New to goats

Hi all,

I'm thinking of getting a goat for milk i live in the uk can anyone suggest some types of goat that are friendly, easy to look after and good around children and give enough milk for a family of six.

thanks
Monty

monty ali wrote:Hi all,

I'm thinking of getting a goat for milk i live in the uk can anyone suggest some types of goat that are friendly, easy to look after and good around children and give enough milk for a family of six.

thanks
Monty

I live in western NC. We have two American Alpine goats, disbudded. One is 50% Sanaan. They are both super friendly. They follow us around like dogs on walks with no leashes. They love us. They also produce high quality milk. You need at least two goats or they become unhappy and depressed. Our two get along fine with our horses. You have to trim hooves about every six weeks. Besides leaves, grass and a few weeds here and there, they eat about a cup of grain a day, and hay.

The hoof trimming depends a lot on breed and terrain. Some breeds require more frequent trimming than others. If your land is soft pasture, the trimming will need to be more frequent.

I know of a guy who moved a few large boulders onto his pasture. When the goats are not eating, they are perched atop the boulders. He never has to trim their hooves. Sounds like a permies technique...do a large chore once, and eliminate repeated small chores forever.

John Polk wrote:The hoof trimming depends a lot on breed and terrain. Some breeds require more frequent trimming than others. If your land is soft pasture, the trimming will need to be more frequent.

I know of a guy who moved a few large boulders onto his pasture. When the goats are not eating, they are perched atop the boulders. He never has to trim their hooves. Sounds like a permies technique...do a large chore once, and eliminate repeated small chores forever.

Ha, if only! Ours have a couple of large boulders next to their 'residence' and we still have to trim their hooves 3 times a year. However, the boulders ARE doing something as it is super lush pasture and browse and we're not trimming every 6 weeks.

Sorry, Monty, back to your question.... well we have French Alpines (9 of them), standard size, some with horns, some without (whatever Mother Nature gave them). We are currently milking just one of them and she normally gives enough milk for us as a family of five including 3 young children - that's cereals for breakfast and tea/coffee. However, if I need to make a white sauce or an egg custard then my OH sometimes has to go without his milk on the midnight cereal. As mentioned our children are young and the goats are really friendly with them. The only time that we don't like the children going in with the goats is when the does are on their 24-48hr heat as the bucks get a bit protective.

thanks guys thats maybe a goat to look at

How much space will they need and can they be kept in the same place as a chicken? i don't even know where to start on finding a goat, i'm trying to find out if you need a licence to keep one here in the uk

I am in the UK so can answer lots of your questions. You need a CPH number before you can keep any livestock. It will depend which part of the UK you are in as to which agency you will get this from. You should not keep the goats with your chickens as they will steal their food and this can have fatal effects. You need at least 2 as they are herd animals. We have a Saanen and a British Toggenberg. Both are great with the children. Make sure you get ones that have been dehorned as horned goats can easily take an eye out on a child.

Thanks Katy. I'll look into a cph number ( i didn't know you needed one)

Hi Katy,

Where do you keep your goats? do you have a farm? I'm thinking of using my garden would that be possible?

monty ali wrote:Hi Katy,

Where do you keep your goats? do you have a farm? I'm thinking of using my garden would that be possible?

It depends on the size of your garden. I have 7 acres, though the goats only really use about 3 of them.

Which part of the UK are you in? This will affect where you get your CPH from. Once you have your CPH number you will have to register with Animal Health and they will give you a flock number for each species of livestock that you want to keep. Only once you have the CPH and flock number can you get any animals. You will have to fill in movement documents, keep a flock record, veterinary medicines record, fill in a yearly census form and double tag all offspring born on your premises. Trading standards can do visits to check your documentation and whether you are storing feed correctly etc. It's a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare.

wow 7 acres is a fair sized garden i've got about 600 sq meters but half of that i want as lawn for my children to play

I'm in leeds west yorkshire. i was reading the defra website after i saw your post yesterday it does seem very complicated

I don't think that would be enough space for them. You would be totally dependant upon bought in feed. Once you have built a shelter for them and somewhere to store hay etc you wouldn't have much room left.

1 acre can hold 6 goats, Its possible that you could feed 1 Nigerian Dwarf with that small space. However you need two goats.
So you are going to have to supplemental feed. You should also try diving up the "pasture" to give the grass some type of a break to recuperate.