Why goats?

[QUOTE=togg75;3500032]"The main reason to raise goats for milk over cows is the milk itself.

Goat milk is safer for human consumption when used raw. Cows milk must be tested for disease if used raw. "


I don't see where this safety claim is coming from. Every milk borne disease that cows can transmit (TB, Brucellosis, Listeriosis, bacterial contamination...) a goat can be infected with also.

[QUOTE=MARYDVM;3500807]True but their has never been a case of TB in goats milk reported in the US.
Like all natural foods safe handeling practices must be maintained. I bleach all my buckets before and after milking. 1/4 cup in a 5 gallon bucket makes a great cleaner and the clorine evaporates away leaving no after taste...

It was an easy choice for us. We visited a small goat milking operation and a small jersey milking operation, just to be fair. I have ALWAYS wanted a jersey cow.

The things we considered

1) Taste - they both tasted good
2) Space - goats take much less, we don't have much
3) Feed - goats eat 1/10 of what a cow does
4) Milk Consumption - we use about a gallon a day
5) Enjoyablility - either one we picked needed to be a pleasure to be around.
6) Facilities - we had a small barn and no stanchion, goat milk stand was easily built
7) Hazards - we have small children and a cow was intimidating.
8) Price - milk cows we found were quite expensive
9) Replacements - If you lose your only cow that is a BIG loss. If you lose one of 3-4 goats, it is easily replaced when the others kid in the spring.
10) Breeding - A buck is easily kept and a bull isn't even an option. AI seemed like a big risk.
11) Cleaning up after them - pellets or plops

We also still figure if we find that goats are not working for us we can sell the goats and go all in on a cow, but for now goats are definitely the choice for us.

downhome

The feed conversion ratio (FCR) and total investment is far better in goats than it is in cows, especially in my area where hay is around $600/ton and temperatures have been subzero (F) lately. It takes smaller digs to accommodate them safely. Additionally, with goats, you can diversify your milk supply by spreading it over several udders in a small herd rather than one cow. This means that you can always have milk if you want it, even if someone is dry or gets sick or simply doesn't perform.

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Heather Fair
Fair Skies Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats
All I Saw Farm
Wasilla, Alaska
http://HoofinItNorth.com
http://FairSkiesAlaska.com

Everyone has pointed out the preference for goats. Now you need to go over to the "other side" and ask them! Im sure they are just as passionate about their bovines.
I would love to have a jersey cow for milk & butter. But children are grown and we dont drink much milk. Or have enough room for a cow.
Yep, you can load several goats in the back of a pick up with a canopy & off you go.
I dont remember how long it takes to milk a cow. Maybe 5 minutes by hand with Goat o Rama.
Generally speaking goats are a little more high strung/sensitive than cows.
If you go to the cattle forum let us know!

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Bob and Nancy Dickey
Laughing Stock Boer Goats
"Seriously Great Bloodlines"
and the meat goes on....
Near Seattle

For me I don't have a lot of space and live in the high desert without irrigation so goats were the natural choice. If I lose one milker it is o.k. because I have others. If I lost my one milk cow it would be a much bigger blow. They are neat and tidy. My kids can easily milk and it only takes five minutes or so to milk one. My husband is lactose intolerant so the goats milk is good for him. My girls each give me a gallon of milk a day on 4 lbs of alfalfa pellets and a couple of pounds of hay. I feel like that is a good rate of conversion for me. Plus we have found we far prefer the taste of goat meat to cow so we cross our girls with a Boer buck and have some wonderful babies to eat!

Now would I like to own a cow someday? Yes, I think I would but for our lifestyle right now it just doesn't work as well.

I used to have a milk cow. I sold her and got the milk goats for several reasons.

I can feed several goats for a week on what a single cow eats in a day.
Goats will eat things cows turn their nose up at.
The goats are small enough for me to handle them without getting hurt, a kick from the cow could break a bone.
The goats are cheaper to acquire in the beginning and they reproduce faster to enlarge the herd faster and create an income sooner.
When the goats will come up and ask to be petted they are cute, when the cow asked to be petted I'd pick myself up somewhere across the room as a result of her "request". LOL
Goats are easy to load & unload for transport, without having to buy a special trailer to haul one.

As for the "off flavor" of goat milk... cow milk will taste off too if you have bad grass/weeds in the pasture. The milk gets it flavor partly from the breed, but mostly from the feed. And of course cleanliness and quickness of cooling is extremely important.

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I have goats because I like the personalities, the ease of milking, the ease of care. We *did* have to invest in goat fencing, so there's that ... I would also like a milk with more cream, but the tradeoffs still come up in favor of the goats in our situation. (we also have easy, healthy, inexpensive access to cow milk)

That is an odd throw-away sentence in a conversation about the benefits of goats over cattle or vice-versa.

I know why I disbud my baby goats and none of those reasons apply to circumcising a human child (which I'm assuming is what you're talking about since circumcising any other animals is rare). I don't know any little boys who are getting their penises caught in doors because of that extra little flap of skin or who grow up and use that extra little flap of skin to beat up on other humans.

Just an odd statement to make - comparing disbudding livestock to cosmetic surgery in human infants.

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Homesteading blog - http://localfoodblog.blogspot.com/
Living blog - http://unprocessedfamily.blogspot.com/

I posted this on the cattle forums. I guess we'll see what they say.
Tracy

Well I cant answer for your size family, but we have goats for our eleven children.

"I don't know any little boys who are getting their penises caught in doors because of that extra little flap of skin or who grow up and use that extra little flap of skin to beat up on other humans."

ROFLOL!!!

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LeeAnne, wife of Tim's youth, homeschooling mother of twelve seventh generation Texans.

Swede Farm Dairy

Dairy Berries

I don't think it was said to compare it to human surgery but rather to say that baby goats don't remember being disbudded anymore than babies remember being circumcised. Or any more than baby girls remember getting their ears pierced.

i went with goats for cost. we are only 4, so a cow was waaay too much, and what do you do when she's dry? have 2, or buy it(eww!).

my DH is an AI'er so he could've done that or we could use an angus bull, but now i'm hoping he can AI my does instead.

the purchase price, and feed bill, of my does isn't' even half what a cow would be, maybe less than a quarter even. (i didn't buy any off the top ten list, but they are working for me) even keepin the buck is yet still less than feeding just one cow. we get deer for our meat, and can get beef from the ranch he works at, so no need to raise a baby for beef.

my daughters are really enjoying them too so its a family thing as well. with goats, we can afford for them each to have their own doeling, and they can keep babies from them, or sell them, lets them have a bit of control of their own 'farm'. the size of space to keep them is much less, the buckets for them are tiny! way easier to take care of.

add to this the personalities and petlike nature, goats were it for us. i do wish i could have more cream for butter, but like others, that is a trade i'm willing to make.

i've heard it said a 'goat is a poor person's cow'.

Thank you! I should have used the ear piercing....