On Raising Goats

breeding age and behaviour

Hands down the most questions I get asked are on the practicalities of raising goats. I thought I’d put together a little series and then tag them together under “raising goats” for easy reference. I’ll aim to write one per month or so (you’ll still get other posts and essays the weeks in between), loosely following my goats from breeding through rearing their kids to weaning. I can only write on how I do things, and why. Every farm and system is different. Different climates, conditions, breeds, purposes, etc., will all warrant different management. And how I do things is continually evolving, as life and farming do.

Mine is a small, closely kept, non-commercial, dual-purpose herd, of mostly Saanen and Anglo Nubian breeding, raised for meat and dairy on pasture/forage. My nannies raise their own kids, we milk share, milking just enough for our household use, and butcher the male kids for our own freezers. I’ll go into all the different aspects in respective posts. Next one on feeding.…