It’s been awhile since I’ve done a top 10, so I thought it would be fun for this Tuesday morning.
Top 10 Reasons to Keep a Dairy Goat
- Goat milk is delicious! I know, if you’ve never had good, fresh goat milk before, trying it can be a little scary. You might expect it to taste like a billy goat smells, or like liquefied feta. In reality, it tastes like . . . MILK! Amazing. Now some goats have stronger tasting milk. We find Lamancha milk to have a nice mild, palatable flavor that we love. Don’t be afraid to ask to taste a goat’s milk before you purchase her to make sure it is too your taste. Also, the does must be kept away from the bucks to avoid an unplesant “bucky” taste.
- No last minute trips to the store for milk! I bet you I can milk all my goats before you can drive to the store and back. Ready, set, GO!
- Goats (well, most of them) are very sweet animals who love treats and attention!
- One word. FETA.
- No antibiotics or growth hormones! The only time my goats might receive antibiotics is if they are actually dangerously ill. In the dairy industry, antibiotics are given routinely, and subsequently are passed on the unsuspecting milk drinkers. Yuck!
- Milking is a great way to build up strength in your hands or forearms!
- Baby goats are SO CUTE!
- No plastic jugs to throw away!
- Medium Chain Fatty Acids. Look it up. OK, because I love you, I looked it up for you. Read all about it here!
- Raw milk from healthy animals promotes good health! (See the link in #9)
So, have you tried goat milk before? Do you keep your own dairy animals? Do you think I’m completely nuts? Let’s hear it!
If you like this post, you might also like my Fresh Milk 101 Pinterest Board and don’t forget to sign up for Beulah’s Moooooosletter, so you don’t miss a minute of the fun!
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I would love to keep goats! Feta cheese on pizza – yum! Thanks for helping to convince me to get some goats and the info (taste the milk before you buy her)I need to know first!
Good luck on your goat journey!
I have been considering getting goats for a while. I am in city limits so I will have to see if there are restrictions, but I would love to have a couple. May get some sooner than later now!!
Good luck! Here’s hoping that the city looks upon goats favorably! They really are great animals!
We have some dairy goats. We love making yogurt 🙂
My yogurt is the only thing that seems to work better with cow’s milk than goat milk! I would love to hear your secret to great goat yogurt!
Goat milk curd is much softer than cow milk curd. At the Mother Earth Fair in Puyallup, WA this spring I was assigned to be the helper fro the yogurt making presentation. The presenter explained that to get homogenized or goat milk to have a firm curd you need to heat the milk to 180 degrees to denature the proteins so that they link up. Also the culture has to have a variety of bacteria some cause the curd to form and some hold the whey in a gel like state.
The yogurt that we made when we had our goat herd was more like kiefer. The yogurt That I am making now with raw Jersey milk I heat to 101 degrees and then add Nancy’s brand as a starter which is what the demonstrator preferred. I the put it in the corners of my waterbed which holds it at 85-90 degrees. The one gallon separated into two glass jars for culturing lasts me for two weeks in the refrigerator. I use the creamy top for topping things like pie. The whey begins to separate as I get deeper in the jar but that dose not matter because I am using it for my morning smoothy.
That is GREAT information! Thank you so much for sharing what you know! I’m hoping to make the Mother Earth News Fair in Ashville this year!
I’ll admit that I laughed at the idea of putting the yogurt in the waterbed, but I used to have one, and now that you mention it, THAT WOULD TOTALLY WORK!! Now I want to have one again!
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This is my Goat story. While visiting my mother’s horse show friends that had a Jersey dairy They found a toggenburg doe wandering in the woods and my mother decided to bring it home as a companion to her Arabian stallion. Now that we were into goats she got to thinking that goat milk was supposed to be good for children like me that have many allergies. So she bought a Saanen that had just given birth. Not knowing about colostrum she milked the doe and tasted the milk. She thought “he will never drink this” so she gave it to the dog. He thought it was great. The next day she decided to give the milk to me anyway and I drank it with great gusto. then she tasted it and figured out what happened. Later the Toggenburg also gave birth she also had good milk. She had a dark brown coat; we later learned that many Toggenburgs that have light brown coats have an enzyme in their milk that turns it bitter about 4 hours after it is cooled down.
That is how Qheard got started. We eventually had as many as 20 does milking at the same time and produced some national milk production champions.
More great info! I’ve heard that Togg milk can have an off taste. (They aren’t very common around here, I’ve never run into one–especially not in the woods!) I had no idea about the coat color though! I’m learning so much today!
Great information! We’re researching into getting dairy goats this Spring! I was thinking about the Nigerian dwarf, but now I think I’m switching over to the Nubians. Have you tried any of their milk before? That’s my main reason for wanting goats, and I read they have great milk production. My husband is a little skeptical about drinking it, but I think it’ll be fine. We found a local farm that raises some, so I’m hoping to buy a couple of goats from her this Spring and she said I’m more than welcome to try the milk too when her goats start milking again. I read about the Lamanchas too, but I’m not sure if I can get past their little to no ears. I have read they have great personalities though!
I have not had Nubian milk, but my understanding is that it is mild. I did have a nubian, but, she died out of the blue one day. I was devastated! One thing I do when people are afraid to try the milk is pour a tiny bit in a shot glass for them. Then I sit back and wait for them to look surprised and exclaim “It tastes just like milk!” LOL! Maybe that would work on your husband! 🙂
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about your Nubian. That totally stinks! I’m glad to hear their milk is mild. Hmmm, the shot glass might work, he should atleast try a bit of it and see how he likes it. He’s just assuming now, haha.
People seem to think it will either taste like liquefied feta or like billy goat in a glass. They are usually pleasantly surprised when it only tastes like milk!
With our 2014 farm-expansion coming up–goats are our number-one priority! Between the amount of milk and cheese my boys go through, and the 50 acres of farmland to reclaim–goats are going to be our go-to critter; we’re so excited! Great post and great site you’ve got here. 🙂
We have lamanchas too! we love us some Goats and goat babies… Great blog! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by! Lamancha milk is GOOD too! 🙂
Anyone know of an excellent milk sheep? I have a milk ram of indefinite origin. Thanx, lee
I don’t know anything about sheep unfortunately. Good luck!
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What is the dark side? With dairy cows, the baby male cows become veal. How about with the baby male goats?
Good question. Some people do eat the male kids. Others raise them for meat when they are older. We personally have had decent luck selling our bucks for breeding. Weathers also make good pets and are great for someone who just needs lawn maintenance or a buddy for their resident breeding buck, since you never want to keep goats alone. 🙂
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