Goats. Small-scale Herding for Pleasure And Profit

161 Pages·2006·35.648 MB·English

by  Sue Weaver

Agriculture/Home Reference W
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GOATS A
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Jump on the bandwagon with one of the hottest-growing food sources .Goats is an in-depth guide
to small-scale goat keeping—for pleasure and profi t! The author delivers essential information on
choosing, breeding, and tending goats while also off ering fascinating and fun facts. Comprehensive
discussions, full-color photos, and easy-to-use charts will ensure your success.
From cashmere to milk and meat!
•
Select the right breed for your farm
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Learn common goat herd behavior
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Keep goats healthy with a nutritious diet
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Spot symptoms of common goat diseases
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Breed, deliver, and care for does and bucks
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Market and sell fresh goat milk
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Explore goat resources and Web sites
Plus many other helpful tips!
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“This book is an excellent resource for all goat owners or prospective goat owners. Ms. Weaver
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presents an interesting and detailed history of goats, full descriptions of individual breeds and T
their purposes, and a synopsis of goat medical care. Best of all, she has prepared an extensive list S
of online sources of more detailed goat information and of goat equipment and books.”
—Lorrie Boldrick, DVM, coauthor of Pygmy Goats: Management and Veterinary Care and
the Illustrated Standard of the Pygmy Goat
“I was blown away with Sue Weaver’s new book, Goats. I was expecting an ordinary read but found
it to be the best small book on goats I have ever encountered. I can’t wait until it is published so I can
give them to my customers to ensure they are prepared to take care of their new goats.”
—Claudia Gurn, Breeder of Show South African Boer Goats
About the Hobby Farms® series
Whether you’re a weekend gardener or a dedicated small farmer, you’ll gather a bushel of essen-
tial information from the Hobby Farms® series. Hobby Farm and its companion editions will help
both experienced and novice hobby farmers realize their own dreams of life on the farm—for
pleasure and profi t.
Look for other essential Hobby Farms® series titles, including Chickens, Sheep, Beef Cattle, Ducks,
Pigs, and Llamas and Alpacas!
®
An Imprint of BowTie Press®
A Division of BowTie, Inc.
3 Burroughs, Irvine, CA 92618
US $14.95 CAN $16.95
www.bowtiepress.com
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Goats
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Goats
Small-Scale Herding
S W
BY UE EAVER
®
An Imprint of BowTie Press®
A Division of BowTie, Inc.
Irvine, California
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Jarelle S. Stein, Editor
Kendra Strey, Assistant Editor
Jill Dupont, Production
Lisa Barfield, Book Design Concept
Michael Vincent Capozzi, Book Design and Layout
Indexed byRachel Rice
Reprint staff:
June Kikuchi, Vice President Chief Content Officer
Karen Julian, Publishing Coordinator
Tracy Burns, Production Coordinator
Jessica Jaensch, Production Coordinator
Cindy Kassebaum, Cover design
Copyright ©2006by BowTie Press ®
Photographs ©2006John and Sue Weaver
Additional images courtesy of: front cover (center) Tim Belyk, Acreage Media Solutions,
(left) Theresa Esterline, (right) Terry Wild Stock, Inc.; pp. 22, 52, 62, 91, 100 Maureen Blaney
Flietner; p. 103 Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture; p.
106 Photodisc, Inc.; p. 109 Julie Walker; p. 113 Cherie Langlois
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or oth-
erwise, without the prior written permission of BowTie Press®, except for the inclusion of brief
quotations in an acknowledged review.
The Library of Congress has cataloged an earlier printing as follows:
Weaver, Sue
Goats: small-scale herding for pleasure and profit / by Sue Weaver
p. cm.—(Hobby farms)
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-931993-67-8
ISBN-10: 1-931993-67-X
1. Goats.2. Goats—United States. I. Title.II. Series.
SF383.W34 2006
636.39—dc22
2005032283
BowTie Press ®
A Division of BowTie, Inc.
3 Burroughs
Irvine, California 92618
Printed and bound in China
14 13 12 11 10 8 9 10
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This work is dedicated to Karen Keb Acevedo, my sister in goats, and to Simone,
Charlotte, and Albert, Pygmy goats extraordinaire.
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Table of Contents
Introduction Why Goats?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter One Goats: A Primer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter Two A Buyer’s Guide to Goats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter Three Housing and Feeding Your Goats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Chapter Four Goat Behavior and You. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter Five Goat Health, Maladies, and Hooves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Chapter Six Bringing Kids into the World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Chapter Seven Making Money with Goats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Appendix: Goat Diseases at a Glance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
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INTRODUCTION
Why Goats?
Goats were humanity’s first domesticated livestock; we’ve had ten thousand
years to get things right. Today’s goats provide tasty milk, delicious meat,
attractive pelts, and two kinds of renewable fiber. They clear pasture for other live-
stock by grazing and destroying weeds and brush, they pull carts (goats are amaz-
ingly strong), and they pack along the tents and grub when folks go camping. It
costs little to buy and maintain goats, and only a modest land plot is required to
raise them. Goats are naturals for today’s hobby farms.
The world’s goat population leapt from 281 million in 1950 to 768 million in
2003; more than 2.5 million of those goats dwell in the United States. The most
lucrative livestock venture of the new millennium is raising meat goats—demand
by far exceeds supply, and it will for decades to come. Other profitable hobby farm
goat ventures include marketing goat’s milk and value-added dairy products;
mohair and the hides of Angora goats; cashmere; and meat, fiber, and dairy goat
breeding stock.
Curious, intelligent, agile, and friendly, goats provide hours of entertainment
for their keepers. Everyone who has goats loves them. Whether you want to turn a
profit with goats or keep a few for fun, we’re here to show you how to get started.