If you invest in a goatherd, your money won’t be wasted.
Your goats will provide for your family and pay for themselves. So what can you
do with a goat? A few answers are quite obvious: meat and dairy. But there are
other uses for goats that you might not have thought about.
First of all, goats really are great
for dairy. Not only can they provide high protein, milk for drinking, but there
are also an abundance of other uses for their milk. In Goats Produce Too! The Udder Real Thing Volume II, Mary Jane Toth
offers goat owners step-by-step suggestions for processing goat milk: To start
with, does it smell okay? Is the flavor sweet, or can you detect a rankness
that might suggest it came into contact with rusty equipment. Often the flavor can indicate which grasses
or grains the goats have been feeding on. Toth then explains how to
pasteurize goat milk, freeze or can it, etc. She also includes a wealth of
detailed recipes for cheeses, desserts, dressings, fudge, ice cream, yogurt, soap,
and… even paint! Lastly, there are goat meat recipes. This is truly a
how-to-live-sustainably-with-goats handbook for families. If money is tight,
but you have grass growing wildly, goat milk alone can provide so many daily
needs.
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| Goat Cheese! Fg. 1 |
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| Boer Goat Fg 2 |
Meat is also an obvious product of goat
breeding. Any goat raised by a family can become sausage in the freezer
regardless of breed. However, there are certain goats that are specifically
better for meat production. On of the most popular meat goats are Boers: a funny
squat breed. They have a very specific look; most have white bodies with red
heads and stand squarely like a dog. Their muscular stature makes them
excellent for meat.
While goat meat is not particularly
popular in the U.S., it is the most commonly eaten red meat in the world. As a
culture, American’s haven’t yet broken into that market.
Of course, goats have other famous
talents. Angora and Cashmere goats are great at growing luscious coats for
fiber production. Many breeds also make good pack animals. They can carry loads
up a mountain with a hiker, pull a small plow, or pull a human in a cart. Goats
are also great for bush whacking, manure (fertilizer) production, and lawn
mowing. While certain breeds might be known for eating unwanted plants or are
particularly strong for pulling, almost any goat can be used for these
purposes.
As you can see, a
small number of goats not only make great pets, but they can support your
family at many levels. Not only will they help you reduce your carbon footprint
by replacing your plow and lawn mower, but your rollicking four-leggeds will
provide all the meat, dairy, and fiber your family could wish for.
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| Goat Plow Fg. 3 |
Bibliography:
Coleby, Pat. Natural Goat Care.
Austin, Tex: Acres U.S.A, 2001. Print.
Schwartz, Lisa, Judith Hausman, and
Karen Sabath. Over the Rainbeau: Living the
Dream
of Sustainable Farming. Bedford Hills, N.Y: Rainbeau Ridge Publishing, 2009.
Print.
Toth, Mary J. Goats Produce Too!:
The Udder Real Thing. Coleman, Mich: The Author,
1998.
Print.
Weaver, Sue. Goats: Small-scale
Herding for Pleasure and Profit. Irvine, Calif: Hobby
Farm
Press/BowTie Press, 2006. Print.
Weaver, Sue. The Backyard Goat: An
Introductory Guide to Keeping Productive Pet
Goats.
North Adams, MA: Storey Pub, 2011. Print.
Fg1: http://paninihappy.com/open-face-grilled-goat-cheese-panini-with-sundried-tomatoes-herbs/
Fg2: www.ansi.okstate.edu
Fg3: www.braysofourlives.com
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