What looked like was going to be a bummer day turned out to be great. Instead of going to the zoo with a friend and her little one, I stayed home, finished Aaron's quilt top, made new curtains for Gloria's new room and FOUND OUR GOATS! I had decided to do a little internet search to see what was out there and how far we would have to drive to get this special breed of goat. Turns out a woman only about a hour away has a 4 year old mom (who has always born twins) who is most likely pregnant and one of her babies who is almost a year old. She's just tired of goats and is selling them really cheeply!
So, I spent the rest of the day, after calling Randy and having him practically dance around his office, getting things ready for them. Its almost like becoming parents... you're ready, but there's always a little more you need to do before that baby is born! I got the electric fence charger, dog collars (these are Nigerian Dwarf goats and quite small) and chains, a mineral lick, and a bag of grain.
Grain. Yup. Its so hard to know how to handle this. We've read tons of material about the benefits of grass-fed animals and their meat and milk. But these goats have been given grain every day of their lives. Talking with an old-time farmer (who is not quite so hip to the new grass-fed movement), he found it very unwise to take a pregnant goat off grain and also poo-poo-ed the idea of a lactating mother on a grass-only diet on account of the low fat content of feed versus the high fat content of the milk being produced. So I did some research and learned that plant life is full of fat... Omega 3 fats. This puts the milk fat into proper balance with the Omega 6 fats. Grain makes milk fat almost entirely Omega 6s- and not so healthy. But NOWHERE could I find anyone telling us HOW or WHEN to switch them off grain and onto all grass.
So our research continues. Not just with plants this time, but with real live goats. Cute, cuddly, potentially hugely profitable goats. And we don't really know what we're doing.
Anyone out there got any advice???
2 comments:
Have you been to Angela (Garone) Sunderamurthy's (sp) blog? It is a xanga blog under the username Japangela, but it's private, so you have to request to view it. Anyway, she and her husband have had some goats (and chickens)...I don't think that they have as much of a formal plan as you, but she might be able to offer some insight as a recent first-time goat owner.
No advice whatsoever, but I'm glad you have a good reason for miniature livestock, and I wish you every success.
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