New Goat Times

Hello out there in the world. I am going to make it a point to do some blog entries about my experience taking care of our milk goats and some of my struggles and solutions that I have encountered along the hilarious path!

For starters I would like to profess my goals in goat husbandry. I am beginning a long journey towards the creation of the perfect homesteading goat. This is going to involve selective cross breeding for traits such as...

• Hardiness to weather and disease
• Ideal teat shape for hand milking
• Strong foraging instincts
• Milk quality (taste and butterfat)
• Milk quantity 
• Friendly and easy to handle 
• Medium size
• And packed with personality!! 

This is going to involve incorporating three main breeds in my program.

• Toggenburg - This old and wise breed of goat hails from the valleys of Switzerland and is considered one of the oldest and purest breed of European milk goats. They are extremely hardy and have very good milk production. They have a calm demeanor.
• La Mancha - This exotic breed is from Spain but was developed for the most part in the United States in the early 1900's. It is noted for its lack of ears, dubbed 'gopher ears'. They have extremely high milk production and very high butterfat. They also have a bubbly goofy personality.
• Nigerian Dwarf - This small spunky breed came to the united states from Africa initially being bred as Lion food! However, they are much more valued as milk goats due to their convenient size, intelligence, plucky attitude and extremely high butterfat.

 Stay tuned for updates on the ladies and our journey towards milk goat excellence!