What is the best way to raise goats?
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After walking through the goat pens at the fair, we decided our retirement plan should definitely involve raising goats and making Feta and Chevre.
Question by Barbara: What is the best way to raise goats?
What do you think? Answer below!
2 Responses to What is the best way to raise goats?
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Goats are easy animals for almost anyone to raise. They require little time to maintain and take care of. They are fun to raise and are also very profitable. There are a few things you will need to do before you go out and buy yourself a herd of goats.
The first thing that you must do is build a pen to hold your goats. A four feet high mesh fence will work well. It is tall enough that a goat will not jump over it and a goat can’t get their head caught in it. How big your pen is going to be depends on how many goats you wish to raise. I think you should put no more than four goats on a acre of land. This gives them plenty of room and a lot of land to graze.
A good way to start in the goat business is with one male goat, also called a buck, and three females, also called does. A goat has babies once a year, which are called kids. A goat usually has two at a time. So with your four goats in a year you will have six little ones. This is the way I build up my herd. I save all of the female goats from the yearlings. I sell all of the males and my breeding male. I bring in a new buck to breed all of them with. This way your male is not related to any of the females.
Goats are easy to raise in hot and cold weather. A good shelter is all they need to thrive. They get most of the vitamins and minerals they need from the land. You will only need to feed them hay and some type of supplement on a daily basis. They require a minimal investment and a high return on it. When you sell your goats you can expect to receive from $ 50 to $ 300 for each goat, depending on what breed you raise.
Whether you decide to raise a goat for a pet or to raise them for a profit, I know you will enjoy it.
haroman
December 13, 2011 at 4:35 pm
Goats are very good jumpers and climbers and can easily raise themselves to surfaces higher than their own backs, but stairs or a ramp can be helpful in trying to raise older or heavier goats.
J B
December 13, 2011 at 5:01 pm