The Modern Dairy Goat
(Page 2 of 7)
March/April 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors
3. Butter, unusually smooth in texture, pure white, easily colored just as cow butter is colored.
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4. Cheese. You have probably already enjoyed goat's cheese as millions of pounds are imported from Europe besides the domestic supply.
5. Meat, or chevon, as goat's meat is correctly named. Young buck kids 4 or 5 months old provide 35-45 pounds of dressed meat. Chevon makes many succulent dishes, and in the South particularly is considered a great delicacy.
Most likely you have eaten chevon without knowing it - thousands of pounds are sold each year as lamb. We think it is tastier than lamb, but Mrs. R. found it should be cooked a little longer.
6. Furs and Skins. Furs from newborn kids are beautiful and may be made into coats, jackets. A tannery or furrier can prepare the hides for you.
7. Fertilizer. Goat manure is one of the richest, most valuable manures - excellent enough to be in demand by greenhouses and fruit growers. You, however, will want to use it liberally yourself, for it will help you "have-more" vegetables, fruits and flowers. Of all manures, it's the most inoffensive. You can see why from children's name for it, "nanny goat berries."
Considering all the products, the modern dairy goat is a valuable asset. Because of a goat's size a small barn is satisfactory. Also when it comes time each year to breed a goat you can hoist her into your car easily and get her to a buck. Goats are so easily handled that women frequently run large dairies.
Perhaps we seem unduly enamoured of our goats so we include this letter sent to the "Dairy Goat Journal," a magazine, (October, 1943) . We quote: I purchased a grade doe for $15 which is giving me 3 1/2 quarts a day of excellent quality milk. Two quarts of cow milk had been costing me $8 per month. A grade cow would cost me $75 to $125 so I am somewhat amazed when people speak of milk being expensive and hard to obtain. I had a laugh when the editor of a farm magazine said that something should be done about it when an old stinky goat beat an honest dairyman out of $7 or $8 a month.
My goat is giving $13.65 worth of milk a month and her feed costs about 10 cents a day. She doesn't stink either!
This checks with our own experience - except our goats cost more than $15.
Cost of a Goat
A good goat now costs considerable since their value is being recognized rapidly. Our first goat, a grade Nubian doe, with her two kids cost us $40. Our second goat (a young doe) was given to us by a friend who has a 20-goat dairy. Our third which was shipped to us 2,000 miles from one of America's best goat breeders cost us $49, including shipping.
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