Top Benefits of Raising Goats

Intelligence and Relatability of Goats

If you're just getting started with goats, you might not care much about the intelligence level of your animals. However, I can tell you from experience that I like an animal that is smart enough to train and handle. For example, sheep tend to do the opposite of what you tell them to do which gets annoying when you have 100 sheep that need to be sheared or moved from one place to another. Goats, on the other hand, are generally much smarter, making them easy to handle and train. Because of their smarts, they also relate well to people and often form bonds with their owners. Some goats are too smart for their own good and find ways to escape from fences and get into feed storage.
Breeding, Showing and Selling Goats
Goats reproduce naturally, unless you do something to stop them. Goat kids (babies) are some of the cutest animals on the planet. Search for baby goats on YouTube and they will be among the most popular videos. Not only that, there's a big demand for them from people who raise goats, so they can sell for a good price. The value of goats increases if the owner registers and shows them in goat shows. So, it's not surprising that many people are addicted to breeding, showing and selling goats as a hobby. Many of them have taken it to the next level and turned it into a full-time goat business.

Dairy Goats Goat milk is a favorite of many people. It has a unique and delicious flavor and is rich in nutrients. Goat milk is low in saturated fat and carbs while high in protein, calcium and various other minerals and vitamins. Surprisingly, goat milk is more digestible than cow milk; some people who are lactose intolerant can drink goat milk without problems. If you’re not sold on the magic of goat milk, you should try goat cheese. Cheese lovers will adore goat cheese. In fact, it fetches a high price for those who make and sell it. It’s a fragrant and tasty cheese that goes well, crumbled over eggs in the morning or spread over crackers for a snack. Later in this Beginners Guide to Raising Goats we will talk about how to choose the best goats if you’re interested in dairy production. Goat Milk Soap and Fiber If you’re not fond of the taste of goat milk, give goat milk soap or fiber a try. Goat milk soap is very gentle and smooth. It’s made with goat milk and is great for people with sensitive skin. Also, fiber from goats can be used for the softest yarns you’ll ever touch. Have you heard of mohair? Well, mohair is made from the fiber of Angora and Pygora goats. Then there’s cashmere which is made from the fiber of cashmere goats. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even spin their fiber yourself for yarn to knit, weave or crochet with. If that’s too much, you can still buy these soft yarns from most craft stores.

Goat Meat Some goat breeds are excellent for meat. They can provide for your family’s food needs and can even become a business. That’s right, you can actually start a small business by selling goat meat. You just need to do your research beforehand, have potential buyers in mind and decide how much you’re willing to invest in your goats and how much you expect to earn from them.

Lawn-Mowers (Brush-Clearing Goats) Goats are awesome lawn-mowers. I’ve never seen a machine that could do what a goat can do. If you don’t believe me, put a few hungry goats in a overgrown plot of land and they’ll clear it out in just a few days. Best of all, goats can clear brush out of rocky and steep areas that can’t be easily reached by regular mowing equipment. Many goat owners make money renting out their goats to clear brush from property, especially land in hard-to-reach areas. However, don’t put goats with your favorite fruit trees, because goats are curious and agile climbers; they’ll find a way to eat the fruit and leaves off of your tree while chewing the bark off as well. And if you have goats with horns, they tend to scratch their horns on your trees.

Good Poop (Goat Manure as Fertilizer) Goat poop is actually quite amazing. If you’re into compost for a garden, goat manure is perfect. If you have goats already, you know that your goat will make plenty of manure. Don’t let it go to waste. Throw it in a pile with some vegetation to make compost. It will be full of potassium, potash and nitrogen, all of which your plants will appreciate. Also, goat poop naturally comes out in little pellets that are fairly dry, easy to handle, don’t attract as many flies and don’t need as much waiting time to break-down before being used as fertilizer. Now that you know some of the great benefits of goats, continue to our next article.