Goatastic

One of the new animals that we purchased this year were goats. We were hesitant to get them at first, mostly due to some misconceptions. After doing some research using books, the internet and my cousin (who has goats) we decided to get some. Here are some things that we learned: goats in general do not smell, the intact males (bucks) during rut do have quite the aroma, but that is to attract the females (kind of like a goat cologne). Goat meat is 50-65% less in fat than beef and has a similar protein content...goat meat also has 40% less saturated fat than chicken (even with skin removed). Did you know that 65 - 70% of all red meat eaten in the world is goat meat? Also more people in the world consume goat milk than cow milk. Goat milk has smaller fat globules than cows milk and is more easily digested....it can often be successfully replaced by people who are alergic to cows milk. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of babies. On our farm we have Boer goats (meat goats) and a couple of Alpine goats (they are dairy goats). The dairy goat was exposed to a buck during the month of April and the early days of May. Goats have a 150 day gestation period, however Pasha had some problems in the month of July and may have had a miscarriage. We have been keeping a close eye on her to watch for signs of an upcoming birth. She hasnt gone into heat, which would be a good sign that she lost the baby, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that she was bred late April or early May and will kid (Give birth soon). This is our plan for the babies: any doelings (girls) that we think will add good qualities to the herd will be kept, bucklings (boys) will be castrated at which time they are called wethers and will be used for meat. Castration so far has been fairly simple. We have castrated 2 of our goats so far (they will be butchered later this fall). The device slips a really tight rubber band on their testicles, the testicles shrink and eventually fall off after about a month. It sounds harsh but we dont want any unplanned breeding going on and using the Elastrator seemed kinder than the other castration methods. The boys did pout for a while, who wouldn't??? I have been keeping track of the heat cycles for the does. The one that we now know is bred is due on January 18, 2009. It seems a long way away, but with the way the days fly by now it will be here before we now it! Dont worry, the goats wont be cold. We made some stalls in the barn this spring/summer and have lots of nice warm straw for them to sleep in. Two of the other does, Roseanne & Paprika may also be bred and are tentatively due sometime in early January but we will be watching for any heat signs. If they do go back into heat they will get to go on another date to see the buck :DOn another subject the weather is still really cool for this time of year in Iowa. We hope that its not a sign that we are in store for another snowy cold winter! Here is a picture of how it was last year.....Barbara this snow is for you!