If you’re thinking about buying your first goats or raising goats on your property, this is the post for you. We’re covering everything you need to know about raising goats for a successful journey.
In this podcast (episode #319) I’m interviewing Rachael Tuller from Lost Peacock Creamery. She left her cubicle to start a dairy farm and is now five seasons into her and her husband’s full-time job. She is a wealth of information when it comes to all things goats.
If you’re thinking about getting, or already have goats of your own, this post will be extremely informative.
Why Raise Goats?
One of the reasons most people choose to raise goats is for their milk. Some people have allergies to the casein in cow’s milk and find that they can drink goat’s milk with no issues or reactions.
This was the case with Rachael. Even a little cow’s milk would give her a stomach ache and cause bloating. After trying goat’s milk she realized she wanted to get goats of her own.
If you love food, you will absolutely love goat’s milk for making cheeses, yogurt, and other incredible dairy products.
Are Goats Hard to Raise?
Whether or not goats are hard to raise is really based upon the type of goats you get. There are some goats that are just naughty and hard to deal with, whereas there are other goats that are much like friendly dogs. They’ll cuddle and snuggle, yes they’ll get out whenever they can, but they can also be very loyal and kind.
No goat is without its flaws. If they get out, they will eat through your yard and garden, so being prepared with adequate fencing is key before bringing the goats home.
Just be prepared, even with the tightest fencing, goats somehow, someway tend to find their way out.
Advice for Buying First Goats
Know what you’re planning to do with your goats. There are three things most people use goats for: dairy, meat, or fiber (mohair, or goat hair).
Once you know their purpose, this will narrow down the different breeds to choose from. After that, Rachael’s advice is to choose a breed you like the look of! Goats will cause mayhem at some point in time, so if they’re cute, it helps you to be more forgiving of them!
If you’re going to be milking your goats, be sure the udders are shaped right for your hands, especially if you have hand issues such as arthritis, etc.
Nigerian goat’s milk is delicious and makes fantastic products, but they can be harder to milk.
Knowing the familial history of the goat you’re looking to buy can be helpful. If you’re able, take a look at the mom and dad’s utters, this may help you to know if the baby’s udders will be good for you or not.
Goat Breeds
Rachael says she prioritizes milk production over the breed, on their farm they have Nubians, Guernsey, Alpine, Lamoncha, Nigerians, and Saanen. All their goat breeds produce at least one gallon of milk per day.
They also like to look for easy kidders, since they kid all their goats on the farm. If goats need help getting out of the womb, they don’t keep these goats.
And finally, they keep goats based on friendliness and goat taste. Rachael’s husband is constantly checking each goat’s milk to make sure the taste is great.
Nigerians and Nubians are known for their high butterfat, and Alpines have more “salty” milk.
Milking by Hand or Machine
Rachael’s advice when it comes to milking is to do your homework. Because they have so many goats on their farm they do use a milking machine. However, if you’re working with just a few goats, it may be faster to milk by hand.
You have to take into consideration the amount of time it will take to clean and sterilize the milking machine (which Rachael shares takes about an hour and a half), versus simply washing your hands.
Rachael shares that they don’t fire up the milking machine until they’re milking 11 goats or more.
Hardest Part of Raising Goats
Rachael says 100% the hardest part of raising goats for milk is kidding season. They do all their own kidding on their farm, and it’s a very taxing time with many sleepless nights, making sure all the animals are safe and sound.
Last year they made a change to how they raise their animals because they want to be sure they’re following ethical practices. So, if babies want to stay with mom and nurse, then they let them as long as mom and baby are both doing well.
If the babies are struggling, or the mom isn’t doing well feeding the baby, they turn the goats into bottle babies.
How Many Acres do you Need Per Goat?
Because goats like to browse for their food and not graze (more on this below in the common diseases and health concerns for goats), it’s more important that the land you have is able to supply their needs with the forage they like to eat.
That being said, as with sheep, you can keep about six to eight goats on one acre of land.
If you listened to my podcast with Joel Salatin on maximizing your homestead, we discussed partitioning off your land in order to practice regenerative agriculture as well, so I highly recommend giving that blog post a read.
Finding a Goat Vet
Unfortunately, Rachael mentions that many vets these days aren’t trained how to treat goats. Therefore, goat owners really need to become their own at-home vets.
Facebook has many groups you can join and can be a great resource and community to help you out when learning how to treat sick goats.
Common Diseases and Health Issues with Goats Parasites
Rachael shares that the biggest thing to look out for with goats is parasite control. Many people say, “I want goats to mow my lawn”, but actually, you don’t want goats, you want sheep.
Goats tend to graze higher up, so they’ll reach over the top of fences to eat the bushes, or they’ll graze the tops of high grasses, etc. But when goats are forced to graze closer to the ground, they are susceptible to the parasites that live on the ground.
When a goat gets a heavy parasite load it can be fatal to them. There’s a FAMCHA chart that helps you monitor the color of your goat’s eyelids to see the amount of blood circulating in their body.
If their eyelids are bright pink, they’re doing good with no threat of parasites, but if their eyelids are light pink or even white, that means there’s something that’s competing with their blood flow and they’re in danger.
Worming only when you need to is healthy for goats and helps keep them alive longer.
Hoof Rot
Goats were intended to have their hooves trimmed and it’s very important to keep up on trimmings or else they can get hoof rot (also called foot rot), which is very smelly and gross, but also not good for the goats and can eventually lead to lameness.
The best treatment is preventative, but if your goat does get hoof rot, they may need antibiotics to get it cleared up.
Hoof rot is also caused when goats have prolonged exposure to damp, moist ground, so making sure your goats have proper enclosures is key.
Poisons
Rhododendrons and azaleas are poisonous to goats. It’s important to keep an eye on your goats and know what they have access to in order to keep them safe.
Goats don’t know what plants will hurt them, so if you’re thinking about getting goats, know what plants are dangerous to them and consider getting rid of them from their property.
Polio
Goats are also highly susceptible to getting polio, but a simple influx of B vitamins can treat them.
Knowing the common diseases and health issues for goats can go a long way in preventing illness and even death for your herd.
Resources
Rachael recommends a few resources to help you on your journey to keeping a goat herd.
Rachael’s “Crash Course for Marketing” which is an online class for small farm owners or those looking to sell at Farmer’s Markets, etc. If you use code “MKN” you’ll get $20 off the purchase of your course!
Holistic Goat Care by Gianaclis Caldwell – Holistic Goat Care: A Comprehensive Guide to Raising Healthy Animals, Preventing Common Ailments, and Troubleshooting Problems – this book helped Rachael drastically on her journey to raising goats.
YouTube – there is a great wealth of information on raising goats on YouTube. Do a quick search and you’ll find all you need.
Facebook – if you’re wanting to raise goats, join a Facebook group for goat owners now and start learning from those already doing it.
Learn by doing! – Rachael says they have learned the most by trial and error. This can be costly, but it’s also completely different when you’re doing than when you’re reading or researching.
Connect with Rachael at Lost Peacock Creamery, on Facebook, or on Instagram.
Transcript:
Melissa K Norris: Hey, pioneers. Welcome to episode number 319. Today’s episode we are going to be talking all about goats. Advice for you if you’re thinking about buying your first goat, what to look for when buying a goat, finding a goat vet, learning about dosing, medications and diseases that can be common or problematic, I should say health issues that can be problematic or common with goats. So you know what to be aware of, as well as breed of goats for milking, learning about creating a dairy from your goats, the hardest parts and of best parts. It is a jammed packed episode. I am really excited for you to listen into today’s episode. Welcome to the Pioneering Today podcast. I’m your host, Melissa K Norris. I’m a fifth generation homesteader, as well as a bestselling author of three books, including my newest book, The Family Garden Plan.
Melissa K Norris: I help hundreds of thousands of people with my website, this podcast, YouTube channel, every single month learn how to use easy and simple modern homesteading techniques to create a more self-sufficient and healthy life no matter where you live. Today’s guest is a Rachel Taylor-Tuller, who is an air force academy grad who served in Iraq before launching into the world of corporate marketing and homesteading, which kind of sounds like an oxymoron, but is a really, really cool story that I’m excited for you guys to listen to. Rachel ended up trading in her cubicle for open pastures and chased her dream to start a grade A goat dairy in Olympia, Washington as a first generation farmer, meaning she did not come from any type of background of farming and homesteading. Five seasons in Lost Peacock Creamery is now Rachel and her husband’s full-time job. They farm 40 goats on just 11 acres with their two children who are the number one taste testers of their award winning cheese.
Melissa K Norris: And I’ve actually had the privilege of trying Rachel’s cheese way before I ever met her, and it is really, really good. I am super excited for you to listen to this interview not only if you are thinking about getting goats and dairy goats, but also just listening to Rachel’s story and how they have been able to create a full-time income from the goats and the dairy process. I know many of my homesteaders are hopeful that someday they can create a home, excuse me, they can create an income from their homestead practices. So I think this is a really, really great, and there’s also some info at the end that you’re going to want to keep your ears perked for that Rachel offers. For today’s blog post that accompanies this episode and any further links and, or resources, make sure you go to melissaknorris.com/319. Melissaknorris.com/319, just the number 319, because this is episode number 319. All right. Let’s get straight to this interview. Rachel, welcome to the Pioneering Today podcast.
Rachael Tuller: Thank you for having me.
Melissa K Norris: Yeah. So I am really excited to talk to you today, because I need to preface this with saying that we had some goats in the past. They were very older, male goats. So we got them, they had went through multiple hands before we got them, and we got them to clear some brush on our property. And the male goats and I did not get along. They would rear up on their high legs and try to strike at me. They got out and ate all of my plants. So I’m trying to overcome my prejudice against goats. I will be honest there.
Melissa K Norris: So I was excited to talk to you because you’ve done some really amazing things with goats, and I know they have a lot of good things to offer. So I wanted to talk to you to help get me over a little bit of my prejudice, and in case any of the listeners may have that as well. So first tell us about why did you get goats and also a little bit about your guys’ creamery, Lost Peacock Creamery, because I’m very interested to know if you got the goats with the vision of having the creamer. Or did the goat come first or the creamery or how did that progression work for you guys?
Rachael Tuller: Yeah. If we’re talking about how it all started, it started with chickens, because like most people who start out homesteading, you start out with chickens. Right? And then you get that first egg and then you are like, wow, that was really fun to grow my own food. What else can I grow on my own land? And so I like to say that chickens are the gateway drug to a farming lifestyle. And for me, that was very true. So I actually, after chickens, and I tried my hand at that and I enjoyed the process of working the land and having an animal that I was beholden to because you are, I got goats. I am one of those people who has a casing intolerance and cow milk just doesn’t sit well with me. If I have too much, I get really sick.
Rachael Tuller: If I just have a little, I just get the belly stuff. And so to me, goats, everyone talked about how great goat milk is and how gentle it is on tummies. And so I got a goat. I rescued my very first goat from Puget Sound Goat Rescue, which is, I don’t know if you’ve heard of them, but they’re an incredible organization out of Maple Valley Washington and I fell in love. I was just smitten instantly. So where you were turned off instantly, I fell in love. I just, I laid up at night thinking, what job can I have, where I get to just buy all the goats and I can just be surrounded by goats. And so I fell on goat dairy because I also love food. It’s one of my favorite parts of being alive. And so I just wanted to make really beautiful food and I wanted to do it with goats that I owned. So the goats definitely came first in the creamery dream.
Melissa K Norris: Okay. And it is always interesting to hear about people’s initial reactions and different things like that with farming, because I have some people who love chickens and some people who don’t like chickens. And I think the moral of that is the beauty of homesteading is you can pick which livestock animals that you want so that you are enjoying it. Right?
Rachael Tuller: Right? It’s your homestead. You don’t have to do what your neighbor does. It’s literally yours. So some people love ducks more than they love chickens. And I’m like you with ducks and goats. I have a visceral reaction to ducks. I’ve tried three times. They’re not for me. It’s just not going to be something that ever lives on my farm.
Melissa K Norris: So tell me, what is it that you loved about the goats?
Rachael Tuller: Oh gosh. Okay. So goats are like potato chips, first of all. So you can’t have just one, and not for a lot of reasons, but goats, they’re a herd animal. And so people who think that you can have just one goat, that’s actually doing a big disservice to them. They need another goat or I’ll say they’ll just get depressed. And so I love that about goats. I love that they really thrive in these kind of relationships with each other. If you’ve ever spent any time with a goat, there’s just such a wild, carefree I don’t really care about you attitude that I find inspiring. I think, we go through life and we spend a lot of time worrying about what other people think of us or how we’re being presented to the world, and goats don’t care. They’ll fart, they’ll sneeze, they’ll run amuck.
Rachael Tuller: They will do everything their heart desires and they’ll make no apologies. And I like being around that kind of energy. The other thing about goats is they’re very, very sweet. If you get a good pair, which it sounds like you got some rotten goats, and I have seen rotten goats. We have never really had a pair that kind of bucked up and reared and did all that stuff. But all of our goats we’ve always hand raised from babies. And so it sounds like you got a pair of goats that just didn’t have boundaries and didn’t know how to be a companion in a human home. But the goats that we’ve always had, they’re like dogs. They’re just so friendly. They’re excited to see you. They talk to you. They do eat all your raspberries if they get out, which they do get out.
Melissa K Norris: Yes.
Rachael Tuller: So my goats were not without flaws in that, I think I’ve been planting the same apple orchard for four years now. And it just keeps going to the goats. Raspberries. I had this amazing raspberry crop. It was all gone. They love kale. They love getting into the vegetable garden and eating all the kale. So my goats are not immune to mayhem, but they’re just sweet enough that I kind of let it slide. So I really love their personalities.
Melissa K Norris: Okay. Well, and you do get, as long as you’re getting dairy goats, I should say, then there is that side benefit of the goat milk, especially like you said, for those who have casein issues or have issues with cows milk. So if someone’s looking about getting their first goats and would like to have a positive experience, unlike mine, which I’m sure you’re true. There was a reason and that they had went through so many different homes and when you go through so many different homes, even in animal life, you don’t get consistent training. You don’t know how they were treated, the people before you, all of that, et cetera. So for someone who’s looking to buy their first goats, can you lay out some guidelines?
Rachael Tuller: I can. Yeah. So I always tell people when you’re getting your first goat, the very first thing you should think about is whether you want dairy or meat. Right? So we actually have a meat. We have a meat buck. So a large portion of our girls are bread to meat bucks. A lot of our goats are baby goats because we’re a dairy… Right? So there’s 44 girls that we milk and they kid every year, because in order to make milk, you have to give birth. And so we have a dairy buck and we have a meat buck and, and I actually really enjoy our meat buck. He’s very sweet. He was a bottle baby, and he’s not in your face. And he’s a sweet boy, but he’s a meat buck. So he just has a lot more meat. He eats more.
Rachael Tuller: So you need … (See Podcast)
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