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What are the benefits of keeping goats? What makes them so special? Homesteaders, hobby farmers, and small farmers can all find goats to be a good choice. They can provide milk, meat, fiber, and more.
Common Goat Benefits
In what ways can goats be beneficial?Meat Supply:
You can raise goats for meat as a food source for your own family, but you can also turn it into a profitable business if you think about where and how you'll market them.
Milk Production:
It is common for dairy goats to produce more milk than a family can consume. You can make goat cheese, goat yogurt, and whatever else you can imagine. Having goats can help you produce value-added items like cheese and yogurt, or just sell fresh goat milk if you are a small farmer. There is a good market for it among people who cannot tolerate cow dairy.
Soap Production:
Many people with sensitive skin use goat milk soap because it is soft, mild, and gentle.
Fiber Production:
In addition to milk and meat, goats are used for fiber production. They are very versatile. Cashmere is produced by cashmere goats, while Angora and Pygora goats produce mohair. Raw goat fiber can also be spun into yarn and knitted, woven, or crocheted into a variety of products.
Bush Clearance:
The goat is a very good browser, and it loves to eat weeds and blackberry brambles. Let them act as living brush hogs and let them graze on whatever you want to clear.
They Can Be Used As Pack Animals:
A goat can be trained to carry your gear on hikes and is especially suited to steep and rocky terrain. It is easy for them to carry 20 to 30 percent of their body weight, and they have little impact on the environment. By browsing along the trail, they can eat whatever they find along the way, so you don't have to supply them with food. Goats can also be trained to pull carts.
Their Dung Can Be Used As Fuel:
The world over, many people use goat dung as fuel for their fires. It is certainly an option for those who are keen on self-sufficiency.
Skin & Hide Products:
Various products can be made from goatskin, including gloves. Goatskins can be tanned and dried like leather. It is traditional in Africa to use goat hides (with hair intact) when making drum heads. You can also make goatskin rugs.
Trainable & Easy To Handle:
Goats are social animals that are easy to train. They can even be handled by children. Compared to cows, they are a good size, and their size makes them less difficult to manage.
Keeping Them Is Inexpensive:
Besides being useful, goats are also thrifty. The fact that goats can browse and don't need an overly fancy shelter (just a good fence), makes them a very economical animal for a small farm.
Manure Production:
All animals produce manure, but goat manure is especially effective for fertilizing fields. A goat produces about 300 pounds of manure each year, and its feces are in pellet form, so they can be easily handled. Potassium, potassium, and nitrogen are all found in goat manure, as well as possibly other minerals.
Their versatility makes them valuable. So, do you raise goats? If so what do you raise them for? Feel free to share any other benefits you have experienced raising goats.
