 |
[RC] Pastures and Goats - kinda long - Ridecamp GuestPlease Reply to: Anita Messenger libertymtn@xxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== Our family has been using/breeding goats since 1980 - at one time we had all five registered breeds, and were running upwards of 200 head. We had milking machines/parlor, the whole works, and showed in a five state area. We are now down to just a handful of milkers for the house, and ended up keeping the Alpines. My husband does all the milking now - by hand. We sold the machines last year. We have milk customers who buy the milk for making goat cheese (I make cheese, too) - we get $6 a gallon for it, and they buy 5 to 8 gallons every few days. It helps with the feed bill. :-) These girls are two gallon a day milkers. They have the full run of our farm plus the woods all around us. The horses and cattle are all used to them, and the goats are an integral part of keeping our pastures clean, healthy and fertilized. We rarely have to bushhog. They are also an integral part of our parasite control. Our's are handled so they are not wild. We have been breeding/showing/using Great Pyrenees dogs since 1980. One of our girls even made the Hall of Fame (Liberty Mtn. Sweet Shasta HOF). We haven't had any registered litters in almost 10 years now, though. The last couple of years, one of our registered girls bred to our neighbor's big pussy cat Aussie. The pups turned out looking like Pyrs! Big, too! We kept two males, and neutered one. The other one bred our other registered Pyr, and the 3/4 pups we got out of that are turning into TERRIFIC working dogs! They stay with the goats, and are so smart and good tempered. They, too, look pretty much like Pyrs except the one girl has ice blue eyes (from the Aussie side). We call her Frankie (Frank Sinatra). Some of the other pups got the blue eyes, too. We have found the Pyrs to be excellent for traveling with - they are good with the horses, etc., but if you have some scary guy walk up to your vehicle while you are gassing up (we've had that happen several times), they think twice about bothering you once the dog makes it's presence known. A *good* Pyr is hard to beat, but there are a lot of *trash* Pyrs out there now. You can find some through Pyr rescues, too. We've done some rescuing in years past. We were the first and only ones in our state for a long time. Pyrs have no trouble keeping up with the horses on the trail, either. They are also excellent pack dogs with the ability to carry more than half their body weight. If anyone would like to know more about Pyrs, please email me privately. We also have miniature dachshunds. We only have one right now - she's the *house* dog, but loves to travel with us. In fact, her whole goal in life is to be as close to my body as she can get no matter what I'm doing. LOL! This particular female Doxie is very quiet and not as *outgoing* as a male we had. Where he loved to hang out the car window and bark at other dogs, she prefers not to be anywhere near the window unless we are not moving at all. She doesn't like the wind in her face like he did. And she doesn't like drawing attention to herself from other dogs. When we go trail riding, the Doxies have ALWAYS kept up with us with no problem despite their short legs! So, if you shop around, you will find that not all Doxies are alike. Neither are the Pyrs. A *good* Pyr should be very even tempered, tolerating even small children poking around on them. In fact, our's CRAVE attention from people even if it's a child picking on them. LOL! We don't have any trouble with them with our barn cats (the cats use them for nice hairy warm beds in the winter), poultry, goats, horses, cattle, children, etc. They keep varmints and predators off of our place, and if you are out riding and run into a bear or something, the Pyrs are going to defend you (and very effectively, too) instead of running away. Kathy, I hope you find some good goats to bring into your animal family - we think they are GREAT! :-) We bred/showed reg. Suffolk sheep for a few years, and later had the hair sheep (Katahdin), but we would take a goat over a sheep ANY day. We've not had any sheep on the place for two years now, and we don't miss them at all...except in the freezer. LOL! Anita in Arkansas http://libertymtnranch.faithweb.com http://endurancemorab.8k.com I am fairly convinced I will be getting a couple Boer Goats. My only problem now is I can't find any!!! They seem to be sold out any place I call or they want upwards of $300 each. I don't need (nor want) registered show goats. Just good trash collectors. :-) There are alot more pros to goats then cons it seems. So any one who e-mailed me who said they were in the same situation, there were more folks who suggested goats then Tractors. I am such an animal lover I'll use any excuse to get another one :-) Kathy R - SE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|