My questions: How small should I keep their paddocks? How many paddocks should I have for them, am I okay having them with the chickens / pigs? Should I consider milking them (is there a big market for it)?
I grew up on a farm, but we never had goats, then I lived in suburbia for most of my adult years. I'm purchasing some land now, and I want to do some "gentleman farming," including a couple of pigs and a dozen hens. I never thought about milking the goats until I starting reading about the Nigerian Dwarfs. My initial goal with goats was for groundskeeping, and I wanted a smaller goat as I have 2 young children that I want take the reins some without fear of the animal being bigger than them. As far as weather concerns, we live in NJ, and we have good grass growing weather starting in March / April and ending in October (the past couple of years experienced more rain, sun, & heat than usual, so the grass has grown strong and fast).
I have 3 acres to play with (including my house and barn). My thought was to rotate them through the hen paddock and the swine paddocks as well as their own. I know frequency of rotation will vary depending on the weather and grass growth, but I also figured that having a paddock too large would allow the goats to be really picky and not graze the area somewhat evenly.
How large (or small) should I make the paddock for 6 goats, and in an area where I typically mow my yard weekly to every week and a half, how long should I expect 6 goats to graze in the one paddock of the size you recommend?
I assume I should let the paddock rest for 2-3 months before rotating them back in, but what about rotating the swine through (no larger than a couple hundred pounds each)? Can they graze together, or should I keep them separate?
Finally, I never considered it before reading many of these posts, but should I consider milking the goats? Is there a market for it? Must they be milked daily as if not we run the risk of them drying up?
Thanks in advance. I'm trying to get back to my roots with my own touch after many years off of the farm. Thanks for your advice.
Gary
Replies
Thank you both for the advice. I don't want to screw anything up, and I really like to do my homework before I jump feet first into any new idea.
Gary
Sounds like you've done your homework, Gary, and Rachel has already given you some great advice. As for the pigs, it depends on the pigs. We had Tamworths for awhile, and some of them were very aggressive towards chickens and goats. We now have American Guinea Hogs, and they cohabitate perfectly well. I usually prefer to put the pigs in after the goats, however, because pigs have different parasites than goats, so they basically act as vacuum cleaners, eating the goat parasites and digesting them. Goat parasites trying to survive inside a pig would be us like us trying to survive on Mars.
If you don't want to milk goats every day of your life, you can let the moms raise their babies, and as long as the babies are nursing, you don't have to milk twice a day. There are some other discussions on here about starting to milk that include that type of info.
WELCOME!!
How small should I keep their paddocks?
I would make them no smaller than 30X30ft for 6 goats. The larger you can make them, the less you need to worry about rotation (at least on a daily basis)
How many paddocks should I have for them?
That will depend on how you want to manage your land and herd. If you are using rotational grazing, ideally,you would want enough to allow any one paddock to rest for 3 months. That may or may not be possible for you.
Am I okay having them with the chickens / pigs? I have never housed my goats with pigs, but they do fine with chickens. The main thing, is that you do NOT want your goats to eat chicken feed. It is too rich for them, and will make them very sick, very fast. I house my chickens in a separate coop, where the goats can't get in, but during the day, the chickens free range, and they get into the goat's area all the time. Everyone does fine. If I used the same barn for chickens and goats, I would create a chicken "stall" that the goats couldn't get into, and where the chickens could sleep/poop without being in the goat's area.
Should I consider milking them (is there a big market for it)? From what I can tell, the sale of raw milk without a license is illegal in your state, so if you milk, it could only be for personal use, or you would be selling illegally. There may be ways around that, like herd shares. Some states allow that loophole, and others don't. You'd have to do some research on that. As for demand, I know that if I had more milk to supply, I'd have a demand for it.
What about rotating the swine through (no larger than a couple hundred pounds each)? Can they graze together, or should I keep them separate? I would think that smaller pigs would be fine with goats, but that might be something you'd have to experiment with.
Must they be milked daily as if not we run the risk of them drying up? Yes. You need to milk at LEAST once a day. Most people milk twice a day. Any less, and you start to risk drying up, and also things like mastitis.