Homestead Milk Supply (Long and Rambling)

Timberline · #1 01/28/10, 06:48 PM

I seem to be driving myself nuts the last few years. I don't know just what my problem is, or if I even really have one.

This post is probably going to sound like I'm bashing goats and goat keepers, but I don't intend it that way. These are just my experiences.

Since we bought this place in 1991, I have milked. I love fresh raw milk and like to make cheese, yogurt, kefir, all that good stuff.

My first cow was an older Jersey x Guernsey. A few Jerseys followed, then in 1999 we got our first Dexters. I raised a mix of Dexters and Jerseys until 2008, when I sold most of them.

I sold them because in 2007 I bought a few real nice Nubians and Nigerians. I loved the goat milk, so I started milking the goats in earnest and just kept a couple steers around for the freezer. I had hoped the goats would be more efficient producers and less to worry about. For my pastures and set-up, they haven't been.

Now, I again have a Jersey heifer and am selling goats. I am keeping two nice does, an Oberhasli and a mini-Nubian, the rest are out of here! These goats drive me nuts. They don't like to be out in the pastures, will stand at the gate all day (and I mean ALL day) and scream to be let back in the pens. My "goat" pasture has a lot of willows and brush, they want nothing to do with it. They waste more hay and feed than any critters I've ever had.

The buck stink just about gags me. The occasional problem I had with my Dexter bulls trashing a fence was preferable to this horrid stench.

We have butchered wethers and no matter how it's prepared, dh and I just don't care for it. We like beef. I have a very hard time finding homes for goat kids (forget about selling them around here). Seems like every doe has twins or triplets, mostly bucklings, that I have a hard time just giving away. While there is a strong local demand for calves of any kind.

I know goats are very popular on HT and I've tried so hard to really be a goat enthusiast, but I like cows. I grew up with cows. I understand cows.

So, I guess I've come full circle and am back to a family cow. I just wish I could figure out why I've been so wishy-washy about it.

Do you ever drive yourself crazy like this?

sammyd · #2 01/28/10, 06:59 PM

I usually don't worry too much about what folks on an internet forum (that may or may not really be doing what they say they are) think about what I'm doing or how I do it.
I do read comments and take them into consideration if I am looking at trying something but if I try my best to succeed at something different and it doesn't work, then I will try it a different way without bothering myself too much about it.

Each farm/homestead is unique. What may work for someone (even next door) may not work for you at all that's life...

lmrose · #3 01/28/10, 07:55 PM

Good luck with your cow. I am sorry the goats didn't work out for you. My husband grew up on a dairy farm so was used to cows. When we married we took a heifer calf over the island light house where we worked and lived. The other lighthouse keeper had cows so when ours grew up we bred her to his bull .All went well until we had to leave the island and job a few years later.

Well, what a job to get that cow and her calf off an island! We had to use a barge and haul and drag her with a tractor to the dock and tug and pull to get her where we wanted on the barge. The calf ran off into some woods and fell into a hole and had to be hoisted out.

When we reached the mainland and floated the barge to shore but the cow refused to move! We had to hook ropes on her the with other end of the rope tied to our vehicle and pull her off the barge.We didn't have room to keep her and the calf so boarded her at a neighboring farm.

After the third time our cow waded into a lake and went around a stone fence and got into the farmer's garden he called us to come get her. She had been used to the rocky shore on the island so water and rocks wouldn't keep her in the pasture.With no place to keep her we sold her the next day and have not had a cow since.

That same year I bought our first two goats and thirty years later we still have goats.We used to keep a buck and found during rutting season they smelled horrible! So what we do is keep a buck if one is born in the spring and raise it up to breed the does in the fall. After that it is butchered. If all does are born we will trade one for a baby buck or find someone who does have a buck when we want our goats bred.

In good weather our goats have a choice of being in the barn or outdoors. All spring summer and fall they eat pasture and what we give them from the garden. The only grain they get is a little while on the milk stand to keep them busy while being milked.Winter when dry they eat hay, turnips and cattle beets. Our goats don't like extreme heat or extreme cold, snow or rain. They prefer to stay in the barn during those times but will go out to eat in the pasture.

We like goats because they are easy to handle, come when called, are friendly, use their food more efficiently and it is easier to trim their feet. We can keeep ten goats for what it cost to keep one cow.

Butchering is easier also much akin to butchering a deer. The carcus is easier to handle and cutting the meat is done with a hand meat saw. We sell some meat and can keep the rest alive until someone wants meat.

So that is why we lie goats and will never go back to keeping cows. Have a nice day.

Alice In TX/MO · #4 01/28/10, 08:01 PM

Differences are what keeps us going! More goats for me!

I raised Beefmaster cattle for years, but now I have dairy goats.

Cows have sloppy poo and are too big for me now. Cows don't have the personality of goats, but, yes, you do have to put up with interesting behaviors with goats.

That's why they call us Crazy Goat Ladies!

okgoatgal2 · #5 01/28/10, 08:06 PM

you do what works for you. i don't care much for cows-too much potential for my unsteady self to get injured. i fall and can't get up-what am i gonna do when a cow is standing on me?
goats work for me b/c i can handle them. when a buck starts acting randy, away he goes.
cow "kisses" are grossly wet and sloppy...GAAAGGGG
goat "kisses" are not.
goats blow snot on you, gross.
my goats welcome me at the gate and talk to me while i feed them. they do go out in the pasture quite a lot-i have to call them up and i love to watch them gallop up ears and udders flopping back and forth....sooooo funny!!!

DQ · #6 01/28/10, 08:27 PM

different animals work better for different people based on your own personality, situation and preferences. I heard all sorts of great things about ducks. ducks were great. they eat slugs in your garden (an issue for me) and are lovely to have on the homestead. UUUHHHH. no. I found them to be messy, annoying, and they didn't eat the slugs they ate the seedlings that the slugs were eating. didn't work for me. so what. chickens work for me. ducks don't. no biggie. I have goats. goats present their own challenges just as cows. for some people they fit better. for others, not so much. don't sweat it.

goatlady · #7 01/28/10, 08:31 PM

BIG differences between cows and goats. Nubians are KNOWN for being vocal - hollar all the time, can't stand that breed personally just because of their noise all the time.

springvalley · #8 01/28/10, 08:46 PM

I raise my milk glass to you and toast you. I have had both, and I love my cows. My cows come when called, they love my kids, allowing them to do things to them I can`t. My cows have wonderful personalities, they know their names, yes they get into mischeif. but they give alot more milk, they seem to know whats going on before it happens. Have I said I love my cows. And yes it is easier to get rid of calves, and to get a vet for. I still have a couple goats but not because I like milking them, and my billy doesn`t stink, ever,I do love watching the kids (goat) playing in the pasture. But I love my cows. Thanks Marc

**gone-a-milkin** · #9 01/28/10, 10:56 PM

Congratulations on discovering what works for you.

Cows take it for me too, hands down.

More goats for Alice and all the other Crazy Goat Ladies, LOL.

7thswan · #10 01/29/10, 06:26 AM

I'm the same way with cows, different breeds tho. Dh likes Longhorns and I like Herfords. The place we used to have grew up and our road went from being a dirt road to a major road. Picture taking a shower and you hear honking on the road, yup the cows are out, all 54 head. Now the Herfords, show them a bucket and home they come. Longhorns (especially the ones shipped in from some range in Oklahoma) nope, they are headed back out West. Herefords calves- have a problem they look for you to help them. Longhorns- calving in a snowbank, they will gore you before they let you near their baby. All these instances can have their goods and bads, but I'm getting to old and decrepid to mess with this forever.

geo in mi · #11 01/29/10, 08:54 AM

They are not teen-aged children. You CAN get rid of them.

Michael W. Smith · #12 01/29/10, 08:55 AM

Glad you found what works for you and what you prefer. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer regarding cows versus goats. It all depends on YOUR preference, your experience, local customs/preferences, etc.

Even the following pros and cons list will be different for each person:

COW PROS COW CONS

Gives lots of milk. Gives too much milk.
Easy to confine. Big liquid poop patties.
Vets are familiar with them. Expensive
People prefer beef. Too big to handle.
Easy to find / sell. The flys. My God, the FLYS!
Bulls do not stink. Bulls can KILL you.
Have one animal vs several. Not so easy to butcher.

GOAT PROS GOAT CONS

Gives enough milk. Doesn't give enough milk.
Small poop pellets. Goats are escape artists.
Cheaper than a cow. Vets aren't familiar with them.
Easy to handle. Kids are hard to sell.
Flys aren't much of a problem. Not easy to find / sell.
Goats have personality. Bucks stink.
Easy to butcher. Can be noisy.

As you can see, what works for one person, doesn't work for another person. Why have 5 goats, when one cow will give you enough milk? Why have a huge cow when goats are so much easier to handle? Why buy a cow for $ hundreds, when you can buy a goat for $75.00? Why have a 6' high fence that the goats STILLl get out of, when a cow will stay confined in a 2 wire, non electric fence?

Your pros and cons, might not be my pros and cons. But hey, that's alright! It would be an awful dull world if everyone loved / hated the same thing!! Glad you found what works for YOU!

bluefish · #13 01/29/10, 09:11 AM

I rarely have goat escapes, but I used to have to help my neighbor catch their milk cow at least once a week when I was younger. Between that and the poo, I swore I'd never have one of those critters.

Whatever works for you. Enjoy your cows!

Joshie · #14 01/29/10, 09:24 AM

Our differences are what makes the world go 'round.

I admire both the goat people and the cow people. We personally don't care for goat milk. Think it tastes goatey after a day or two. Would love to have cows but.... they are expensive and you have to milk them. (Yeah, you'd have to milk the goats too.

) If there was a decently priced place to get raw cow milk I'd get it there. Since there isn't... to the grocery store we go.

We have the room for a steer or two. Have seriously considered that. Problem is I'm not sure I could eat or withstand the tears from my soon to be 12-year old daughter when it came butchering time. My grandma always had cattle and I remember those big, beautiful eyes and those ears that love to be scratched. Don't think I can eat something I pet.

Timberline · #15 01/29/10, 10:01 AM

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. I have always loved my cows, I think I just have grass-is-greener syndrome at times.

Timberline · #16 01/29/10, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geo in mi

They are not teen-aged children. You CAN get rid of them.

Yep, working on that right now.

salmonslayer · #17 01/29/10, 10:28 AM

I have always had cattle and my one goat experience was with a magic goat. She could teleport out of any enclosure and liked to chew on anything rubber, including windshield wipers.

But; DW likes them and in a couple of months when we move to the farm we will have goats and I imagine we will just have to avoid driving in the rain.

Tana Mc · #18 01/29/10, 11:41 AM

We are gluttons for punishment because we have BOTH!
Tana Mc

texican · #19 01/29/10, 11:51 PM

Chalk... you're goats have got you buffaloed.

Our goats beg to be let out. They've cleaned out a horrible brush problem on the backside of my lake dam (45 degree slope, 50' tall..........way too steep for bushhogging). They love willows... bend the tree limbs down that they can't reach, and they'll whip out switchblades and fight to see who's going to get the ice cream...

Our milkers get alfalfa and some barley while milking... about a half bucket (large coffee bucket). Best gal gives a gallon a day.

I sometimes milk my cousins jersey cows. They give a gallon per milking on one side... the calves get the other. They get four gallons of assorted grain products...

Cows make more milk, but use more resources. If a person needed several gallons a day, then cow's are the cat's pajamas... especially if you have nice pasture, a dedicated hay meadow, and a family member that owns a feed store.

Course, cows aren't just looking for an excuse to die!

**gone-a-milkin** · #20 01/29/10, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by salmonslayer

I have always had cattle and my one goat experience was with a magic goat. She could teleport out of any enclosure and liked to chew on anything rubber, including windshield wipers.

But; DW likes them and in a couple of months when we move to the farm we will have goats and I imagine we will just have to avoid driving in the rain.

Get ready to stay home A LOT! Or buy your wiperblades by the case.