The Poultry Keeper

sasha.p · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 472 Location: gwent

i was just reading a thread below saying about making your own cheese and stuff that sounds great but then i thought well if i get goats will they need milking?and if so how many times a day would it be twice like a cow or?also regarding feet trimming can this be done by yourself?or do you have to have a vet come in to do it I'm pretty confident with animal care so it would not be a problem as long as somebody showed me how first and what sort of vaccines do goats require and how often Question

?do they also need worming I'm just wanting to find out as much as possible really to know what i may be taking on

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6919 Location: isle of lewis

my goats need milking as that's what i have them for Smile

,left over milk is mixed with the chickens food and is soon to be used to (bottle)feed a couple of orpaned lambs goats only need milking if you mate them although sometimes you get something called a maiden milker which gives milk before they have been mated ,i think you'll find that if you get them from a rescue center they will be wethers which are casterated males,a nanny will normally give milk for 2 years before they need mating again ,people think they are cute and have them as kids and they turn into big males and they cannot be bothered to look after them and believe me a lot end up on the illegal meat trade ,i'm afraid i know what happens to mine ,my aunt had a lovely pair of goats from a rescue they knew she had kept goats for years but couldn't manage to milk them anymore so they asked her if she's have them as they'd be easy to look after he had 3 legs and was really gentle but big ,talk to the rescue or vet or somebody else might know of anythings that you have to watch out for in your area about vaccinations as we do it differently here as we have different problems up here for instance we have a colbolt problem ,liver fluke ,feet are easy and they should be able to show you how to do it the only thing is it kills your back ,exciting isn't it Very Happy

,goats do live wild in the uk so shouldn't be to much of a problem .sorry to go on so long ,your probably bored now but i love mine
suz

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6919 Location: isle of lewis

hope this helps
www.allgoats.com
suz

Spana · Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 2064 Location: North Cornwall

Any chance of some pics Suz?

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6919 Location: isle of lewis

i would post some but the kids are off to bed and they know how to do it the is some in milkmaids scotties neuk ,the 2 grey goats are old english holi is one of the few grade a english goats and the brown one is a british togg
oh and mojo there some pics of a creamlegbar and some light sussex before they grew up on there Wink

suz

mojo · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:27 pm Post subject:

thanks

fenwoman · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 5:17 pm Post subject:

One way to decrease the amount of times you need to trim hooves is to either make a concrete 'rock for them to climb about on. Or place some natural rocks in a heap. If you put a high stake in the ground next to it and hang cabbages or stuff from it, the goats will have to stand on the rough concrete or rock to get to it and hence wear down the hooves. Not far from me someone has placed a big concrete drain section in the paddock. One of those about 5 feet in diameter ones.It is on its side and she puts carrots, raisins etc on the top and her goats scrabble and jump up to get them.

sasha.p · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 472 Location: gwent

milk maid how many goats do you keep are the are milked for business or just for personal use ?how much work is involved in doing this?i have milked cows before using the agricultural farm on the college i went to i would imagine it would be similar for goats?.also what do you do with the kids when they are born do you keep them or sell them?I'm not sure there is much demand for goats around here most people look at me stupid when we say we are going to get some they don't know what they are missing out on lol.i would love to become self sufficient but I'm worried we may take too much on if we were to use the goats for milking and not just keeping them as pets if you know what i mean,and also do they get many pregnancy problems which would put the vet bills up etc i have got two books on small holding from the library but to be honest they don't answer the questions that keep popping into my mind like do goats suffer with mastitis bad like some cows can the books don't really tell you its the sort of thing you can only find out of other goat owners .i have looked at the British goat society website but i cant find any list of poise nous plants somebody mentioned bracken is poisonous to goats on here but when i spoke to the woman from nfu this morning and explained i need to get that cleared first she told me horses can be poisoned by it but she thought goats would be OK so now i have to try and find out if it is or not.will take a look on the net now I'm sure to find something to say from what i have seen so far it seems to be an all round poison so until i find out for definite we wouldn't put any animals on the land. Rolling Eyes

fenwoman · Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:35 pm Post subject:

Honestly, since you are a complete novice at goatkeeping, the best place to learn about them is your local goat keepers society. They will be able to answer all your questions best based on local info. Don't give away goat kids, not even billys because they end up at the halal meat markets to be ritually slaughtered by throat cutting after they endure a terrifying ordeal being treated without care, roughly handled and afraid. Either have them pts at birth or rear them yourself until about 4--5 months old, and take them to be slaughtered for your freezer.
I have PM'd you details of your nearest goat keepers society. Contact them.

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6919 Location: isle of lewis

since you asked Wink

,my goats are kept for our own use the rules around milk are to strict to be worth bothering with if you are selling it for humans ,although the cat rescue comes and gets milk when they need it for raring kittens on ,we have three old english and togg ,it's an amount that we are happy keeping ,i did join a goat society and i'm not an active member any more as i was given some really bad info that resulted ,because i was stupid enough to listen in the death of a much loved goat(sorry i still haven't really got over it ),join your local goat club if you are comfortable with the people there ,i heard on the radio that goats are being used to clear bracken from parts of scotland ,i always thought it was posionous but give me a little while and i'll find out for you so many books on goatkeeping i've lost count if you'd like to borrow a couple if you promise to send them back Wink

i'll post to you ,if you are used to working to working with animals you'll soon get used to what works and what doesn't ,and i have given 1 billy kid away and vetted the home first ,2 years later he's still there although i wouldn't normal because the illegal goat trade is really horific
suz

fenwoman · Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:21 pm Post subject:

milkmaid I am very sorry you had a bad experience with your goat society. On the whole though this is not the case and when I first started with goats (more years ago than I want to think about) my local one was invaluable in helping me with all kinds of things. A member took me in hand and taught me to milk , another came and clipped hooves until I was confident enough to do it myself and all were deicated sensible people with a passion for all things caprine and an eagerness to share their enthisiasm with other people.
I hope sasha.p makes contact with the person I sent her info on and isn't put off by your experience because I feel she simply neds to know too much basic info for anyone really to be able to help much here. She needs hands on help as much as anything and local info about abbatoirs and the like. Perhaps someone local to her will do what was done with me and which, in turn, I also did. Let her milk and give her a joint to take home to experience roast billy kid. Smile

Now will you Perleeeese stop talking about goats because the field opposite still hasn't come up for let and I haven't room to keep any yet :0))

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6919 Location: isle of lewis

that was why is said if you are comfortable with the people ,my auntie helped the kent one she was a member of it for over 20 years ,took photos around to schools ect ,and we do a local show with information on goats and introduce goats to children ,they are allowed in 2 at a time to groom them and fed them ,the goats love it ,yes they can be of help ,
suz

traditionalbritishfowlco · Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Posts: 243 Location: lancashire

There seems to be an increasing amount of interest in whethers as pack and harness animals. Goats were used as harness animals commonly around parks and seasides in britain until a few decades ago i believe, and goat packing is popular in america because goats can go places horses can't, they can follow you anywhere you can get to and probably many places we can't too! I once saw a pciture of a goat stood ona tiny little cylinder, demonstrating how balanced and surefooted they are!

Maybe get in touch with the pack goat/harness goat society about training up any whethers (castrated males) you might get.

I personally would love a harness goat as a cheaper alternative to a
driving pony! Don't have the room atm tho Sad

Good luck with your goaty endeavours!

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6919 Location: isle of lewis

unfortunately the foot and mouth put a stop to doing that here ,with all the animal movement stuff ,but i did phone seard to ask and they said as long as it didn't go on to another holding it was fine ,but don't quote me on that ,i felt it was unfair that you go lama treking and you could get a permit from them to walk your pig ,but i couldn't take my goats for a walk , does anyone know where i can buy a cart and harness for holi Wink

you can get a goat rotivator Cool

,don't know if mine would be up for ploughing though Rolling Eyes

suz

traditionalbritishfowlco · Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Posts: 243 Location: lancashire

Oh damn, forgot about all that F&M business! Laughing

Surely it must be relaxing a little now though.

Didn't think of ploughing! That'd be great for someone with only a little patch!