My family and I have an "Urban Farmette" in our back yard South of Phoenix, home to four of us, two dogs, two rabbits, six hens, and of course our two Nigerian Dwarf Does, Spot and Audra Belle.
Spot is five years old, an experienced mom who came to us bred and is due January 11th. She is much less nervous than we are. Audra Belle was born in April and keeps us laughing with her silly antics.
Kaitey
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Spot makes about a quart and a half a day out of her functional teat--at least according to the breeder I bought her from. I don't know if the other side is "dead", but it only makes a little. The breeder said Spot was like that when she bought her as a first freshener, no idea whether it was due to mastitis or something else. I bought Spot two months into her pregnancy and she was down to about half a quart per day.
I belong to an organic/whole foods co-op, many of whose members are actively pursuing the "urban homesteading" thing--so even if I can't sell my kids, I should be able to give them away to other members of the group. If you're having trouble selling your kids, you might want to put up notices in local health food stores and/or get involved with natural foods advocacy groups in your area. NGs are perfect for the backyard homesteader!
Hi
Nice to hear about someone else raising goats in the "backyard" situation.I have 2 does in milk now and am housing them in my next next door neighbors backyard.One is a noisy girl but so far no complaints.And now I have the kids from Sept freshening.That was my big mistake in my original set-up,I only built one pen.Then of course kids were born and I thought I would sell by the time I needed to wean them.But no luck yet.So now I have been able to build another pen in the next next door neighbors yard.But it is all evolving and working out.I have the moms trained to walk on leads so we go out on foraging walks.Am working on the kids too.Good luck with it,these goats are pretty cool.
Congrats and welcome!!
When you say that Spot only has one functional teat, do you mean she had mastitis and half of her udder is dead? I bought a goat like that when I was new to goats, and we wound up having to bottlefeed most of her kids, as she had triplets and quads here. She only seemed to be able to make enough milk for one kid.
I just realized that I introduced my goats (and my town at some length--whew!)--but not myself or my family! My name is Kaitey, I'm a married mother of two to a teenage son and daughter. My son is my "farm boy"--working with the animals has been a wonderful outlet for him. He loves the goats SO much and they just adore him. They follow him around and will do anything he wants. My daughter wanted a pool in the back yard, not a tiny farm, so her acceptance is grudging, but she's pretty excited about baby "goatlings" as she's calling them. My husband is a city boy and a little overwhelmed by this new adventure, but he grins from ear to ear when he comes home and finds us out back with the animals. Spot is especially fond of my husband, and shakes her tail and him lovingly every time he's near. Such a flirt!
We are in a small town, kind of a run-down little community that was a center of commerce during the cotton boom. Since Egyptian cotton has entered the market, the town has died off, and the real estate boom saw most of the agricultural land sold for real estate development...then left unfinished after the bust. So sad. Anyway, kind of a dying little town where city codes count for very little.
We're on a long and very narrow lot with a church on one side and close rental neighbors on the other, so we are careful to be EXTREMELY considerate. We spray the coop and goat pen daily with Pen Protector and do everything in our power to keep our goats quiet. They are pretty quiet girls in general with nice soft voices, but they do get to calling for mama when they hear my voice at the back door, so I have to run out and settle them down. They are spoiled, but letting them cry is just not an option.
Yesterday the landlord from next door was there installing a new water heater when the girls were having their daily run around the back yard and I nearly had a heart attack! He was very nice, though.
Welcome to the forum!
Do neighbours complain about your goats and hens?
I have nothing against keeping them there, it's a good idea, actually. And are you in a city?
Your goats sound adorable! Congrats!
Thanks! Spot is dried off now, but her milk was rich and incredibly delicious while we had it. We are looking forward to having it again, but probably not soon...her last kidding was quads, and she only has one functional teat, poor girl.
Congratulations on your first goats! You're in for a lot of fun and delicious milk. We have goats due in mid-January also. Welcome to the group!