if I am thinking self-sufficiency or developing techniques for planetary colonization, but thank you!
Goats can be good for clearing rough land. But of course, if it's rough land, what are the chances it's well enclosed? So then you have goat containment to consider. And for a normal yard or field, in many cases - most cases, I'd wager - it's cheaper and easier to just use a mower.
The only people I know for whom goats aren't just a money sink are those who are willing to think of them as meat. Remember that if you're raising them for dairy, 50% of their offspring are useless. And you have to be making offspring, or you don't get milk. If you're not willing to eat the bucks (and any bad milkers) or sell them to someone for butchery, it can be difficult even to give them away for free.
I've thought about getting some for clearing out my own scrub and weeds. When given the choice they always choose shrubs over grass. Keep in mind that some plants are harmful to them.
Those who rent goats for clearing out land charge a pretty penny...up to $2000 per acre. If you're making friends with local farmers I bet you'll find an aspiring goat boss who could use a few more animals in his fleet. If there's no such person, pitch the idea to someone who's like to do this but doesn't think he has enough goats.
Those who rent goats for clearing out land charge a pretty penny...up to $2000 per acre. If you're making friends with local farmers I bet you'll find an aspiring goat boss who could use a few more animals in his fleet. If there's no such person, pitch the idea to someone who's like to do this but doesn't think he has enough goats.
It sounds easy, but I think one has to consider why they're charging steep amounts. There's the transportation of the goats, vet care, building fences, providing safe shelter and water, insurance, probably a bunch of things I'm not thinking of. Plus the other expenses of any small business, like bookkeeping and whatnot. And the goats generally don't clear everything - you're still left responsible for clearing the heavier brush, and anything the goats find unpalatable, through manual labor. It's not fast, either - you're talking a few weeks per acre, give or take. So you either have to limit yourself to locations where you can easily commute to the goats, or hire someone local to mind your goats, both of which have expenses - your time and travel costs, or your employee's wages. So you've got up front costs and ongoing costs, and it's time-consuming and fairly hard physical work - it's not passive income. You're looking at clearing a lot of land before you even get ahead of the initial cost of vehicle and equipment.
The goats themselves are one of the less expensive and difficult components of the scheme, other than their tendency to liberate themselves.
My husband and I spent a little over a year caretaking at a goat farm.
The owners of the farm originally raised angoras but changed over to milk goats, but finally settled on Boer goats for meat, which was the only way they could turn a profit. Thankfully they were not butchered on the property, as it would have been impossible for us, as animal lovers, to experience.
No way are you going to be able to take off for a weekend, OP, without making arrangements for their care.
They required a lot of care - they will need to be let out of their barn every morning, bedding fluffed, pellets had to be raked up daily, fresh water twice a day, and feed twice a day, and brought in at night. The herd had about 30 goats and had 2 males, kept separate. Once was sweet - the other was mean, and spent most of his day charging at the barn and ramming his head against the side of the barn. He was scary. And both males had the distinctive stinky odor exuded from their scent glands.
I would absolutely have goats again, on a small scale and kept as pets. They are amazingly affectionate and wonderful animals.
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