We have this Alpine (possibly French Alpine) with these weird bumps on her udder. We did a mastitis check and it came back clean. She has not kidded yet. Colostrum came out when we did the test. We read somewhere it could be milk under the skin?? Has anyone encountered this??

Hello everyone! I'm just curious how you all handle dipping your dairy goats (for pests). Do you do it while they are lactating or wait till they're done?

Edit: I mean dipping to kill and protect against pests.

I have zero knowledge of goats and have never owned them. However, I would like to have a small herd of dairy goats. I have about 1/2 - 3/4 acre which I can dedicate to the goats. So, I’m looking for something small (the smaller the better) but also cold weather hardy as I’m in the Northern Midwest. Can anyone recommend a breed to get started with? Thank you.

Hey y’all,

So I showed a meat goat this year through my schools FFA, he lived at the barn so I had access to wash racks, blowers, razors, treadmills, etc. I’m a senior so this was my only year showing through my school.

With that being said I’m showing a dairy goat next year independently. I have found a ranch of someone who has goats to rent space out for my goat to stay while I’m at college so she’ll have a heard and shelter, I’ll be going over their twice daily to feed, water, etc.

I’m trying to figure out what supplies I need to get that I don’t already have from my other goat, and what I need that’s different from meat goats. Any info helps, I’m going in completely blind knowing nothing about dairy goats and I have no advisor to guide me.

Thanks in advance.

Here’s what’s in my kidding bag, what’s in yours? https://youtu.be/-MMeQfQSAnM?si=ASLMjMnz1eU3icIr

Hi everyone! I wanted to see why everyone chose dairy goats! What type of dairy goats do you have and do you use them for dairy or are they just pets? I raise registered Nubians for milk and show and absolutely love it! If you are ever interested in seeing how we run things in our farm we are on most social media platforms at full moon farm or full moon creamery and we are on YouTube! https://youtube.com/@fullmooncreamery?si=HaSSka3c2YevMQGv Please share your farm name with me and what platform I can find you on ♥️

I'd love to get your opinion of my video Our farm is trying to promote itself for our forthcoming kidding season and keep a high interest as we produce out cheese and lotion for the coming year. Thank you so much! https://youtu.be/BK1hygpycUA?si=kd0MlwN6QfP-zGR1

Has anyone has experience with pseudopregnancy with their goat? My female goat hasn’t been bread yet and she hasn’t been exposed to an in tact male but her utter seems to have filled up and is firm. Any advice on this? Our vet that sees goats won’t be reachable until Monday so I just want to make sure it’s not something that needs immediate attention. Thank you so much!

Hello,

I do not have goats, but I’m hoping to have a few in the next couple of years after I get land and have all of the provisions they need all set up. I’m doing as much research as possible so I can decide if this is a good animal for me and if I can provide them with a good life. I hope to raise primarily dairy goats. All goat kids that don’t make the cut will be for meat.

While doing my research there seem to be some conflicting information on goat diet/ nutrition.

I understand that goats are browsing animals, they need their minerals, look out for parasites, etc., all the good basics.

What I’m wondering is do goats actually need grain in their diet? I read some studies/ articles/ first hand accounts that are very pro grain and pro feeding mostly grain. Then on the flip side there is a lot of information saying ‘no grain, they’re ruminants and too much will give them bloat’.

In the same theme, while looking at browsing material (I hope to silvopasture) I see ‘goats can (and love eating) poison oak, ivy and all sorts of sumac’. Then there are a bunch of sources saying ‘sumac is toxic and bad, don’t let goats injest it at all’.

I’m trying to stick to more research based articles about all of this, but at the same time who am I to deny the experience of a farmer that’s been dealing with goats since they slid out of the womb?

Any thoughts or experiences that you guys have on the matter are appreciated.

So we got our Great Pyrenees as a 3mo old puppy and she instantly clicked with our pure white alpine. They would snuggle and clean each other. She’s now full grown (not fixed) and our white alpine has 2 kids (4mo old) and we’re trying to wean them. Here are the warning signs that I’ve noticed -Dog is sometimes NOT hungry for days -When she doesn’t eat for a day I’ll put a very tiny amount of milk on her kibble and she’ll eat it right away -Goat was separated from her kids all day yesterday and she had a fraction of what she usually produces -I caught dog licking her teats yesterday and the goat did not mind one bit. My husband thinks I’m crazy, but I’ve got no other explanation.

Does anyone have a small business outline for starting a small herd goat dairy

Nowadays milk delivery often conjures the image of a young boy working part time who is a goody two shoes. However I learned the first James Bond, Sean Connery, worked as a milkman in his first job. Sean Connery is often seen as the icon of the working class especially in the UK and to this day even outside the UK as a symbol of the rags to riches story of anybody who made it big as a movie star. COnnery is seen as one of the most masculine icons of the entertainment industry back when he was still active.

So it makes me wonder, how hard is delivering milk as a job? Is it as easy as people often assume nowadays? Connery despite working as a milkman in his first job was never mocked for it in the UK and was doing that dairy job even already made the average Brits feel like they had an affinity with him especially those living in farm regions. I'm really curious.

Hi!
I am creating a proposal for my college's animal science to department to add a small (~5 head) dairy goat herd to our farm. I was wondering about how much/often I would go through teat dip. I need to create a finance chart and its one of the things that I havent had much luck finding an answer for.....

His name is Durin.

We have 3 does on our little farm that were born in late winter. They are mixed breeds as far as I know, medium in size, but apparently they are from milking does... (they were a CL purchase and didn't come with any information other than their approximate time of birth) All that to say, I have a friend with a pedigree alpine male who makes great babies. She has offered free stud services! But are my girls too small for an alpine? They are not mini goats by any standard, but they are certainly not that big. The last thing I want is to hurt them or put them in danger by breeding them with a larger buck... I would post a photo, but reddit hates me for some reason and doesn't post my photos 😮‍💨 I would love your thoughts and any ideas or knowledge from those of you who have cross bred goats.

I have been raising dairy goats since 2015. Right now we have alpines but we're looking for Saanens and Toggenburgs for diversification. I'm always interested in learning more about dairy goats so I'm in lots of FB groups where people post pictures and share info about their dairy goats.

Since this is a venture I plan to do in my lifetime, I decided to start a blog and write about dairy goats. I wrote a few articles and left it due to other commitments but I'm now ready to actively post new articles.

I need your help on topics I should write about. I have my content plan ready but I don't mind starting with topics that will interest dairy goat lovers.