Originally we considered keeping a cow for our milk supply but always wanting to be self- reliant we would have had to keep a bull as well and that would not have been cost effective so to achieve our aims we opted to keep goats.
We have a mixed breed herd of goats with each having their own benefits. Our current herd consists of 12 goats ,10 does and two bucks. This number will hopefully triple once the kidding season starts (next week if all goes well).
Breeds we keep:
Saanan - One of largest milk goats producing up to five litres of milk a day. A strong, robust and healthy breed with a lovely temperament but their appetite is massive. Butterfat content of milk is @ 3-4% great for general use. Kept by us solely for the volume of milk produced.
Dwarf Nigerian - A compact and lively goat that has the advantage of coming into season on a 21-28 day cycle giving you the option of selecting your breeding patterns. Butterfat content of milk is @ 10%. Milk quality is excellent but (even from our milking lines) not vast but It is rich and creamy, tastes absolutely delicious and great for making butter, cheese and obviously cream. This is why we keep them. This breed has the highest butterfat level of all goats (I think!).
Mini Hollandi - Larger than the Nigerian and a good dual purpose goat. Butterfat content of milk @ 5-6%. We keep them for the same reason as the Nigerians.
Cameroon - A small goat but massive in character and my personal favourite. They cost next to nothing to keep, take up no room. We keep them solely for meat.
All surplus goats are sold, bartered or slaughtered for meat. As with all the animals we raise, when slaughtered nearly all the body parts are utilized for various things. One thing to note is goat intestines once cleaned make great sausage skins.
We walk the herd twice a day to browse but thankfully our LSGD is now trained and mature enough to look after them so once in situ (if we wish) we can safely leave them knowing they will be protected until our return.
Goats
Re: Goats
Good info there thank you for sharing.
We are hoping to move this year. Downsize the house, but ‘upsize’ the garden space to a few acres. We currently keep chickens and turkeys and are incubating something a little more exotic.
Goats are on my radar as with more room we can keep a wider range of livestock. We have kept 3 sheep before and 1 pig.
Cows do seem more of a faf and we would need bigger shelters as our weather is pretty wild.
Milk would be their primary ‘output’ but I would also keep some for meat like you.
I will check out the breeds you mention, cheers.
We are hoping to move this year. Downsize the house, but ‘upsize’ the garden space to a few acres. We currently keep chickens and turkeys and are incubating something a little more exotic.
Goats are on my radar as with more room we can keep a wider range of livestock. We have kept 3 sheep before and 1 pig.
Cows do seem more of a faf and we would need bigger shelters as our weather is pretty wild.
Milk would be their primary ‘output’ but I would also keep some for meat like you.
I will check out the breeds you mention, cheers.
Prepping for lifes little mishaps, and some of the bigger ones as well.
Re: Goats
Great post - I do think goats are much more suited for preppers than cows, and 12 is a really good size.
I'd love to hear more - do you need to get the vets out to them ever? How much shelter do they need in the winter? How much effort is the kidding? Hopefully this will become a goat diary
I'd love to hear more - do you need to get the vets out to them ever? How much shelter do they need in the winter? How much effort is the kidding? Hopefully this will become a goat diary

Re: Goats
Brought back so many happy memories on reading your post. We kept goats when our children were young, Sanaan, Toggenburg and British Alpine. Our kids (?) were reared on goats milk, they were incredibly strong as toddlers - we blamed the goats milk
. I found that the milk didn't keep long so we had pigs as well.
They are certainly full of character and fun to keep. They are also as you say good for weeds and rough areas. We had deep ditches for drainage of fields with steep banks, they were never so clean and working as well as when the goats grazed them.
There is a down side in that they can be mischievous, I have a heap of stories about the things they got up to and the trouble they caused, most of which had us bend double with laughter
.
We do sometimes wonder about getting some again but I reckon I'm past chasing them off the steading roof or scouring the countryside foe a missing goat. But maybe...

They are certainly full of character and fun to keep. They are also as you say good for weeds and rough areas. We had deep ditches for drainage of fields with steep banks, they were never so clean and working as well as when the goats grazed them.
There is a down side in that they can be mischievous, I have a heap of stories about the things they got up to and the trouble they caused, most of which had us bend double with laughter

We do sometimes wonder about getting some again but I reckon I'm past chasing them off the steading roof or scouring the countryside foe a missing goat. But maybe...
Re: Goats
A good solid meat goat is the Boer but they are hard to find and purchase here outside the big corporation farms.
We had a half share in a cow with a neighbour where we previously lived, an issue to bear in mind is that once killed there is a lot of meat to process in one go so you need storage/freezer space. We actually butchered the cow outside on the road (not something you could do in the UK) but common practice out here.
Vets out here (especially) rural ones are still in the James Herriot era and due to our location the nearest one is well over an hour away and will not travel. We have an animal first aid kit that a friendly vet assembled for us and we do all our own care, treatment and banding if required but the breeds we have are very hardy and healthy. The worse issue we had was when one of the bucks was mating, he slipped and ripped all his penile shaft open, that was fun dealing with but he fully recovered has been happily back (successfully) to his job since then.Arzosah wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2025 9:28 am Great post - I do think goats are much more suited for preppers than cows, and 12 is a really good size.
I'd love to hear more - do you need to get the vets out to them ever? How much shelter do they need in the winter? How much effort is the kidding? Hopefully this will become a goat diary![]()
Winters are harsh here temps @ -12C and often lower without the wind chill factor and snow can be several feet deep but goats develop a lovely long thick winter coat so cope well, we do double our health checks over winter especially on their hooves just in case of rot but the drainage in their outside pen area is good and they have plenty of raised areas to climb on to. Even though they are all out together during the day they are split into breed pens at night. Our fully enclosed breed pens are each @ 30 metre square but they also have a 120 metre square covered area with a concrete floor to use plus the access to the outside pen with the raised areas etc. that they play and sleep on during the day. With their two walks a day out to browse on the surrounding land under the watchful eyes of our LSGD they do well.
Kidding so far has gone well for us. Goats make a certain call when ready to birth and it always sets the geese off squawking and obviously the dog barking to tell us her charge may need help this is when if we had neighbours they would think we are mad as semi naked bodies rush from the house to the pens to ensure all goes well! We have a had a breech to deal with and one kid that did not feed in the first couple of hours but we expressed some of Mum's initial milk that they require for their immune system and bottle fed the kid then with encouragement it finally took to the teat.
We pressure can all our surplus milk and it lasts for ages. The USDA advises against doing this but experienced "Rebel" canners have been doing it for many years without an issue and it makes for lovely creamy bowl of porridge on these cold winter mornings!
You are spot on with the fun and laughter you get from keeping goats especially watching them go head to head with the other animals we have.