If you have goats on your homestead, you’ve likely wondered about how difficult it might be to breed them and to deal with a pregnant doe. Luckily, all it takes is a little bit of extra attention and care to make sure your pregnant does are well cared for. Giving them access to plenty of… [read more]

When it comes to dairy animals, it seems that most people are either cow people or goat people. I wanted to be both. When we moved to the country in 2002, I wanted to have goats for “goat cheese,” which is more correctly called chévre, and I wanted cows for milk and butter. We started… [read more]

That is the question! When you have a goat herd for the purpose of milking, you will need kids. Without kids, your does will not produce milk. Simple as that. In order to get kids, you’ll need to breed your does. A decision will need to be made of whether or not to keep your… [read more]

Goats can fall into two categories: those that are polled and those that are not. A polled goat is naturally born without horns, a recessive trait. These babies have a soft spot on their heads where the horns would otherwise be. When your kids are born with horns you need to consider dis-budding. Usually, it’s best to dis-bud… [read more]

We jumped in without even looking, really. We spent nearly 20 minutes on research, and asked just a few questions and felt we were ready. We just knew we wanted goats. I mean, we became parents without any prior knowledge or experience, and our kids turned out okay, right? Well, turns out that goats just… [read more]

Are you wondering how to get started with goats on your homestead? Well, you’re not the only one – after chickens, goats are the fastest growing livestock animal in the US today. They’re becoming very popular on homesteads because they’re easy to care for and useful. They don’t require pastures, are easily handled and housed,… [read more]