The joy of keeping farm animals : raising chickens, goats, pigs, sheep, and cows

278 Pages·2010·74.6 MB·English

by  Laura Childs

The Joy of Keeping Goats
The Ultimate Guide to Dairy and Meat Goats
Laura Childs
To my first true love, Veronica. You are the phoenix.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Introduction
1 - Discovering the Joys of Keeping Goats
2 - Getting Real about Getting Goats
3 - Types, Breeds, and Strategy
4 - Introduction to the Breeds
5 - Getting Your Goats
6 - Home Sweet Home
7 - Pasture, Fields, and Forests
8 - Feeding Goats
9 - Goat Health
10 - The Breeding Process
11 - Goat Grooming Practices
12 - Appreciating Goat Milk
13 - Fiber Goats and Production Specifics
14 - Favorite Recipes
Acknowledgments
Goat Associations
References and Recommended Reading
Photo and Illustration Credits
Index

Preface
LIFE IN THE country. The place to raise children. To get back to the land. To
learn that the soul of life is nothing more than lessons of decisions made and the
personalities you’ve met along the way.
The young girl I handed my life over to some sixteen years ago will be
leaving the farm. Off to college. Off to the city. I can barely breathe thinking of
her returning to the very place I carried her from as a baby. I have secretly made
plans to leave my haven, sustenance, and animals so that I may follow closely
should she need me. It is a mother’s prerogative.
I know myself too well though—in my heart I may follow, but my body will
stay where the air is clean, and the animals I have come to rely on are right
outside my door. Spoiled by country living for too long now, I can no longer
hunt for my food in the concrete jungle.
Raising animals and living off the land prepares a person for these situations
in life. There is a season for everything.
As one season passes, another will begin. I know it, but I am not quite ready
to say good-bye to the summer storm that is my beloved Veronica.
We’ve learned so much here. We’ve learned of other people, of ourselves, and
of what matters in life. For a while we thought we were pretty darn smart, until
we learned that we know so very little indeed.

Introduction
ARE YOU DREAMING of becoming a goat farmer? When you picture that
life in your mind, what does it look like?
I ask because there are varying visions regarding raising goats. Some of us
dream of wandering lush green pastures bordered by snow-topped mountains
with a herd of pristine dairy goats. Entrepreneurial spirits gaze over vacant land
and dream in dollar signs after reading the research on the market demand for
meat goats. Connoisseurs envision stainless steel pails of freshly gathered milk
and all the potential cheese varieties they’ll craft.
Those are just three of over ten ideals I hear regularly.
These diverse dreams of raising goats is not a human flaw. It is the fault of the
goat! If goats weren’t so incredibly well suited to perform so many tasks, we
humans could get together and help each other discover the peaceful, rich, or
creatively delicious life we yearn for.
In the meantime, we have joy. Joy in keeping them, in learning about their
care, and in discovering their individual personalities.
And for your adventure into keeping goats, I wish you practicality as every
farm animal you tend will require some knowledge, some common sense, and
some compassion to successfully keep.
The content within the pages of this book will give you a good head start on
turning your goat farming dream into a reality. Your goats will teach you the
rest.