Backyard Goats? Bad idea?

[CrazyChickGirl]

Hi everyone We have been on a slow journey to self sustainability, being more "green" and finding ways to save money. This has lead us to all sorts of fun and its been great for the kids. I am interested in getting a pair of dairy goats, but before I get too excited I really need to know if this is realistic for us. We live in suburbia. Our land is only 1/3 of a an acre. It's shared by 3 children and their swing set, 2 dogs and on the side of our house is our "chicken yard". We do have a shed that my husband built that he has been cleaning out. It's large and airy. I looked at it the other day and my mind went crazy. Lol.

So, will two dairy goats be enough to supply all of our milk needs? (We go through about 4 gallons a week!) Are goats an ok fit in surburbia?? Do they need more land then we can provide? Will they be very noisy? Will they eat everything in our yard? Do you think this is doable, or completely out of the question? Oh, and one more question- how expensive do you think they will be per month?

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Anyone?

 

[SA Farm]

Hi everyone

We have been on a slow journey to self sustainability, being more "green" and finding ways to save money. This has lead us to all sorts of fun and its been great for the kids. I am interested in getting a pair of dairy goats, but before I get too excited I really need to know if this is realistic for us. We live in suburbia. Our land is only 1/3 of a an acre. It's shared by 3 children and their swing set, 2 dogs and on the side of our house is our "chicken yard". We do have a shed that my husband built that he has been cleaning out. It's large and airy. I looked at it the other day and my mind went crazy. Lol.

So, will two dairy goats be enough to supply all of our milk needs? (We go through about 4 gallons a week!) Are goats an ok fit in surburbia?? Do they need more land then we can provide? Will they be very noisy? Will they eat everything in our yard? Do you think this is doable, or completely out of the question? Oh, and one more question- how expensive do you think they will be per month?

With that small a property, I would recommend the Nigerian Dwarf or a Mini Milk breed such as a Mini Alpine or Mini LaMancha. They are an okay fit in suburbia, you would need to supplement with hay year round, but small areas are fine for the smaller breeds. Some breeds are more noisy than others, but they generally only cry when they need something (hay, milked, etc) or if something is wrong or when they're in heat.
It's absolutely doable and yes, they will eat nearly everything in your yard

Two dairy goats will not completely supply all your milk needs year round, but for a large portion of the year they should produce enough.
Depending on the breed, your main upkeep expenses wouldn't be too high. Hay and bedding are the main constant costs, with just two you would probably take a month or two between bags of feed, so anywhere from about 20-50/month depending on cost of hay in your area and other variables (grain, vet, weather etc)

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Thank you! We are currently spending about $80 a month on organic milk anyway, so that doesn't sound unreasonable. My husband is really concerned with the noise possibly bothering the neighbors and them eating too much of our grass. But I would hate to keep them in their "barn" all of the time... :/ We are still thinking about it... Any other thoughts or advice are welcome!

Also, how much time does milking two goats take? I'm guessing 20-30 mins each time?

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Bump

 

[Dogwood123456]

I live in Raleigh, NC I have 2 Nigerian dwarfs together they give me 1/2 gallon a day once a day milking it only takes about 20 min to milk now but when i first started it was closer to an hour. these are unregistered pet quality goats. You can look for proven milking lines near you that will give more milk per day than this. Also milking twice a day they will give more than once my scheduledoes not allow for this though so you might need to think about that.

look for a goat pair that will give you more than you can use, this is so you can freeze some while it is plentiful and use it while your goats are slowing or dry. frozen milk is just as good as fresh IMO.

Goats will eat all bushes before touching grass, but they will eat it as well. I would give them as large a pen you can then put plenty of things to play with and they should do fine. they also kill trees so don't put them near any you want to keep. As for the noise it is not loud and they really only talk when they want something a big thing would be not to teach them to yell i.e. give treats to them because they are screaming.

You could do a fodder system for treats or as a main food if you want them to have greens it would keep your plants safer.

I think the shed would be a bad idea to keep the goats in, they will pee on the floor constantly causing smell and unsanitary conditions rather quickly. A three sided shed in their pen, and a milking stand in the shed would be ideal.

I own 1/3 of an acre and raise all my meat all dairy and most of my veggies it can be done but it is a lot of work.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Wow, thank you for all the advice! The shed is really more of a 3 sided pen actually. It has dirt underneath and a portion has concrete. Then I was just going to let them roam the backyard... If that's ok?

 

[donrae]

Are goats legal where you live?



How are the dogs and the goats going to get along? Lots of dogs think goat tastes like chicken.
Goats will eat all your landscaping. As stated, grass will be about last. Bushes, shrubs, trees, etc will be gone. Your swingset will likely be knocked over or damaged.
What kind of fencing do you have? Fencing goats is an art in itself. Anything they could jump onto and over the fence?
Depending on the ages of your children, even dwarf goats can knock a child down.


I do think the neighbor thing is going to be a concern. You'll need to talk to them and get their feelings on it. Spend some time around goats and get a feel for how noisy they are. I've had some that literally bleated their way into the freezer, they were that loud. They were brothers, always together, on pasture with all the blackberries they could eat, etc...no reason to vocalize. They sounded like toddlers torturing cats! And now they taste just fine.

Something else to consider is what you're going to do with the offspring. Goats have to kid before they give milk...those babies are adorable, but they're also noisy. And you have to either keep them and have an ever expanding goat herd, butcher them or sell them.

Not meaning to be a downer, but I think you should spend some time around them before you make the leap. Personally, I'd use the space for garden instead.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

I don't know if they are legal for us. We live out in the county (away from the city) but I'm concerned that they won't be legal. We were going to call and also talk to our neighbor. They had a goat previously so I was going to also talk to them about their experience. Along with continuing to read and get responses here and if we decided to go through with it, talk to the breeder or farm that we get them from.

We have no landscaping. We just have a country type yard with weeds and clovers everywhere. Our swingset was hand built and is extremely solid, large and heavy. I'm guessing it can't be tipped over but it might get chewed on.

We have regular wood six foot fencing. My children are 10, 7, and 3. I was planning on supervising time they spend together and hoping to find goats that are already milking and have experience with children since I'm a first time owner.

We do have a garden. It's in the front yard, away from all the animals. As for the dogs- one is elderly and is the sweetest dog ever. He hangs out with bunnies and chickens and is not at all aggressive. The other dog has such a hunting extinct (beagle) that I'm afraid we might have to get rid of him. I'm already afraid he will get our chickens...

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Also, if we were to go look at a few, what red flags should we watch out for? There are a lot of farms that I see advertise their goats on Craigslist... Is that ok, or is that a flag? One place has nice pictures but it says "$250 each or two doelings for $400". I read somewhere that if its on sale it's a red flag...