Rural Gardening: looking into goats, 1 by lagata2

lagata2 wrote:
When I bought my 3 acres some 14 years ago, a good 2 acres of it was grown up in brush and blackberry brambles. Off to Lowe's and the animal auction for fencing and goats! It was a mixed bag of mixed goats that I wound up with; Nigerians, toggenburg, alpine, pygmy, Nubian, 4 fainting goats (the only ones with papers) and a few that might have been anything. Of these, only one was a fine looking and friendly pygmy buck. He thought he'd been brought into heaven early! It was no time at all that they cleared the property, and I needed to cut back from about 25 to 10 or so.
While several of the bigger breeds had foot problems, I noticed none of the small breeds did. The big ones were also MUCH harder to handle, weighing 100 pounds and up. So off went the big ones, including the love of the bucks life, a huge rangy black and white mix of many sorts. He couldn't breed her since he was 1/4 her size, but he tried oh how he tried!! she'd just turn and look at him in an amused fashion and walk away, him chasing after her on his hind legs! Funny!
A guy with a miniature horse asked if I'd trade four of my big goats for it, and I jumped at the chance! He got on well with the goats, until one day he decided to chase the fainters around for some reason. I heard them yelling, and got out in time to see one stiffen and fall as they do, and saw the horse stop and paw at it, wanting it to get up and run some more. Apparently he hurt it's backbone doing it, and the poor thing had to be put down. I sold the little horse, and stuck with the goats. But the fainters were also having a bad time at the feed trough. The "boss" girls (one or more in every group) would pick on them, and they'd faint rather than get out of the way, at which point the others would beat beat them up, further scaring them which kept them down! I sold them for their own good, poor things!
I ended up with just a few of the smallest, but through a divorce and an unusual and foolish agreement on my part, I was away for about 4 years. When I returned, the goats had been sold, and the house fields and flower beds were a mess again. I rented the place while I got the property in repair, and when the renters moved, we (I'd remarried) moved in and I had a choice of breeds to start with. What? Registered something this time, so I didn't worry about people buying them to eat... I like them to well for that! Big ones are harder to handle, and seemed to have more foot trouble, and need more room than small ones. Fainters have a hard time, and not a big market. Pygmies have been bred so cobby, they have kidding problems.
So I now have Nigerian dwarf milk goats, and just love them! Up to four kids at a time so far, tiny cuties!! Full grown they are less than knee high, and while I don't milk them, they are known for giving quantities of extremely good milk! They don't dig, bark, bite, or scratch, and I could pick up an adult if I really needed to. And I love the multi colors and patterns, the wilder the better! Blue eyes too! They sell well to good homes at $75 to $250 each (depends on lots of things) and would go much higher if I wanted to fool with the shows, but I'm a homebody.
I love milk, and to me a great comparison is 1/2 &1/2 compared to regular pasteurized cows milk. It's heavier bodied, richer, and seems to get colder, and stay that way longer. But I'd rather let the babies do the milking!
Good luck with whatever you eventually decide on; they are great critters!!

Here is a pic of my oldest girl and her four kids. For size reference, I'm sitting Indian style, and a gold hen, twice the size of the new kids, is in the background.