What is it like to own a goat farm?
Question by Tangerine: What is it like to own a goat farm?
I am interested in starting a goat farm and then making and selling goat milk cheese. What would this be like? Is it a job you would recommend?
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7 Responses to What is it like to own a goat farm?
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Its a non stop job, you cant leave home for a day or two or ever go on vacation, its decent money but its a hard life,also you will want to excl at fence mending,them little suckers get out any hole there is
Good Luck
dngrrngr62
May 2, 2012 at 4:52 pm
Goats are a lot of fun. With GOOD fencing they are fairly easy to care for. We keep about 10 goats currently. The milk differs by bread. We keep French Alpines (great tasting milk) and Nigerian Dwarfs (Higher butterfat, great for many cheeses). The Alpines are the easiest of the two to milk. To make and sell cheese you need to be a USDA certified dairy I believe. Its not something you can just do out of your kitchen. To get a ford the permits and inspections etc would require a certain level of production and facilities. For us it was too expensive. We live in Virginia and it is also illegal for us to sell raw goats milk for human consumption, so we make goats milk soap.
We do get a farm sitter if we are going to be away for more than a day. Goats are fairly intelligent as farm animals go and are good at getting out, but they don’t tend to go far. They often just come up to our backdoor.
Like any livestock they need top be fed and watered daily. Also inspected and watched to make sure they are ok. They require some care like trimming hooves, deworming etc monthly or so.
Goats need draft free housing, but tolerate cold quite well. When they kid you need to watch in case of issues. If you are going to milk the babies are usually taken away and bottle fed to keep the mothers udder in good shape. There are many web sites and books on raising goats. Go to a goat show also join the American Dairy goat association and/or the American Goat society.
It is fun but like most things it is also work.
Mark G
May 2, 2012 at 5:06 pm
I grew up on a farm, but we never had goats.
In my experience, only people who have no experience of farms are nostalgic for farm life.
snapdragon
May 2, 2012 at 5:28 pm
It’s a lot of work but it’s rewarding reaping the benefits from raising your own animals. Nope, you can’t leave the farm for vacation… ever! You’ll have to be home every night in the least, since you’ll have to do chores. Shelling out for the fence might be a bit expensive (those suckers can really jump!) and feed can be expensive too. Also, don’t forget about them getting loose, or sick, or attacked by a predator. HOWEVER, think of all the great cheese and dairy products you’ll get from them and the fun you’ll have raising them. It’s all up to you.
Marcus R
May 2, 2012 at 6:08 pm
I would stay away from animal farming untill the genetic bomb threat is resolved.
Allan M
May 2, 2012 at 6:09 pm
i would reccomend it if u like chasing goats and going out every morning and night to feed and water we get our goats very tame were they follow us ride on tractors with us my uncles even goes canoeing with him there very fun and i like them
Cheyenne H
May 2, 2012 at 6:24 pm
it’s a twice-a-day job. no weeklong vacays for you..but goats are sweet animals; it’s very rewarding, and goat milk/cheese is very popular/profitable.
♥pretty♥
May 2, 2012 at 7:06 pm