I was not sure where to post this so if any Mods are looking in just move it to where it should be, many thanks.
As we can see our new animal pen area coming together (slowly) we are seriously looking at obtaining some goats. My Lovely partner has always wanted them so she can be let loose making butter, cheese, soap etc. to her hearts content.
Last year we found someone to sell us fresh goats milk, straight from the udder into the bottle and brought home where we drunk it, preserved it and used it as you would cows milk to see if we liked it, unfortunately the cream? level was not high enough to make butter, though we did manage to produce some soft cheese from it.
I also brought a goat then sought out the only shepherd left around our area who showed me how to dispatch, skin and clean it. We butchered it ourselves and several meals later decided keeping goats is something we should try.
So we are now looking into which breeds are available here and which would suit our needs. The goats mainly kept here are Balkan goats. We are tending to favour keeping some Dwarf Nigerian ones but they are hard to come by.
We are heading to a sheep and goat fayre next month but that is generally for farmers selling for market or to other farmers not for someone just wanting a few for their backyard so to speak.
So has anyone kept goats or do you still have one hidden away in your backyard (or even the cupboard under the stairs!)? What are their Pros and Cons and any breed suggestions (keep in mind breeds of any animals are extremely limited where we live) or even any tales of happiness/woe regarding keeping them.
I await in anticipation.
Many thanks.

I see what you mean about not knowing where to post it. I would have said the Garden Farm category as that says Keeping "Chickens and other livestock", but the 'other livestock' has turned into 'other poultry'
No advice to offer, my friend kept Saanen and Toggenbergs. We were in the same babysitting circle and when I sat for her I sometimes had to give the kids their bottles.
One thing she did say, that they gave up eating goat after noticing that if there was a joint of lamb on the table people would pick bits off, but if it was their own goats they would just eat what was on their plate. My sister still won't eat chicken after regarding them as her preschool friends.

No knowledge of goats, except that I do not like the taste of the milk. Hope you get what you want, Trev. Do the Bulgars eat goat meat, then?

Mo wrote: ↑ 16 Apr 2023, 21:54 I see what you mean about not knowing where to post it. I would have said the Garden Farm category as that says Keeping "Chickens and other livestock", but the 'other livestock' has turned into 'other poultry'

That is what baffled me

Mo wrote: ↑ 16 Apr 2023, 21:54 One thing she did say, that they gave up eating goat after noticing that if there was a joint of lamb on the table people would pick bits off, but if it was their own goats they would just eat what was on their plate. My sister still won't eat chicken after regarding them as her preschool friends.

I can associate with the above, it took my partner some time to accept eating what we raised especially when it came to rabbits. Even now though she can pluck and butcher them all she cannot face dispatching any of them herself. Again I can understand this as it is not the most pleasant of tasks.

Spreckly wrote: ↑ 17 Apr 2023, 15:42 No knowledge of goats, except that I do not like the taste of the milk. Hope you get what you want, Trev. Do the Bulgars eat goat meat, then?

The milk is an acquired taste but you soon get used to it.
Good question regarding Bulgarians and goat meat, yes they do and it appears on the menu at many restaurants.
About 9% of Bulgarians are of Turkish descent and often they will slaughter a goat for a family celebration.
There was a major cull of goats a few years ago after one of the many Governments that have been elected here decreed they had a certain disease (I cannot recall what it was). Many large and small village herds were wiped out until people started getting their animals tested which proved there was nothing wrong with them, after several stand offs between villagers and officials the issue "disappeared".

We kept Angora goats for a while but to be honest they are not the best for what you want. We had a few crosses that went to colder climates (aka the freezer).
Down side of goats is they can be escapologists!! We had to despatch one because he repeatedly got out just by climbing the fence and at the time we lived near a fairly busy road and the risk of him causing an accident was just too great. Other than that I think goats are about the same as sheep to look after on the whole.
For Milk I suppose Nubian fall into the best milkers (if you can't get Nigerian's) just because of the buttermilk content and milder taste. Saanen and Toggenbergs milk is a bit more goaty. The other alternative is to go for East Fresian or Awassi or Assaf (cross of the two) sheep if you can get them you would have a similar sized animal then ...just a thought as an alternative - they give a higher yield of milk and higher butterfat content (I had an East Fresian boy I was planning on crossing with my Gotlands but sadly he had Barber Pole and died)
If you have room could you have both? You could use the sheep for milk and the goats for meat ...I loooove goat meat (makes awesome sausages).
We do all small animals here ourselves - we have an upright fridge in the garage which we can fit a sheep / goat / fallow deer (that sort of size) in to set - cattle we tend to send to the butchers just because of the size.

I was totally unaware that goat meat was eaten, so I have learned something new.

There was a time when Richard was always tinkering with the Forum to make it better suited to the way it was used. I assume he remove some categories to stop it getting unwieldy. Now although the remaining moderators can delete or move posts and ban spammers we can't do much else, e.g. put up new categories, make new moderators.
A bit of a ghost ship (though it feels move lively recently).

Thanks for responding manda.

manda wrote: ↑ 17 Apr 2023, 23:54 Down side of goats is they can be escapologists!! We had to despatch one because he repeatedly got out just by climbing the fence and at the time we lived near a fairly busy road and the risk of him causing an accident was just too great.

To be honest we operate this policy on all our animals, if they escape once they will continue to try and escape so all escapees are dispatched.

manda wrote: ↑ 17 Apr 2023, 23:54 For Milk I suppose Nubian fall into the best milkers (if you can't get Nigerian's) just because of the buttermilk content and milder taste.

We have Nubians on our short list and will be looking at some at the upcoming fayre next month.
As for the alternatives of getting some sheep or even a small cow, not sure but it is certainly an area for further discussion though.....we would like to get a pig after our dairy needs are met

manda wrote: ↑ 17 Apr 2023, 23:54 ...I loooove goat meat (makes awesome sausages).

I must admit we also enjoy goat meat especially roasted slowly in the petchka, it is lovely

Spreckly wrote: ↑ 18 Apr 2023, 10:33 I was totally unaware that goat meat was eaten, so I have learned something new.

I learn something new all the time, that's the fun of asking questions and trying new things

Mo wrote: ↑ 18 Apr 2023, 11:01 A bit of a ghost ship (though it feels move lively recently).

Hopefully a few more of the members who just view at present will begin to post again after all, there are not many sites like this left today.

Spreckly wrote: ↑ 18 Apr 2023, 10:33 I was totally unaware that goat meat was eaten, so I have learned something new.

I was only aware of Caribbean cuisine where goat meat is eaten and I presumed also in Middle Eastern culture (I have a mental picture of sheep and goats in deserts) I did a quick google - seems Britain is one of the few places that do eat goat which is quite surprising. Maybe breeding for higher meat and milk yields over the centuries has made the beef market preferable.

I agree with you, Mo, the forum is livlier, gosh, I remember the old days, Steve the Gas, Mrs Babycakes, P Penn, and more recently Gwenoakes and June, to name a few.

Trev62 wrote: ↑ 18 Apr 2023, 19:57
...As for the alternatives of getting some sheep or even a small cow, not sure but it is certainly an area for further discussion though.....we would like to get a pig after our dairy needs are met

In truth cows are also a pain unless you've got good fencing both wire and electric - they don't respect fences in any way shape or form (Just my opinion).
We had a Dexter (small cow breed) that we were given because she kept escaping. We kept her the required 30 days (which is the rule here before you can homekill)...she went through out fences half a dozen times (and we had sooped up the electric fencing as well) ... and then we moved her to colder climates.
Pigs well I love pigs and we had those for several years and bred them very successfully during that time (we had Large Blacks crossed with saddle backs) they are hard work though, but the rewards are great food wise. I like the darker breeds I think the meat has a better taste - Only because of the dark hair they went out of favour with producers...they thought the white hair was more pleasing to the eye I love how they decide how they think we want things to look
We don't have pigs currently but we have thought about buying porkers and then bringing them on to a decent weight so we don't have them so long. If you can find somewhere that will give you their waste veggies it will save you on the feed or if you can set aside area to grow them greens that will too.

A local farmer used to sell me half a pig that was really tasty. Gloucester Old Spot (or some such) but the local butcher wouldn't buy it because of the black skin. So he cross-bred them and lost the flavour.