We’re Getting Goats!
This is the first blog post in a series documenting our journey as first-time goat owners with ZERO experience.
This is not our goat. We bring this goat hay.
Exciting things are coming into our life. Exciting little fuzzy things that go bleat.
Over the winter we finally made the decision to get goats. We’ve been toying with the idea for several years, but just didn’t feel ready, financially or otherwise, to take on more animals (we just have the 2 dogs). Now that we’re finally starting to feel a little more settled, and have finished some big projects, it feels like time to take this on.
These goats are not going to be pets, but meat goats (if all goes according to plan).
Why Are We Getting Meat Goats?
We’ve decided on goats for a few different reasons. We’ve read that they’re a great first “farm” animal to get your feet wet, and they’ll also be well-suited to our land, which has some open pasture, but also a good deal of brushy/wooded area that we would like to keep from growing up. They’re also relatively small and therefore will be easy to butcher. Here are the 3 top reasons we’re trying out goats:
We Only Want to Eat Local, Humanely Raised Meat
We like to know where our meat comes from and to be conscious of its travel miles. We want to know how the animals were raised and that they had a good life in their natural element with plenty of food and activity. We try to buy as much of our meat (and eggs) as we can from local farms that we trust and know are doing right by the animals and the land they manage.
If we had more money we’d just pay a local farmer to raise all of our meat for us and we’d be more than happy contracting that out to someone who’s doing it to make a living. We’d keep a couple of sheep or goats as pets and lawnmowers. But, since we have to keep our budget in check, we’re going to try raising some of our meat ourselves.
Quality Local Meat is Expensive, and It Should Be
Buying all local meat can be costly. Even eating a lot of conventional animal products can be hard on the budget. We don’t actually eat very much meat at all compared to the average American, and it’s still expensive on a single income because we buy most of it from local farmers. We get why people just buy the industrial chicken at $0.99/lb. It’s cheap (we still buy our chicken at Costco).
One point to highlight, though, is that local meat is not ‘expensive’ in the big picture Yes, when you compare prices at the farmers market and the grocery store, there is going to be a clear winner. But that’s because the grocery store food is undervalued and subsidized. When you buy local food, you are paying the actual value that the food is worth- for the farmers’ time, labor, the land, the animal’s feed, vet bills, etc, etc, etc,. Factory farmed food is so cheap because it is subsidized by the government (meaning you’re paying for it with your taxes instead of at the grocery store) and because the environment is paying for it.
Local food costs more because it more accurately reflects the true cost of food. Trust me, your neighbor farmer is not getting rich by selling you his beef. It’s barely covering their expenses and they don’t have a retirement plan and probably don’t have health insurance either. But they farm because they believe in it, love it, and know it’s the right thing to do.
If we raise and slaughter even just a portion of our meat ourselves, that has the potential to really positively impact our budget and our diets with lean protein. We’ll be able to see how it plays out over the next year or two. After watching a few videos it looks like we could expect a ballpark of ~30lbs of meat per goat. If we raise two goats this first year that’d provide us with 60lbs for the freezer! That goes a long way between the two of us.
Goats also have the potential to impact our budget by providing us with milk, but that will be far down the road, (not this year) if that ever happens. We’ll have to see how it goes first, and if we like having them around.
For the Benefit to Our Land
Our land has been used as pasture for a very, very long time.
The goats won’t just provide meat, but will also help us with land management. Before we built our house, our land was grazed by cows and horses, which kept the brush down. In the last several years, the brush has started the grow back up now that the animals have had to move to other pasture.
We’ll use the goats to help control brush, and maybe even some invasive weeds we have trouble with. We plan to rotate them around the property.
Their manure will also be great for the garden. Turning brambles into fertilizer!
Why Start with Meat Goats?
One of the reasons raising goats appeals to us (besides their friendly dog-like personality, forest management ability, and compost production) is that this project has an end date. Both of us enjoy our leisure time and the laziness of winter. If we were raising goats as pets we’d be forced to carry them through the winter feeding hay and thawing water for potentially the next decade, and we’re not even sure if we like goats (although I’m pretty sure. Andy, however, is not sold). This lets us get our feet wet, and learn how to tend to “farm” animals with an experiment that will come to an end before winter.
Then we can take time and reflect - do we even like raising animals? Are we highly allergic to them? Is this something we want to do again? Do we want to get more involved in keeping and raising our own herd? This would save some money in the long run, but requires much more time and effort every day of the year. It’s another thing to do and learn. Additionally, keeping pets carries a cost and we don’t need another money-sucking dependant at the moment. They need to serve a purpose other than entertainment; we have enough to keep ourselves occupied as it is.
What About Infrastructure?
Last spring, one of our dogs, Spud, was getting on our last nerve and we built him a large (¾ acre) fenced-in playpen, or dog prison, whatever you want to call it. He’s a wanderer and a barker, both things that have been incredibly difficult to train out of him, although he has slowly been getting better.
Knowing that the pen was going to be ridiculously expensive and that the dog might not even use it*, we built it for double-duty: we used sheep fencing so it could possibly someday hold sheep or goats. As you can see we’ve been serious about this whole goat thing for a while. I’ve been slowly wearing Andy down since we were in High School.
We’ll get some electro-net for pasturing them outside the fenced area and Andy will build them a house. Nothing fancy; ideally it will be free or semi-free made out of scraps from the barn. We’re still figuring out exactly what it will be. Nothing like waiting until the last minute; our goats are probably going to be born next week.
Fortunately, we have access to some very nice hay
Are We Sure We’re Ready For This?
No. Absolutely not. But we weren’t prepared for what' was to come when we got the dogs, or built the house, or got married, or started our business. We figured it out anyways. We both work best under a little bit of pressure and chaos. Just a little.
And we certainly aren’t going in blind- we believe in heavily researching what we do. We’ve been reading, watching videos, and talking to people we know who own or have owned goats and other livestock. But you’re never going to feel ready.
And who knows what this little experiment may lead to? Nothing, because we can’t bring ourselves to kill Steven and Meatball? Do we continue to raise a few kids for meat regularly? Keep a mom and pop and breed our own? Develop a customer base and turn into a goat farm? WHO KNOWS? But we won’t know till we try!
Keep watching for updates on the goats and how we’re preparing. I’ll keep adding blog posts to this series and there will be plenty of fuzzy babies on Instagram, so be sure to follow us @OurLifeinFlannel.
*I know you’re dying to know, and no, the dog does not use the pen. We tried to make it a fun place to be in the beginning, with toys, snacks, and a place to lay down, and they were just too bored. They knew there was a big world outside the fence. And it didn’t take long before he found a hole and was able to weasel his way out, so for months the pen was useless until we finally caught Mr. Houdini in the act and found the hole.
We still put him in there when he’s being extra barky or has been wandering a little too much, and he lasts about 20 minutes before he gets bored and just sits next to the gate like a sad sack. It’s also helpful for letting him enjoy the summer breeze but keeping him from chasing us down the driveway, but so far not worth the $1500. Would not recommend.
