Sell goats and get a cow?

Goats=less footprint on the land, LESS water and hay. Our good Nubians give us 1+ gallons of milk a day with good hay and 2 pounds of sweet feed a day. Always twins and triplets..............

I have both & have NEVER lost a fruit tree to a goat. Of course my fence is made out of cattle panels so my goats never get out.

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I can't believe I deleted it!

If it's to that level the mastitis is severe. Flatten your hand out to where your fingers bend back a bit and direct the first couple of squirts across your palm. Look closely for solid white specks. Often times mastitis can be cleared up by proper milking techniques and good sanitation.

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I guess I was just lucky enough to get especially agile goats....several times.

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Seeing as how I hate goats with a passion, I wont even bother typing in a reply as you can guess my position.

Gene

I had a large Nubian herd for >20 years and loved them. Sold the herd when I went back to school. I now have Guernsey cows and love them too but would also like to have a FEW goats again. I always had good fence so never had a problem with escapee goats.
It would be hard to choose between the two but I think the cream from cow's milk makes me lean towards owning a cow. If I was going to have goats I would get a full sized dairy breed.
Also, I've never had to milk a cow 3x/day except when I was milking frequently to decrease the edema in newly freshened cow.

We/I never milked 3 times a day, and never heard of it till lately now that they've bred Holsteins to give so much milk.

I had a buck Nubian that went over a cattle panel; lot.

We milked 3 times a day in the 80's course they were mostly holsteins with some jersey for the butterfat increase.

Stupid me....I let my flock of turkeys over-winter in our fenced orchard last year. Seemed like a great idea until they girdled some of the younger unprotected trees! A goat couldn't have killed the trees any quicker.
We have 6' fence around the orchard and garden that has deterred the deer so far (knock wood). Now each tree is individually wire wrapped to protect them from the poultry, my dogs, etc.

You can milk your Animal as many times a Day as you like, but its going to take time to replenish between milking.

You could milk her once a day and she will adjust to that production or you could milk the three times.

Once you have the Base Investment though, Milking her for all she is worth will not be a terrible over and above investment in the time or extra feed.

But if you Milk Once a day then you have all the up keep with half the Milk, if you Milk Twice a Day she will need a bit more feed to stay in condition and produce.
Three times and You should be getting the most return for input.

She won't give you any more then she can Give, but she sure will give you less if you like.

I was a dairy farmer my whole life and even *I* wouldn't milk them three times a day! Sure, you can, and the larger commercial farms will do this (hired hands from Mexico or Guatemala to do the work or else robotic milkers), but why would you want to at a homestead level? Or if you like, you could probably milk a goat three times a day, as well. But, again, why?

If it were me, I'd probably keep the goats and get a cow, too. Just because I'm a cow person and there is NOTHING as luxurious as having "too much cream". Talk about feeling rich. And the goats would be fun to have around. I had a few for awhile although never milked them and they were sure personalities.

As far as having too much milk (beyond the cream) everybody likes milk. Pigs, chickens, and turkeys. My turkeys loved a five a five gallon pail of sour milk! And use it to raise some extra calves.

And cheese! I made a few 25 pound rounds of cheese in my life and those make you feel rich, too.

I'm feeling nostalgic for what I've had in the past.

Whatever you do, have fun with them. That's what it's all about.

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Thanks for the education CR, But like I said, I had nevr heard of it, until likely the 90s.

yes I want a couple Saanen milk goats but probably not until 2016 in the late Summer.

Saanan goats and Holstein cows need antifreeze in the winter lol

Goats are decendants of the velociraptor, and they have retained all the evil traits of same. Stinky, foul-tasting milk, always pacing the fences, looking for ways to destroy a homesteader's fruits and vegetables. A Jersey cow, on the other hand.....





geo

It's so much a preference thing! I help a friend out on her micro dairy; she has 5 cows and about15-20 goats. When I work it, is usually with another person and Liz tries to pair us up- goat lover and cow lover. I HATE MILKING COWS! I LOVE the goats!!

Two of the ladies I work with there are exact opposites. They totally hate working with the stubborn, picky, goats. Therefore, we work well together!

That said, find someone with a micro dairy, or just a couple family cows, and do chores with them many times. See what you will be getting into.

It cracks me up that many people don't like goats, cats and mules. Interestingly, all animals that are smart, know their own minds and don't like to be bossed around, but are great creatures if you know how to treat them.


Regarding Sannans, if you get some you need one of theses too (A few miles from me):

http://www.robinhoodwoods.com/shelbyvillegoattower.htm

I won't weigh in on the cow vs goat thing, there are others much more informed than I on that topic.

What I would advise you to do as soon as possible is to get those honey locusts out of your pasture. The thorns will poke holes in your tractor tires and are especially dangerous to the eyes of your animals. Honey locust seed pods are loved by cattle (and I suspect goats also) and every pile of poop that is deposited during the seed bearing season will end up as a knew locust tree. Withing a few years you will have a pasture covered in locust trees, especially if you have cattle.

Perhaps goats will eat on the locusts enough to kill them back, but cattle will not even touch a young sprout.

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I also have an alpine that milks up to 2 gallons a day and a saanen that gives me
1 1/2 gallons a day. The saanen made enough milk for me to raise a bottle calf last year and never have to buy milk replacer. The alpine makes way more than we can use...she's also a great mother....and has had triplets two years in a row! I say the cost of the fencing is worth it.
On the other hand if I had a little more time to spare I would also get a GOOD dairy cow. And try to foster calves onto her as she fed her own calf as well. Then I would have milk to use for butter, and cream to use for ice cream and a source for calves to raise for meat. But good dairy goats are the best first option!

Sue, ya sayin that goats and mules are way smarter than horses and cows, and the people who tend them? Well, if so, I cant argue the point. Makes you wonder about the qualities of the person who HAS both goats and mules.