Hello folks,

I'm new to reddit - I came here to find people with real life experience with dairy goats.

As a disclaimer I do not have goats, I live in a townhouse in the city but my partner and I dream about starting a small scale farm. Something I hope to make reality in the next few years after further research, hands on experiences, and soul searching to ensure it's a good fit for my partner and I.

Dairy goats would be the end game - ideally we would focus on cheese production in the hopes of being able to produce delicious food for our community and generate sufficient income to keep at it, ideally, enough to eventually leave our regular jobs and focus soley on the property and animals.

My question for you experienced goat owners is what breed or crossbreed produces the best cheese at reasonably profitable volumes? I realize this is a broad question as an individual goat may produce more or less than another of it's same breed.

Thank you for your thoughts and opinions!

Anyone know where I can find vet insurance, and a vet that can do at house visits for goats?

I've been considering getting a couple of goats for up keeping my backyard and want to know if there's any changes that would need to be made and if they even suit my needs.

I have an acre of forest for my backyard with a steep hill in the middle cleanly dividing it into a top and bottom half. Because of the trees and how steep the hill is, I can't control the growth of the plants and natural herbivores can't do it either because I have a 5 and a half foot chain link fence. But I think introducing 2 goats to help manage everything could work to solve this problem. However, I don't want to rush in with this decision. Like I mentioned, I have a good chunk of land that should be enough space for 2 goats, a fairly tall fence they shouldn't be able to climb, and there's also an empty shed on the top half that can be their shelter

I have 2 sisters & I love them. They’re about 8 months old & I can’t get them to quit jumping on my house & on my doors! I’m guessing bcz they see the dogs go in & out & see us go inside. Sometimes they’ll go off & graze but they are persistent when I let them out in the morning especially. We have big windows & they jump up to stare at us 🤣😂 I’m afraid of them busting a window! Then when it gets later in the afternoon, they yell at me, and I mean yell until I come outside! Sometimes they just will not behave! 🤣 Somebody please tell me they’ll grow out of this phase? 😅

Hope I found a good place for goat questions. I have had two sweet full-sized Nubian does for 4 years and I’m getting a male Nigerian Dwarf from a neighboring farm for 10 weeks to try to get Maple and Magnolia pregnant. I’m wondering if any of you have experience with this and can offer advice. I was told, when I started talking to other goat farmers before getting goats, that “friends don’t let friends get male goats.” I’m kind of nervous. Pix of Maple and Magnolia to show you our girls…

Last week I added 6 more Nigerian Dwarf goats to my dwindling herd of 2, bringing my total to 8. They have a nice barn inside a 1/4 acre enclosure. I've always let my older guys out to browse and they've stayed close by our house and their barn.

Today, I thought I'll let the new ones out to browse while I'm home and see how they do. After about 20 minutes of browsing around, they TOOK OFF.

I'm not talking about the usual wandering they do as they discover more interesting stuff to eat further from the barn. The 2 new ones stayed close and the 6 new ones just walked off with a purpose. In less than 5 minutes they walked clear across my yard.

I ran out to try to herd them back but they were on a mission and went straight past me, and across the street. I was able to grab a baby and brought him back to the barn hoping his momma would follow his cries, but she just kept on going. So I ran back to the barn, secured the baby, grabbed a bucket of grain and hopped in my car to catch up with them in my neighbors back yard and finally lured them back. If I hadn't tempted them I don't know when they would have stopped. They weren't even pausing to eat along g the way, just marching away.

What could have caused them to flee like this and is this something I can overcome? I'm worried if they ever hop the fence they'll be long gone.

Also my ego is a bit hurt as I've had goats my whole life and always thought they rather liked the home I made for them!

I have a mildly injured goat (bear attack) and no vet is open on sunday. I think the injury is not deep. Can I give her pain medication for dogs? or can I reduce her pain with CBD? Any ideas?

Mom (Fifi) teaches daughter (Dani) some jumping and climbing techniques 😄

Male one year old is shaking in the rear, one eye is reddened and he can’t hold it open.

We started our dairy herd with 6 registered Nubians does from three different sellers. Two from the first one from the second and three from the third. All three sellers claimed to be closed, clean and tested herds. We saw testing documentation from the first two sellers. But we took the third sellers word and didn’t ask for the documents. The first tow purchases went without a hitch so we got complacent. Two years later we finally got around to having our girls tested. All three of the does from the third seller and the one new kid from them all tested positive for CAE. And they are the only goats in our herd that tested positive. My wife is absolutely heartbroken, and I’m none too happy.

It’s a hard way to learn not to be too trusting and not to let down your guard. But if you are looking for clean tested goats, insist on seeing the documentation, no mater how nice the seller seems.

Hi everyone, there's a rescue I'm in touch with to adopt two goats. But before making my final decision, I want to be sure they won't lack anything. I have a very large land, with grass and bushes, brambles, clematis, many fruit trees, wild grasses, thistle, plantain and so and so.

Since I have ponies and they have hay, they'll also have access to hay.

Second question if you don't mind : is it true that if they have everything they need to eat, they won't try to escape ? My terrain is close to a road ( 1m10 mesh fence ) and I don't want them to get hurt.

Thank you very much for your answers !

EDIT : I edit here to adress to all of you a huge thank you in helping me with your great answers !

I’ll be getting Nigerian dwarfs.

I have a 20x30 indoor space with stalls for cuddling to help with the cold during winter (us zone 6). I have a ton of hay put up, a covered indoor feeder, covered outdoor feeder, water buckets, hoof trimming stuff, minerals, syringes, halters. Looking in to movable electric fencing.

Not going to get goats until we’re 100% prepared, so what gaps are there? I’m sure there are many. What meds do I need on hand?

All the hair on top of one of my goats head is gone, anyone know what could be the cause?

Meet deli (deliware), a dumb lil retired meat goat goober who is taller then most people I meet lol

He likes to show off his neck for the picture, orrrr he’s just mad that he can’t go outside right now due to the temp :’3

When you lock up your goats during winter where do you feed them hay, feed, and water?

I'm assuming all in the goat house but then it got me thinking, wouldn't it get absolutely disgusting in there after 4-5 months?