Burra Maluca wrote:When I was involved with goats in the UK, which is a looooong time ago, there was a huge difference between the breeds.
Anglo Nubians would basically need to be bred every year to keep the milk flowing.
Pure Toggenburgs every year.
British Toggenburgs every other year.
Alpines and British Alpines mostly every year.
Saanen and British Saanen could be left for five, six, maybe seven years and still produce about a pint of milk a day at the end.
My own little British Toggenburg could give milk for three years after kidding.
I knew quite a few one-goat smallholders who would buy a recently kidded British Saanen from a reputable breeder and basically never have to breed.
I also knew a vegetarian breeder of Anglo Nubians who would put the male kids down at birth, though that never sat quite with me.
I am finding that here in Tasmania toggenburgs milk for longer than saanens.
We milked through for three years once, the milk supply dropped down quite a lot towards the end.
We’re just coming out of milking through for two years now and it’s gone really well. Supply didn’t drop down as much over winter as it would if they were pregnant, and then in springtime they picked right up, producing the full amount they would when freshly kidded.
Cheese quality is still excellent this late in the lactation.
Goats can be a good option for a vegetarian dairy if you have a market for pet/lawnmower goats. If I were doing this, I would also pick a breed that would milk through, so that there weren’t so many kids that needed rehoming. Miniature goats seem very popular here for pets, so finding some dwarf goats that will milk through reliably could work well.