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Raising Goats for Prep | The
Perfect SHTF Livestock
ByKaty Lighton May 30, 2014
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Raising goats for preparedness
In my opinion, goats are the perfect stock for homesteading and prepping.
They take the advantage over other options primarily due to their ability to
subsist on very basic pasture and browse, unlike cows, who require
significantly more grain, grass and additional forage in order to maintain
optimum weight and output. While a cows will provide a greater volume ofmeat and milk, I believe the other disadvantages outweigh this. Cows can,
and will, challenge fences for entertainment value, require a greater area for
living space and shelter, and are far harder to handle for routine care.
Goats, however, are relatively easy keepers, and will be as happy and
productive kept in a mostly wooded area as they will on acres of pasture. In
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fact, with access to woodland and browse, they will essentially self-
medicate, finding plants and fauna to settle an upset rumen, or treat a
parasite issue. They will, of course, require human intervention with
medications if their issues become out of hand, but given the opportunity,
they will often forage a solution alone.
Under correct conditions, with adequate pasture rotation, goats require little
in the way of prepping for their keep, and can be maintained fairly easily
without the addition of feeds or grains. Indeed, goats are happier with access
to browse leaves, branches, other ground growing plants than they are
when presented with acres of lush grass. The barks, leaves and rough stems
of the plants found growing in wooded areas take longer to digest in the
rumen and therefore help them to stay warm in cold weather and stay full
longer. They are straightforward in their requirements for housing; a simplethree sided barn with a soft floor, which provides shelter from the wind and
rain, will keep them happy. However, goats do hate to be wet and production
will drop significantly if they expend their energy, shivering and trying to
keeping warm.
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Raising Goats Breeds:
While there are breeds that are generally intended for either milk (Nigerians)
or meat (Boers/ Pygmys), there are those which will provide a good deal of
both. Saanensand Nubiansare good and popular examples of such breeds;
does are heavy milk producers, providing a family with up to two gallons of
milk a day, which can also be made into cheese and other dairy products,and extra bucks can be wethered (castrated, an easy at-home, two minute
process) and raised for meat. The wethering process helps to keep the meat
tender and reduce the bucky taste it can otherwise have if the males are left
intact. Also, bucks tend to run to more muscle than meat, making the result
tougher and needing a longer cooking time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Dwarf_(goat)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer_goathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_goathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saanen_goathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Nubianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Dwarf_(goat)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer_goathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_goathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saanen_goathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Nubian8/9/2019 Raising Goats for Prep
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There is a third option, but you will likely lose out in the milk department:
Angoras. This adorable breed, which is of medium size (bucks are around
125-175lbs, does generally 80-100), is both a reasonably sized meat animal
and an excellent fiber producer. The fiber can either be felted or spun to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angora_goathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angora_goat8/9/2019 Raising Goats for Prep
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provide the means to make clothing and even footwear. They can be
somewhat more high maintenance than dairy breeds, with greater tendencies
towards parasites, particularly external ones, and if you give them access to
brush and woodland while they are in coat, youll be picking VM (vegetable
matter) out of the fiber for days.
That or youll lose the entire fleece because you have to field shear it from
the goat who is irretrievably stuck in thorn bushes, deep in the woods. Ask
me how I know this. However, in conditions designed to preserve their fiber,
the Angora goat is spectacularly efficient at producing volumes of fiber
which can then be washed, carded and spun for use in a variety of clothing
and household items.
Gestation for goats is between 145-151 days, and the large breeds tend to be
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mono- estrus, meaning that they cycle, or come into season, during a fixed
period, usually late summer through early-mid winter. Good quality stock
will milk right through the next breeding, only drying up briefly during the
last 30-45 days of pregnancy. With proper planning, and a large enough
herd, milk can be on tap all year. Does with good bloodlines and provenhardiness should be chosen, and preferably two bucks from unrelated lines.
Having just one buck puts all your eggs in one basket, and I am a huge
proponent of never having just one breeding male, be it chickens, goats or
cattle.
Twice now I have found myself losing a male to sickness or a predator, and
been left trying to source a good quality breeding male in short order. It
almost always happens when season is about to start, when prices are
highest. In a non-survival situation this is irritating and expensive, and if youwere in a time where travel and internet connection was not possible, it
would be even worse. So plan ahead for those annoying occurrences. Also,
while line-breeding isnt the end of the world, and can even be beneficial in
some circumstances, you will eventually see a decline in the quality of your
milkers if you wind it too tight for too long.
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Therefore, having a couple of diversely bred bucks is helpful in the long
term. Bear in mind that while registered stock is usually preferable, in a
prepping situation, papers are worthless. Rather, for these means, choose
heavy milkers, paying close attention to the dairy scores on their pedigrees.
Herds who have participated in the DHIR or milk testing program through
the ADGA (American Dairy Goat Association) will give you a good idea of
the does production capacity. There is a significant and noticeable
difference among various qualities of blood line as it regards milkproduction, and you will do well to do your research before purchasing.
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baby in!
While goats are pretty self-sufficient, there are a handful of medications you
should probably have on hand in their very own prep box. A simple teat dip,
to keep the milking process sanitary and to prevent ingress of bacteria into
the udder, can be made with a mixture of water, rubbing alcohol and tea tree
oil. To your box, also consider adding LA200 and PenG (antibiotics),
Today and Tomorrow (mastitis treatments), BoSe (selenium supplement),Maalox (for upset rumens), C&D antitoxin (in case of plant poisoning or
enterotoxemia), activated charcoal and Vitamin B complex. There are many
other things that you would have in a perfect world, but these are simply the
things I would have as a bare minimum.
But for all this to work, for the goats to fit into your prepping plans and to
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add real value to them, as opposed to creating more work, it is imperative to
buy quality stock. Low quality animals may come with existing illnesses that
cause them to have problems kidding, produce weak kids, bring sickness
onto your property, or even transmit illness to your family through the meat
or milk. Responsible breeders usually test for common illnesses such asCAE, CL and Johnes, and keep reliable records of antibiotics given and
other medical issues. By reviewing all this before you purchase, you will
give yourself the very best chance of having a thriving farmstead to add to
your prepping arsenal.
Read more from Katy at Poppy Creek Farm!
http://poppycreekfarm.com/http://poppycreekfarm.com/