Raising Dairy Goats

If you are considering getting a dairy goat for milk, the question that is haunting you is most likely, “Which is the best dairy goat for me to get?” The answer is really very simple, but it may surprise you if you are expecting me to tell you which breed of dairy goat is best.

There are three types of goats - dairy goats, meat goats, and fiber goats. Since we're a dairy farm, this article focuses on the dairy breeds. The common registered dairy goat breeds in the United States are Alpine, LaMancha, Nigerian Dwarf, Nubian, Oberhasli, Saanen, and Toggenburg. There are also goats that don't fall into any of these breed standards and are "Grade" or mixed goats.  At Goat Milk Stuff we raise Alpines for many reasons.

Although all healthy, female goats are capable of producing milk to feed their babies, not all goats produce enough milk to provide humans with a reasonable share of that milk. In order to give milk, a goat must first get pregnant and have kids of her own. Her body creates the milk to feed the kids. Dairy breeds have been bred to give more milk than their kids would require.

Feeding dairy goats properly is essential to keeping them healthy.  There is no single magic "right way" to feed dairy goats.  There are many options depending on where you live and what feed choices you have available.  At Goat Milk Stuff, every goat always has access to free-choice grass hay, free-choice loose minerals, and free-choice clean water.

Kidding season is an exciting time - but it can also be scary if you're new to owning goats.  At Goat Milk Stuff we work hard to help educate other goat owners and share our birthing experiences online.  Even though birthing is a natural process, many goats also die because they did not receive the assistance they needed.  Our goal is to have as many successful, live births as possible.

Raising dairy goats is all about practicing prevention. Many of the medications listed below are used for prevention, but some of them are used when we are facing a problem. Below is information on the items we regularly keep in our Goat Medicine Chest.

Kidding season and brand new baby goats are one of the best parts of raising dairy goats.  It's important to make sure that you properly take care of them so they get off to a healthy start.  Healthy babies begin with a healthy gestation so don't forget to properly care for the pregnant does as well.  This is the protocol we follow at Goat Milk Stuff.

Enterotoxemia (sometimes referred to as over-eating disease) is caused by a bacteria called Clostridium perfringens. There are two strains called types C and D. They regularly exist in the intestines of all goats. It is only when these bacteria proliferate that it causes a problem for the health of the goat.

When giving injections to your goats, it is important to understand the difference between a Toxoid and an Antitoxin. A toxoid is a vaccine; it is used to prevent disease. An antitoxin is a treatment; it is used when a problem is immediately at hand.  Both medications have a place in your Goat Medicine Chest.

At Goat Milk Stuff, we take our herd management very seriously. Not only are the goats the foundation to our business, but in many ways, they are also a part of our family. We pay strict attention to the condition of each individual goat to make sure they get what they need to be happy and healthy and give us high quality milk.

Hay is absolutely essential for dairy goats. They need the roughage to keep their rumens functioning properly. Some people choose to not feed hay during the summer months while their goats are on summer pasture, but at Goat Milk Stuff, our goats get free-choice hay year-round because I want the dry material in their rumens in addition to the wet pasture they are eating.

In 2017, we Facebook Live'd most of the goat births. The video quality is sometimes (but not always) blurry, but you'll have a great chance to see what kidding at Goat Milk Stuff is actually like! That means you'll see the family joking around and getting nervous and working incredibly well as a team. And none of it is edited, so don't watch if you're squeamish. Make sure you're following us on the Goat Milk Stuff Facebook page so you're updated when we're live.