Goats for Goodness: Cultivating Your Dairy Herd with Confidence

If you’re interested in getting into dairy animals, raising goats is a great way to start. But to make sure you’re ready to give them the care they deserve, you need to learn a few things first. We’re talking about everything you need to know to keep dairy goats.

Why Keep Dairy Goats? Goats are a great way to start with dairy animals, but there are some tips and tricks you’ll definitely want to know first.

A few years ago, we got some dairy goats and they only stayed a few days on the farm because they just got into everything. Goats are playful animals and we were simply not prepared.

There’s a saying that goes something like this… How do you know if a fence will keep a goat in? If it keeps water in! That’s basically a smart way to say that if a goat wants to get out, it will find a way!

Many people wonder if it’s possible to just keep one dairy goat, but goats are social animals and it’s very cruel to just keep one. We recommend you have at least two goats as a minimum.

This doesn’t mean you have to keep two milk goats, but her suggestion would be to keep two goats and have one be in milk production for six months out of the year, then the other goat in milk for the other six months.

Consider Your Space A Nubian goat is about twice the size of the Nigerian Dwarf goats, so think about your space when deciding on the breed you would like to start with.

Sometimes there’s a good reason to buy special breeds or heritage breeds, but if you’ve never kept goats before, start by considering your availability.

Dairy Breeds for Goats As we list the breeds of dairy goats, keep in mind that when an animal is listed as “mild-tempered” or “high-energy”, even “large” or “small” breed, each animal has its own genes and personality and you can have a mild-tempered high energy breed, or a high energy mild-tempered breed.

Nigerian Dwarf: We keep Nigerian Dwarf Goats which have some of the highest fat content in their milk. They have a 14% butterfat content whereas typical whole milk from the grocery store is 4% butterfat.

Nubian Nubian goats are slightly bigger, so it’s important to think about your space as you’ll want room for at least two goats. Their butterfat content is quite a bit lower, so if you’re looking for the milk for the fat content, you may want to pick a different breed.

Saanen: This is a fairly big breed with a mild temperament. Saanen goat’s milk is among the lowest in butterfat, so this is a good breed to pick if you only want the milk for drinking, not soap or cheese-making.

Alpine: Known to be an easier to handle breed, the Alpine goats will be consistent producers. They’re a medium-sized breed.

LaMancha: Another goat known for its milk production is the LaMancha. These are friendly goats known to have good temperaments. Their milk also has a lower butterfat content of about 4%.

Dual-Purpose Breeds A dual-purpose breed is a goat that one can keep both for milk production and meat.

We prefer Nubian’s when it comes to a dual-purpose goat because you obviously want there to be enough meat on the goat to make keeping them worthwhile.

We do know people who keep Nigerian Dwarf goats that slaughter them for their meat and say it’s great meat. But again, there is just not very much of it.