Space for Goats

[dndweeks]

Hubby and I have daily conversations about our homestead plans. We have been scoping out property and trying to decide the minimum number of acres we will need to do what we want to do with our homestead.

One of our plans is have goats for milk and also for meat. While I have absolutely no idea what breed(s) of goat we'll get (still researching that), we are curious to know if there is any rule on the amount of space needed per goat? I'm assuming that will depend on the breed(s) of goats we have, but I'm just looking for some general information that we can build upon.

Thanks.

[katheh]

I'm sure everyone will chime in with varied opinions, but I grew up on my grandparent's shacky town-farm (about an acre + 1/2) and we always had a dozen goats (full size ones, not the minis), a couple dozen chickens, 2-3 turkeys, rabbits, and a pig on that space. They were all healthy, and delicious! This was in northern IL, on the WI border by the Lake.

You can do a lot with a pretty small space.

[olivehill]

Do you want to buy hay and feed or do you want to grow it yourself?

[dndweeks]

Originally Posted by olivehill

Do you want to buy hay and feed or do you want to grow it yourself?

Good question! I'm guess hubby will say "buy", but it's certainly something to think about and consider.

Can you give me an idea of space buying hay vs growing our own hay?

[julieq]

Here in Southern Idaho, we get really good prices on pure alfalfa for our little herd of nigies. We have ten acres, but our goats are not on graze at all, just in pens. A few doors down a boer goat breeder has ten acres also (all our acreage is irrigated cheaply with water shares) and he feeds alfalfa hay during the winters and they have graze during the summers. I think he runs about 35 boer does.

Our chicken pen, goat pens, garden, fruit tree area and house take up almost two acres out of ten, but we could do it on less (we have a lot of shade trees and lawn) and have in the past. Hope this helps.

[ani's ark]

A lot can depend on the climate where you are homesteading. Have you bought land? Others here will know more about your chosen area and needs.
We have a hillside 5 acres and live in a NZ climate with no snow, just very wet winters. We have rich pasture here from the rainfall. Divided into 4 small paddocks our 5 acres easily caters for our small house and yard, garden and orchard, one horse, 2 pigs and 5 saanen goats. We get neighbours cattle over to chew it down at the end of each summer. Next spring we will hopefully expand the herd to 9 or 10 goats, 3 of them milkers, plus their kids to grow for meat or future milkers. Plus I'm guessing we can still get a couple of calves to fatten as well and still have enough grass. So a lot depends on your land!
If they can graze and browse year round, there is no need for hay except a few bales as bedding and feed for stormy weather. And it's worth considering that if you have dairy goats they WILL need additional feed beyond grass/hay/browse as they produce so much milk that they get thin without extra energy. Most of us give our milking does a daily grain ration on the milkstand to keep them healthy. I'd like to grow their ration, but it's not practical for us. Next year I'll try planting more pumpkins and some maize for them, but it would be hard to grow enough for 3 does to have a pound each a day through their entire lactation! So you and hubby are both right - you'll feed them mostly on pasture, but need to buy in too.
Goats are a great addition to a homestead for many reasons, delicious milk, tender meat, compost and a small manageable size for handling them. They also come with lots of unique challenges, namely fencing them effectively and meeting their health needs which are more than for other livestock. There is a great sticky thread called CAE/Before you get a goat info, starting on page 3 is everyones comments on what you need to know before getting goats. Its a great resource. Good luck in your planning, its a lot of fun building your dream homestead!

[dndweeks]

[QUOTE=ani's ark;6466986]A lot can depend on the climate where you are homesteading. Have you bought land? Others here will know more about your chosen area and needs. QUOTE]

We have not bought land yet and have to wait until we know more about hubby's next move within the company. If we don't stay in Illinois, we'll stay close with Missouri being at the top of the list.

[motdaugrnds]

The space you need will depend on the number and type of goats you get (and whether or not you are going to run a buck with them) as well as what the size of your family is.

I can tell you what has worked well for us. I chose large Nubians for the milk. We also eat that meat, processing what we do not sell or keep each fall for next year's meat. Since there are only 2 of us, I keep 3 does and 1 buck, which runs with the does most of the year. They "free-range" on our 6 acres with the front part (about 1-1/2 acres) being "browsed" in the winter (due to where the barn is & the ease of caring for them in bad weather); and they "browse" on the back 1-1/2 acres during the summer. (We grow orchard grass and prairie grass because it is easiest and is healthy. We also grow lespedeza "bushes" because it, too, is nutritious; and we let broad-leaf wild plants grow because goats are NOT GRASSERS...They are "browsers".)

Our homestead is just 6 acres; and the rest contains about an acre of veggies & fruits plus our 65' trailer, a very large barn (with a loft for hay), a large shed (32' x 32') divided up for chickens, tools, gardening items & wood; and a 16' x 16' buck house. We have a pen in the front part of the property adjacent to the barn and a pen in the back part of the property adjacent to the buck house. This works real well for us, giving all plenty of room as all our goats and fowl roam freely over the entire homestead.

This many goats (with the chickens) give the 2 of us more than enough healthy meat each year; and our garden, fruit trees/bushes & vineyard give us more than enough veggies/fruits. I milk the goats (heavy milkers with good cream) only once a day throughout a 10-month lactation, putting up enough condensed milk to last throughout the times I'm not milking.

[julieq]

That sounds like a nice set up Motdaugrnds!

[Backfourty,MI.]

Of course the more space you can give any animal I think the better off they are, healthier, more browse (weather permitting), etc.

Our goats are dry lotted through the winter but there isn't really any browse here this time of year anyways. They are loose everyday though to go where they want & there winter pen's at the barn about 80 foot by 80 foot each(bucks are in 1 & does' in the other) That is not counting their barn space though either.

In the spring, summer & fall our goats all go out to pasture & back to their pen's at the barn at night. We don't go through a lot of hay during those months because they'd rather eat the fresh browse although I do make sure they have hay.

We also don't keep a lot of goats. We try to keep our numbers down to about 10 not counting the kids that sell.

We have 2 alfalfa fields totaling about 12 acres. We get plenty of hay for us but we don't keep all of it. We get 2nd cutting the farmer that takes care of it gets the rest.

[dndweeks]

Originally Posted by motdaugrnds

The space you need will depend on the number and type of goats you get (and whether or not you are going to run a buck with them) as well as what the size of your family is.

I can tell you what has worked well for us. I chose large Nubians for the milk. We also eat that meat, processing what we do not sell or keep each fall for next year's meat. Since there are only 2 of us, I keep 3 does and 1 buck, which runs with the does most of the year. They "free-range" on our 6 acres with the front part (about 1-1/2 acres) being "browsed" in the winter (due to where the barn is & the ease of caring for them in bad weather); and they "browse" on the back 1-1/2 acres during the summer. (We grow orchard grass and prairie grass because it is easiest and is healthy. We also grow lespedeza "bushes" because it, too, is nutritious; and we let broad-leaf wild plants grow because goats are NOT GRASSERS...They are "browsers".)

Our homestead is just 6 acres; and the rest contains about an acre of veggies & fruits plus our 65' trailer, a very large barn (with a loft for hay), a large shed (32' x 32') divided up for chickens, tools, gardening items & wood; and a 16' x 16' buck house. We have a pen in the front part of the property adjacent to the barn and a pen in the back part of the property adjacent to the buck house. This works real well for us, giving all plenty of room as all our goats and fowl roam freely over the entire homestead.

This many goats (with the chickens) give the 2 of us more than enough healthy meat each year; and our garden, fruit trees/bushes & vineyard give us more than enough veggies/fruits. I milk the goats (heavy milkers with good cream) only once a day throughout a 10-month lactation, putting up enough condensed milk to last throughout the times I'm not milking.

This is very helpful!

There are just 4 of us (me, hubby and our two little girls). We also know that we'll have family visiting from time-to-time throughout the year and are taking that into consideration as we're making our plans.

I also want to make cheese and goat's milk soap, so I need to keep that in mind while planning.

We've been thinking 10-20 acres (with about 1/2 being wooded) will be good for what we want to do (goats, chickens, garden and small orchard) with a little room to grow. Based on the desription of your homestead, it sounds like we're in the right ball park on acreage.

This is such a new adventure for me and my family. I would love to find some folks here in Central IL that will allow me to come out to visit, ask questions and get a little hands-on experience with various breeds of goats.