Dairy Goat Breed Selection

My first goat herd.

I was recently asked about my choice of breed in dairy animals, and my response was rather lengthy. I decided it would make a great blog post!

I think the answer to your question lies more in why I started with Nigies. I always wanted Nubians. They have a reputation for being vocal, pushy, and high strung, though. It took me several years to talk my husband into letting me have dairy goats at all. He grew up with a milk cow, and didn't want the twice daily responsibilities that come with a milk animal. He told me on the front end that he wanted no part of it whatsoever. If I got one it was all on me to take care of it and milk it. Then he gave me his blessing. I researched everything I could get my hands on regarding dairy goats. I knew I needed to choose a breed that I could have a 100% guarantee of success with, and Nigerian Dwarfs seemed to be that perfect breed of goat for my beginner self. Nigies are small enough that you can do anything that you need to with them. It's not like wrestling with an animal that weighs just as much as an adult human. I followed through with that and kept Nigies for about three years. I enjoyed them immensely, but desired larger goats that produced more milk for the same amount of effort in milking and hoof trimmings. (Trimming hooves is my least favorite job in goat husbandry. :-) ) I was given a LaMancha doeling in exchange for her first doe kid very early on. I fell in love with her and the no-nonsense personality that seems to be the norm in LaManchas. Since I already had a LaMancha and I didn't want to run a mixed herd, I stayed with LaManchas when I was ready to transition out of my starter goats and into my permanent herd. I do still dream of Nubians, but I have reservations about how I will like their personalities after everything I've heard. I am definitely not in to having a herd of drama queens! :-)

I cannot say what breed will fit your personality and needs best. My goat mentor, Michele, has kept several different breeds and settled on Nigerian Dwarfs as her favorite. Everyone's personal choice will be unique.

Sleet and Ice Days

On Thursday we were pelted with 3/8" of ice and 4" of sleet. I was concerned that the electric lines would go down due to ice accumulation, and so I cleaned house like a crazy woman all Thursday morning until everything was caught up and spic and span. After that, I was able to relax and enjoy activities I don't normally have time to do. My first project was a simple home cooked soup for us to munch on.

 Since I have an abundance of fresh milk, I decided to make my potato soup a little differently than I ever have. It turned out amazing! Here is the recipe:

Best Ever Potato Soup:

One Gallon fresh, raw goat’s milk
Ten large/medium potatoes, diced
One large red onion, coarsely chopped
One stick of butter
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Sharp cheddar cheese
Three heaping TBSP corn starch mixed in a cup of cold water

Combine first six ingredients in a large stock pot and bring to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add corn starch to thicken. Return to boil. Ladle into bowls and garnish with grated cheddar cheese. Enjoy!

My daddy has been fussing at me because I never make my own butter. He says there is so much cream in this milk that it is a shame to not skim it and use it. Since I had about five gallons of milk in the fridge, I decided to give it a try. With all the milk skimmed, I got enough cream to make about 2 cups of finished butter. It is LOVELY! Probably not something I will do all the time unless I am blessed to find an affordable separator, but it's nice to know it's an option.

Next, I used that lovely skimmed milk to make homemade mozzarella cheese. Interestingly, the recipe was titled 30 Minute Mozzarella, but it took ALL afternoon! I had heated the milk at 1:00. It didn't cool off enough to add the citric acid, lipase, and rennet until 6:00 P.M.! Just in time to make me late for chores! Argh! It is SOOOO yummy, though, it's hard for me to quit nibbling. :-)

While the mozzarella was cooling I made Lemon Cheese. It is very nice. It has a very light flavor and the lemon juice certainly adds a nice quality to the cheese.

Over the course of the three days I've been home I have been working on making homemade dishcloths. I received two as Christmas gifts, and fell in love with them! They are round and have a rippled edge. They fit so much more nicely in your hand than a square dish cloth. I hope to make an entire set.

Deworming Goats

I was recently asked for advice about what I use for dewormer, and by the time I finished writing my response I decided to make it into a blog post!
I am philosophically opposed to using synthetic chemical/drug dewormers. For the first 2.5 years I had goats I successfully used Hoegger Supply's herbal dewormer with excellent results. When I took a goat to the vet for another issue I had the vet perform a fecal exam and he was amazed to find NO worms in ANY life stage present. That is a huge deal because even with synthetic dewormers used on a consistent schedule they expect to find a few. However, in the fall of 2011 I began to experience some health problems at the same time that my herd grew to an overwhelming size. I was struggling to meet all my responsibilities/obligations and I kept forgetting to give the goats their herbal dewormer. (It has to be given every week religiously.) I kept telling myself I wouldn't forget again, but I kept stumbling. After several times of forgetting their dewormer and having to go through the entire start up regimen which is both time consuming and costly, I decided I was going to have to give in and use synthetic dewormers until I could get things under control again. I bought the Agri-Labs brand of Ivermectin and used it faithfully according to instructions. (I believe it was once every six weeks.) In the spring of 2012 Miracle began having some problems originating with mastitis. I immediately sought medical intervention for her mastitis, but it took three rounds of antibiotics to get her cleared up. In her weakened state the parasites took hold with a vengeance. My veterinarian recommended Safeguard to me, and that is what I have used since then, though I do intend to return to the herbal dewormer protocol upon kidding. (I have reduced my herd to an easily manageable size now, currently two does with a possible acquisition of one more, and selling all this year's kids.)
I know there are people who are expert users of synthetic dewormers who talk about using "white dewormer and clear dewormer." I think it's simply an easy way to keep straight the basic classes of dewormers where the white ones attack one class of parasites and the clear dewormers attack another. I tried to find information about that, but was unsuccessful.

Rather than discuss dewormers that I have never used, I am going to refer you to some websites of folks who are more knowledgeable than I am:

Fias Co Farm is my go-to source for information. They have always been spot on with the accuracy of the information offered.

The Dairy Goat Journal is a good source for continuing education about our dairy goats. I do not have a subscription, though I've asked for one as a holiday(Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day, etc.) gift several times. Their website offers some of their articles for free,  and this one was on the cover when I went to find the link for you. How timely!

This is the author of the above article and also recommended by my "goat mentor."

Milk is Seasonal Food

When I began buying fresh milk directly from the farmer I became frustrated with their seeming undependability. Over the years before I could get my own dairy animals I bought from three different sources, and with each of them, there would be times when they would say they didn't have milk, despite the fact that I was extremely careful to be a dependable and consistent customer, always buying on the same day of the week, and buying the same amount of milk each time.

Then I got my own goats. The first year was bliss. I felt that I could FINALLY have my own dependable milk supply. I knew I had to dry my doe off for two months prior to kidding to allow her body to put that energy into supporting the new life growing inside her. I also knew about colostrum, and had been told that you had to wait about a week for the colostrum to clear out before you would have sweet, beautiful milk. I could handle that. I froze milk ahead to get through the nine weeks I expected to be out of milk. Our freezer went out and all that milk was ruined. We were without milk throughout that time.

It was time for me to get a rude awakening. When Perle freshened I didn't take her to the milk stand for the first week, allowing her (three!) kids to have all her colostrum. When I milked her for the first time after she freshened I was shocked and disappointed to discover that her milk was still not in. I gave her a few more days and tried again. It was starting to transition into milk, but still funny looking. Another few days and it looked like her milk was in. Woohoo! I brought it inside, strained it, and poured myself a glass. It had been two and a half months since I'd tasted sweet milk. I took a big drink, and ACK!!! It was nasty! Even though it looked like she was in full milk, it still had a large component of colostrum to it. I continued to milk and try it daily, but it took another week before he milk was fit to drink. This took us to THREE MONTHS without milk! There was also another issue. With three kids on her, she didn't have much milk left to share with us. We were only getting a couple cups a day. Certainly not nearly enough to justify the cost and effort of keeping your own goats! I kept her daughter, Sassy, and also acquired another goat, Twilight. With Perle and Twilight we had plenty of milk to get us through. I thought I finally had it all figured out.

The same year I bought Perle I was given Miracle, a LaMancha doeling. She didn't settle her first year, and so I had her for two full years before she finally freshened last year. I knew what to expect regarding the time it took for colostrum to clear this time. I thought I was finally going to have enough milk to meet all of our dairy needs. (It was our intention to make ALL our own dairy products when we started producing our own milk.) Her due date came and went. Two weeks went by and I gave up any hope of her being pregnant. I was pretty sad because I could not continue feeding an animal who was of no benefit to our homestead. She would have to go. I was coming to grips with this when one day Wayne came flying into the house telling me to get to the barn. She'd given birth to two BEAUTIFUL kids! A buckling and a doeling. We were ecstatic!

I began milking her on the stanchion right away since it was her first freshening. I wanted to lose no time in her training. I froze her colostrum to have on hand in case there was ever an emergency situation that it was needed. When her milk came in it was far more obvious than with the Nigies. Her udder practically exploded! It was very large and full. I began trying the milk, but it didn't taste good. I thought it was just in that transition period, but it didn't improve. After nearly a month of research and trying different things, I learned that she was deficient in cobalt, thanks to my friend, Mrs. Liz. Within just a few days of supplementing with Diamond V Yeast Culture her milk became sweet and lovely. We now supplement all our goats with the Diamond V Yeast Culture.

Miracle didn't kid until June. I am a teacher. I need my goats to have weaned their kids by the time I am out of school in May, so that I can have the summer to make our year's supply of cheese. This obviously did not happen. Baby is just now weaning at six months of age. ( I retained her and sold the buckling at three months of age.) Miracle is (I believe) bred again. This time she is due to kid between March 2-9, 2012. I plan to sell ALL her kids as bottle babies once they've received her colostrum so that we have plenty of milk for all our needs this time!

Who knew homesteading required so much advance planning?! I have to think ahead at least a year in advance in order to accomplish the goal of making our own cheese during the summer while school is out.

Bringing Things Into Focus

When I began writing my blog I intended it to be a combination scrapbook and journal. Sort of like a cyber photo album documenting our life. As I got deeper into the realm of blogging and learned how things worked, I discovered that I fit best in the category of "homestead bloggers." I unconsciously shifted my focus to posts of that sort. I began to further narrow my posts due to my teaching inclination. I felt I should be doing tutorials. Teaching others about this life is my passion. I began posting less and less because I lacked the time to plan ahead to take photographs and do tutorials.  I am not here to impress others, nor to earn an income. It is my intention to get back to where I started. This blog is supposed to be about our life. We are more than simply homesteaders. Not that that isn't enough to occupy a person full time, but there is more. I teach full time. Wayne is a machinist. We live 30-45 minutes from work. As I was contemplating how I was going to make my new lifestyle work, I came to realize that I only have about three waking hours at home a day. No wonder I feel overwhelmed so much of the time!

We are preparing to start the Specific Carbohydrate Diet very soon. We had planned to begin on December 26th. However, we were given so much candy and special treats that we agreed to wait a few days until we could finish all those lovely delicacies before we attempted to start. We have finished all the sweets, but there are still quite a few items in the house that aren't allowed on the diet, so we are working our way through them. I think it will help ease the transition by going off sweets but not off other, more complex carbs, before jumping into the diet with both feet.

The diet coincides very well with the cyclical nature of food here. Miracle, my only goat left in milk, is drying off. I'm hoping this means that she settled when I took her to be bred in the fall. Milk is not allowed on the diet, and so the timing of this works out perfectly.

Things are pretty quiet here. Chores that took a couple hours a day in the summer can be completed in about 45 minutes a day now.

We still have seventeen chickens and five ducks. My golden laced Wyandottes and Cochins are laying superbly, despite the short day length and cold temperatures. I'm starting to think the most important factor in winter egg production is simply having ample water. We've been using steaming hot water in the mornings to help keep it from refreezing as quickly. I think it has helped a lot. The ducks are laying machines. I think they are each laying an egg a day without fail. Sadly, I discovered in mid-November that I am allergic to duck eggs. This has prompted us to look for a new home for the ducks. Hopefully they will be blessing someone else's egg basket very soon.

Miracle and Baby have adjusted quite nicely to being a two-goat herd. They are content little puffballs bouncing around in the goat pen, happy to stay out of the cold wind and munch hay most days.

I am not one for resolutions. I think they are just setting oneself up for self-loathing. However, I miss having personal devotions on a daily basis. When I was in my teens and early twenties I used to buy a new devotional book every year. It would be a book with a devotion for every day of the year. I have two such books that I bought several years ago, and I plan to get back into that habit. The books I am using are The One Year Chronological Bible and the One Year Book of Hymns. I timed myself this morning and I did both in under 15 minutes, so I think this is a very reasonable goal.

Thank you for following along on our journey in this life. May you and yours have a very blessed new year!