Raising Goats for Beginners


Raising goats for beginners starts with getting as much information as you can on the subject. If you are lucky enough to have an experienced goatherd nearby they may help you with your questions and setting up. You need a large piece of land for goats to appease their roaming and need to play. If you have a farm already, that is a good start. Fencing should be about six feet high to keep them from jumping out. If there is no shelter, you will need to build them one so they can be dry and warm when they need it for when you need to contain them in a smaller space.

Do you want to start with young goats or some adults that are already pregnant? It is easier with the older goats that are pregnant already. I would recommend you keep does (females) and castrate any males you get when they are born. Especially if you want them for meat or milk. Keeping an adult male (buck, billy) requires experience and they will make the meat of others and milk have a musky taste if they are in with the does. It is best to take your does to someone who has a buck they use for breeding than to have one on the farm.

Feeding is done with grain and hay to make most of their food, Picking on a field is for their entertainment, they need the extra food to produce milk and grow if you are using some of them for meat. You should research breeds to see which is better for your plans. Nubians are nice and docile most of the time and they are good producers too.

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