The Modern Dairy Goat
(Page 4 of 7)
March/April 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors
The Saanens are white or light cream and are the heaviest milk producers. The two goat dairies we know best have both Saanen and Nubian goats - thus combining the highest in quality with quantity.
RELATED CONTENT
Toggenburgs are brown with two white stripes down the face and white hocks. Toggenburgs are a popular breed. French Alpines and Rock Alpines are two other breeds relatively new in the United States.
Guides to Buying
1. Visit several goat dairies. To locate dairies subscribe to one of the four dairy goat magazines, ($1 per year) and look at ads. Or contact your County Agricultural Agent.
2. See the goat that interests you milked. Ask for her milk record if the dairy keeps records. Milk is measured in pounds. One pint equals one pound. A good goat gives 3 to 6 pounds a day.
3. Look for a goat with depth of body and well-sprung ribs - points which indicate good food capacity.
T he udder should be large and even, carried well under the body and with good-sized teats for easy milking.
5. Get a hornless doe or one disbudded. Horns are dangerous to other goats, children and the milker.
6. If the goat is registered get her papers at the time you buy - proof of registered stock means the doe's value and her kids will be higher if you wish to sell.
Housing A home for your dairy goats may be as simple or expensive as you wish as long as it keeps goats, feed and living quarters clean and dry. Whatever housing you do provide, plan the arrangements well. Place your pens, stalls and feed so that you take as few steps as necessary. Each minute saved on twice-a-day chores means 12 hours less work a year.
If you are just starting the "Have-More" Plan and cannot afford to build a miniature barn you may use any small, draft-free building you have or can buy secondhand. A shed 6' x 10' can accommodate two does. At kidding time, divide the pen into two smaller pens by use of a hurdle. A wire floor of 3/4" heavy gauge mesh, held off the pen floor by a lumber frame keeps bedding dry and goats clean. A feed rack of wood slats will keep goats from wasting hay. (The grain ration should be fed in heavy, hard to tip-over, individual pans which can be bought for about 50c each.)
If you can build or develop part of your barn especially for the goats, you will find a miniature dairy attractive and easy to keep clean. We built our small barn to house laying chickens and our broiler battery in one part, goats, rabbits, sheep, and pigeons in the other. The floor is of cement which is easy to wash, especially with its small dairy gutter, running behind goat stalls. The 18" wide gutter is on a slight slope toward the wall with its own small opening to the outside. Thus dirt, manure and other trash may be swept into the gutter and outside into an iron wheelbarrow.
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