Darius,sounds fun!
Looking out the window, we have the potential for a good day. It's 44 and the sun is trying to peek out. Oops! It's already gone!
Dairy goat
Looks to be fairly nice here today, with T'storms later. Tomorrow is "severe thunderstorms", high winds and rain. Bleck. I have a lot of stuff to move via my truck from the root cellar to the barn, and the ground is still soggy, with more to come. Double Bleck.
Your welcome, Mrsrobin. I can't say I knew that much about udder anatomy when we started. Now I find it a fascinating read. Tho, I can't say I retain a lot of the info until I'm forced to utilize it. lol
We're looking to get a saanen doe this year, preferably a kid. I want to raise it more like a dog and train it to a cart. I love the nubians, that little flip-up at the end of ears just slays me :0) But a saanen should be be slightly larger, and I the weight for cart pulling. And I'm looking forward to chevre, yum.
My mother raised boar goats and had a few nubians as nannies. My oldest daughter remembers her goats, but my youngest sons don't. I'm hoping to create a memorable childhood memory with the goat cart.
For some reason I felt the reason to justify the goat cart. Least someone thinks I'm doing it because I'm cazy.lol
Darius, I'm still leaning towards the nigi's - although it wouldn't leave much milk for cheese-making unless I froze it over a period of time. Their milk has a higher butterfat content, but production is usually around a quart or two a day from what I've read. Other than kefir and yogurt, I'd have them mostly for cheese as I don't drink much milk other than cream in my coffee. But I do love kefir in my berry smoothies in the summer time!
One other thing about the nigi's is that they are harder to milk, due to smaller teat size according to the people that have them. I hope to try milking both after kidding time this year, if the goat farmers aren't fed up with my bazillion questions by then :)
According to one of my cheesemaking sites... "I can see that the milk from Nigerian Dwarf goats doesn't need as much rennet as "regular" goat milk. The milk is thicker, almost like sheep's milk. Higher yield, too. Amazing stuff."
BTW, I'm collecting a lot of info on vegetable rennets, many homemade from garden plants.
Hey, you have small hands... milking the dwarfs should be no problem! Plus you are so short you won't need much of a stand, LOL. :)
I've been reading on homemade whitewash for a cheese cave (and USDA approved). Turns out it's great for animal pens too... cuts down on bacterial growth on the walls.
I have a borrowed buck in with my 2 girls right now. Thursday will make a month and then I will send him home. If he has not done the deed in a month I think I will need to find a new giggilo. I am so looking forward to milking my girls and having fresh milk to drink and make cheese, butter, yogurt and icecream. Mmm And if the kids don't sell we will eat them. I was reading goat meat is lower in fat than skinless chicken breast. Must be like wild game. I am also looking into getting a few rabbits to raise for meat but I need to check the price of feed. Chicken and horse feed have gone through the roof. I am glad the goats are so economical to keep. We have got to get rid of these horses!!!
Will you miss him?LOL
Goat is best cooked low and slow. Our favorite way, when we would have family get-togethers. We would do all our grilling (chicken, steak, whatever) one night. When done and the coals died down we would put on the cabrito and leave overnight. It was always perfect and sooo good!
@Darius - well, true about the small hands and being short...:) My top constraint on ANY animal purchase is my own commitment level and the limitations on travel. Not that I travel much, but so far I have one trip planned to see my daughter graduate from college, and my mom and stepdad are heading to Gatlinburg in the fall, etc. Once I take the animals on, I will pretty much be stuck here because I can't put the goats or chickens in the kennel...lol! I'm also thinking about all of the frigid mornings and evenings for care and feeding, and the horridly hot ones, and me working full-time at the new job and trying very hard to balance my dreams and desires of self-sufficiency with the realities of what my life is like here alone once I'm working 50-70 hours a week again.
As one very wise friend said "It's time to either do it, or not." One day I find I'm leaning towards doing it, and then two days later, I'm not. I want to be fair to the animals as well, not just thinking about me. So far I am just a dabbler, and if something fails I have other resources. What I'd *like* to be able to accomplish, and what I *can* actually accomplish don't quite meet yet in my mental arena. I think the phrase for this is 'paralysis by analysis' :D
I've only had goat once, and it was delicious - tasted like any other ground meat (had it in burgers) and was less fatty. Cocoa sounds like she has the perfect slow-cook recipe. I'd have to have a place to cook that my dogs couldn't access though...LOL! Otherwise they'd be the only beneficiaries of a goat left to slow cook overnight :D
~H
You might want to start with just a 1/2 dozen or so hens. A chicken tractor for a flock that size is not too hard to put together. You could fill a hanging feeder and a couple 3 gallon buckets of water for them and be gone a few days without any harm done.
We used to slow smoke our goat over mesquit wood. Melt in your mouth! The trick is, when you knock'em, dont let'em get excited. Adrenaline makes the meat kinda tough. Ah, I miss the Electra goat cook off! Some of the best cooks in Tx. show up for the competition.