While chickens are often considered "gateway livestock," goats seem to validate our dreams of living a healthy, more sustainable life. Goats provide milk, meat, manure for the garden, brush clearing services... it's no wonder they are popular homestead animals.
Goats come with a learning curve though, and sometimes it can be steep. I've gathered all of my goat resources here in one place to hopefully straighten out the learning curve a bit for you.
Scroll down to find them all by topic.
How I started with goats
Two years before we moved to Oak Hill, we added two young female goats to our one-acre suburban lot. I didn't have to think twice about which breed I wanted, those long Nubian ears won me over right away.
A year later I bought Chloe, an Alpine doe. This time I was searching for a female goat in milk rather than a certain breed. I had never milked a goat before, and I decided I'd better learn how on a goat who knew the drill instead of a goat who had just had her first baby and had never been on a milkstand before.
I'm so thankful I did that; it really helped me to be successful with my daity goats.
We moved - with our three doe goats - to Oklahoma in 2004. I built up my dairy herd to sixteen by keeping the most promising female kids.
I wanted to raise my dairy goats as naturally as possible. I didn't want to pump them full of chemicals and regular deworming drugs - I don't want those chemicals and antibiotics in the goat milk that my family would drink.
There wasn't much information about raising dairy goats naturally, so I learned a lot by trial and error and from other like-minded goat-raising homesteaders. I'm hoping to pass on to you as much of this natural goat raising knowledge as I can.
After I lost my herd in a barn fire in 2012, sweet friends gave me baby goats from their own herds - 3 female goat kids and a buck (male kid) - so I could start over. Those friends blessed me in so many ways, and I hope that I can pay it forward to you through my writing.
Small herd recordkeeping - free printables
Even if you only have two goats, you need to keep track of the last time they were dewormed and vaccinated, had their hooves trimmed, and when they were bred.
Multiply all that by the number of goats in your herd and oh my, there's a lot to keep track of.
My set of goat printable forms will help you keep up with all the information about your small herd (or your bigger herd). And the forms are free!
Scroll down to find the link to the free printable goat record-keeping forms.
Goat Due Date Calculator
You'll find the goat due date calculator (goat gestation calculator) here. Scroll down that post to find the calculator.
Questions?
The articles below will help you keep happy, healthy goats, but if you have a question that isn't answered here, I hope you'll email me. I read every email, although sometimes it takes a day or two for me to get back to you.
The Benefits of Raising Goats on Your Homestead
- Why You Should Have Goats on Your Homestead
- Raising Livestock for Self-Sufficiency
- How to Choose the Goat Breed that Meets Your Homestead's Needs
How to Get Started with Goats
The Basics of Goat Keeping
- The Most Effective Fencing to Keep Goats In Their Pen
- The 10 Basic Items You Must Have on Hand Before You Bring Home Your First Goat
- When to Breed Your Goat
- Supplies You Need to Have for Your Goat Herd
- Caring for Your Goats through the Changing Seasons
Kidding
- Goat Due Date Calculator
- The Subtle Signs that Your Goat is Ready to Kid (with video)
- What to Keep in Your Kidding Kit
- A Difficult Goat Kidding
Caring for Goat Kids
Milking Your Goat
- 8 Tips to Train Your Goat to Behave on the Milk Stand
- How Changing My Milking Routine Changed My Life
- The Hows and Whys of Once-A-Day Milking
- 6 Must-Have Items You Need to Milk Your Goat
- How to Dry Off Your Dairy Goat; Why You Can't Just Walk Away
How to Store and Use Goat Milk
- Tips for the Best-Tasting Goat Milk
- 8 Ways to Use Goat Milk
- How to Store Goat Milk to Keep it Fresh
- How to Make Yogurt at Home (and Save Money)
- Lemon Cheese (National Goat Cheese Month)
- How to Make Ricotta Cheese (National Goat Cheese Month)
- How to Make Mozzarella Cheese from Goat Milk
- How to Make Chevre Cheese with Goat Milk
- Making Soap with Goat Milk: What You Need to Get Started
- Goat Milk Soap Making posts
Goat Health
- What to Keep in Your Livestock First Aid Kit
- How to Make Dosage Balls for Goats, the easy way to give medications and herbal preparations
- Pinkeye in Goats - What It Is and How to Treat It Naturally
- Keeping Your Goats Cool in the Hot Summer Months
- Small Herd Recordkeeping including free printables
More related posts
If you have a question or a problem that isn't addressed here, feel free to contact me. Please include your email address so I can contact you directly.
Sign up below to receive the link for your FREE printable goat record-keeping forms.
Please note that sometimes it takes an hour or so to receive the email with the link to the free printables. Please check your junk and spam folders... and if it isn't there, please be patient for a bit. But if you still don't receive it, please contact me here and let me know. Thank you!
Goat Records Pack
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