Question (s)

[MississippiSlim]

Okay, although I grew up raising cattle, hogs, chickens...I never had any goat exp. Thinking about getting a couple and try it out...
Questions:
What does the milk taste like in comparison with say raw jersey milk?

What are some effective fencing material?

How much milk can be expected?

What breeds?

[MississippiSlim]

anybody?

[GoldenWood Farm]

Try www.fiascofarm.com as they have good info on there about these things.

I will try and answer your questions the best I can.

What does the milk taste like in comparison with say raw jersey milk?

I my self have not tasted all types of goats milk. From what I have heard from people it can sometimes be more goaty. But it is nice and rich tasting. Most people prefer either nubian or la manchas for milkers as they have some of the best tasting milk along with oberhaslis.

What are some effective fencing material?

I use regular 4' field fencing and put on strand of hot wire on the inside of the fencing to keep them from leaning on it. Another way to go is using cattle pannels.

How much milk can be expected?

Geez that really depends...it varies from lines to breeds.

Saanens are the highest producers by far but their milk is more goaty tasting and not as rich I have heard (you can get like a gallon a milking or something close to that on saanens I believe).

Alpines are fairly heavy producers. I had a doe who produced a gallon a day. But their milk by far is the most goaty tasting and most people don't like it. Nubians are fairly good producers...but not great. They have some a of the richest milk also and is used a lot for house milk.

Oberhaslis I believe produce well also. I have heard that their milk tastes the most like cows milk.

La Manchas are great milkers (they can milk more than a nubian in some cases) and have wonderful tasting milk.

Toggenburgs are also good heavy milkers. I am afraid I don't know much about what their milk tastes like though....

I know I am missing a breed...grr..wish I could remember...

What breeds?

That all depends on what you want or what you are looking for. There are Alpines, La Manchas, Nubians, Oberhaslis, Saanens, Nubians, Toggenburgs, Nigerian Dwarfs (not very good for a family milker as they are quite small ) and then you have your mutts or recorded grades.

MotherClucker

[MississippiSlim]

I appreciate the info!

Its just me and my wife but could possibly give milk to parents if they wanted it so production isn't real important.

When you say field wire, is that what we call "hog wire" square woven wire or are we talking about welded wire? Hog wire is around $100 a roll here. the welded what I think of as dog pen wire is less than half that.

all of our fencing is four or five strand barbwire...wonder if a couple strands of electric along with the barb would do any good?

as far as the taste...I guess I just have to go find someone who milks and try it out! I hope it doesn't taste like the goat I have smelled cooking smells!

also, as far as milking them....Until I get a job where I am home every night, I hate to put more responsibility on my wife. Would they ever give milk if I milked them say two weeks at a time and then turned them with kids when not at home? crazy question I know but I work offshore 14/14 and wife is pretty snowed under while I am gone with working and taking care of everything else. just curious.....

[astrocow]

I have alpine Boer crosses. Not good to cross those for milk production I'm sure but that's what I bought.
Anyway I get about 1 quart per day per doe and that's from two milkings. The mik tastes like canned Carnation evaporated milk.

[Reauxman]

Where in MS are you? If around McComb area, pm me and I can get you in contact with a nubian breeder. There is a saneen breeder on ther in tylertown on this board as well.

[Mrs_stuart]

Hey MississippiSlim,
I have had Nubians, Alpine, and oberhasli...
All good goats...
Nubians, extra rich, creamy milk...more butter fat and good milkers. Not to big and pretty much a nice even temper goat...usually very sweet but usually much louder than all others.

Alpine, good milk...not as rich as Nubian...great milkers. Bigger but not to big...they are a bit more stand offish...chip on their shoulder, imho.

Oberhasli...bit smaller than alpines great milkers...even tempers...

We have just obers right now...we started with them and keep them and the others come and go... They are a beautiful redish/bay color with black markings...they are very beautiful. They are a nice size and my dd (13 yo) does all the milking and most of the care.

My personal opinion, take the time to go over all the different breeds...they are a lot of different characteristics in each... and we would not have "kept" any goats if we had started out with just alpines. (and not alpine have an attutitude )

Good luck.

Belinda

[homebirtha]

What does the milk taste like in comparison with say raw jersey milk?
Delicious. :-) I don't think there is a big difference between goat and cow milk. I find it a little sweeter maybe. But it's very good.

What are some effective fencing material?
We use 7-strand electric and have had good luck with it.

How much milk can be expected?
I get about a gallon a day from each.

What breeds?
We have two Lamanchas and really like them. They have wonderful temperments and are good milkers. I think they tend to be more docile then most other breeds, but of course it varies with individual goats.

Hope that helps.

[dosthouhavemilk]

I was raised on raw Jersey milk, still drink it. According to some the Nubians are the Jerseys of the goat world when it comes to production and components. You can ship Nubian milk with Jersey milk and the testing center wouldn't know the difference....except that is illegal.

I've tasted fresh raw Saanen milk from a goat dairy and it reminded of store bought milk..which I have never been a huge fan of after having raw Jersey milk.
I tasted some of Danielle's milk. She is a LaMancha/Nubian cross...again I wasn't real impressed, but it takes me awhile to get used to new tastes. I know how she was milked, as I did it myself and it was done as close to our cow's being milked as possible...without the bucket milker (something doesn't quite work with that, their teats turn purple from lack of proper release). Others tasted her milk from that same container and said it was good goat milk..so I must have done something right.

Definitely find a clean dairy type set-up. Where the person either sells the milk or drinks it themself and taste some. Try some from each breed and ask what they feed them. What is fed can affect the milk slightly.

[trnubian]

Nubians are the breed leaders for the highest percentage of butterfat. They are the Jerseys of the goat world.

If properly handled, goat milk does not taste that much different than cows milk. It may be a little sweeter as before mentioned but other than that, it tastes the same. It does not leave that nasty aftertaste that cows milk does.
It needs to be cooled as fast as possible after milking.

We use cattle pannels for fencing. They have never escaped withthis fencing. It is a square welded wire pannel about 4 feet high and 16 feet long. You can also use woven wire that is tightly stretched with a line of electric fence just inside to keep them from squashing it down. I would stay away from barbed wire as goats are rambuctous and like to bounce off things and tend to get tangled in stuff like that. Cut udders and cut all of the time are not what yu want to start out with.

I prefer the Nubian as they are VERY friendly, forgiving, and have the high butter fat.

No, you can't just milk for awhile and then just turn them in with the kids. They will produce more milk than the kids will eat and end up with a very bad case of mastitis. That is if the kids will nurse after they have been hand fed by you for a few weeks. You could have trouble on both ends if you do that. You could decide to milk only once a day. It will give you less milk, but more free time.

[MississippiSlim]

Yeh, I just about knew that the part time milking would not work anymore than it would with a cow. How would you work the once a day milking? Would it work to separate the kid and nanny in the morning and then give them all day for milk production milking in the evening and then turning the kid back in like: Separate kid out at 6:30a milk at say 5:00p and then turn kid back with Nanny? I know it works the other way with a cow. We used to milk in the morning and then turn out with the calf and then separatiing at night. I just figured it would be more convenient for my wife to milk in the evenings (Until i am home all the time I want to ease her into all this. She is loving the last few years of country living but I don't want her to get overloaded!