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The Milk Tastes Darn Good: Yep– I just love milk. You can Feed Other Animals: I love feeding our pigs, chickens, and dogs our excess milk–and there is usually plenty to go around.ĬREAM: Need I say more? The first time I got a 5-inch creamline in my milk jar, I did a major happy dance. That’s enough to make all the cheese, ice cream, butter, and yogurt that my little heart desires. You’ll be Swimming in Milk: For real… Even when I’m just milking Oakley once per day, I still get around 2 gallons per milking. Cows: The Prosįencing: If you have a basic barbed wire or wooden fence, your cow will probably stay inside–no problem. I’m a big fan of cream, so this part of keeping goats always bummed me out. So, if you are having visions of making homemade butter or whipped cream, you’ll need to invest in some sort of mechanical cream separator. It’s Tough to Get Cream: Since goats milk is naturally homogenized, very little cream rises to the top. They Give Less Milk: If you have a large family, or are itching to go nuts with home cheesemaking, you’ll need to milk several goats (at least) in order to get enough milk. There are definitely ways to get around this issue, but it takes a bit of creativity and usually some electric fence. This was the #1 factor in us reducing the size of our goat herd. And even then, they will still probably get out. Goats: The Consįencing: In order to keep a goat in a fence, it needs to pretty much be watertight…. It depends on the area, but I always had an easier time finding a buck to rent than trying to hunt down a bull for our cow. Contrary to popular belief, goat milk doesn’t have to taste like a nasty ol’ buck.īreeding Season Can be Easier: In order to get milk, you need to breed your goats so they can have babies. Fresh goat milk that has been handled correctly takes just like cow milk to me. They Give Less Milk: If you have a small family, or just don’t have the time to deal with massive quantities of milk, then a goat is probably perfect for you. If the largest pet you’ve had thus far is a goldfish, sitting underneath a 1200-pound cow for the first time so you can grab a hold of its udder can be a bit nerve-wracking. Intimidation Factor: Because they are so much smaller, goats are a better choice if you’ve never worked around large animals before. Space: It’s kind of obvious, but a couple of goats will take a whole lot less pasture space, and less space in your pens/barns. Heck, even when our goat herd was at its largest (10-12 head), they still ate far less than our cows.
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Less Feed: Goats consume far less hay than a full sized milk cow. Goat price tags vary greatly, but expect to pay anywhere from $50-$300 for a starter goat–depending on the age, breed, and whether or not it is registered.
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Goat: How to Decide on a Home Dairy Animal Goats: The ProsĬost: Dairy goats are generally much cheaper to purchase than a milk cow. There are definitely advantages to each animal–and I’m highlighting the pros and cons for you today. However, even though my goats have been dried up for a while, and we are exclusively milking our cow, I’m still very much pro-goat. Goats were our gateway animal into the world of home dairying, and I was a proud goat-milker for several years before finally purchasing our first milk cow. So these reasons, combined with the fact that we are crazy do-it-yourself people, prompted us to look into owning our own dairy animals at the beginning of our homestead journey. So unless we want to drive out of state, we are out of luck. In fact, Wyoming just barely starting officially “allowing” cowshare or goatshare programs. Once you decide that raw milk is a priority for your family, how exactly do you acquire it? If you are like us, purchasing raw milk for human consumption is illegal in our state.