Va. no goatman

[Va. goatman]

After 15years I'm selling all my goats and either lease most of my land for horse's or let it grow and hunt on it any Idea's ?

[Cheribelle]

What is making you get out of goats? As a goat lover I have to wonder.

[kirkmcquest]

Why would you do this?

[Our Little Farm]

You could also lease your land for cattle.

[Alice In TX/MO]

More money in horse leases, but be sure you have good liability insurance.

How will you live without goats?

[FarmboyBill]

Yup, curious minds wanna know, tho I imagine I have an idee

[Corky]

As a fellow goat raiser that did that last year. I understand.

In my case I had to finally admit that this area was not the place to raise top of the line dairy goats.
As I started with lower quality goats and worked my way up through very selective breeding... I did Ok for a while as my goats were not expensive and gave good milk so I could sell them and the milk easily.
Then as my herd got better and better customers got fewer and fewer. People wanted cheap goats for brush or to eat.
I did sell the entire herd for a good if not great price to someone not close.

I miss my goats but I love my new freedom.

[Va. goatman]

I've got 4 that are pets that I'll keep 2 big weathers that I bottle raised that follow me like dogs they are both over 10 years old so they can stay and 2 bottle doe"s

[PlowGirl]

The goat prices around here have been increasing steadily, even through the winter months when most "hobby types" don't want to deal with them and sell out. If brush goats are what your target market wants, sell them brush goats. Good dairy goats are very expensive, but very few buyers are in the market for milkers. Sell the livestock that the market actually demands.

BTW I had to do exactly the same thing with my pigs. I raised Tamworths for many years, to a declining market. Finally had to make the difficult choice to get out completely. Luckily, the timing coincided with higher pork prices and my intent to spend a few weeks in South America for the winter. Still miss the pigs, but not the extra work or expense, especially with grain set to go much higher.

[Oldcountryboy]

Do the environment a favor and keep large animals off of your land. Let it go back to natural environment and hunt better meat for the table. Raise mushrooms for the market and yourself on it, and gather any wild game for the table that's raiding your fungi.

Mmmmm,mmmm! Fried young gray squirrel with mushroom gravy!

[Va. goatman]

Originally Posted by Oldcountryboy

Do the environment a favor and keep large animals off of your land. Let it go back to natural environment and hunt better meat for the table. Raise mushrooms for the market and yourself on it, and gather any wild game for the table that's raiding your fungi.

Mmmmm,mmmm! Fried young gray squirrel with mushroom gravy!

I'm kinda thinking of goin that way I like raising goats but I spend way more than I make I may keep a few to keep whats say within 200 ft of the house clear

[Va. goatman]

What can I plant in the open fields to help make it better for game I was thinking about some blackberries but thats more for me lol

[Mulegirl]

Originally Posted by Va. goatman

What can I plant in the open fields to help make it better for game I was thinking about some blackberries but thats more for me lol

Careful with blackberries--they can take over and make the fields impassable. Maybe go talk to your local extension agent and see what steps you could take to start converting it into woodlot with some open bits?

[Alice In TX/MO]

There's lots of deer browse seed mixes available, and you can talk to the conservation folks about planting long term for deer. They may pay for some of it, too.

[Va. goatman]

I'll look into what seed I can get I've got about a 5 acre field up on the mountain I'd like to start with it's got oak and hickory woods on three sides I have about 10 acres of woods and 20 fields