Milk Goat Breed Question

[Catahoula]

 

[Queen Mum]

I personally prefer cross breeds. The reason being that you can (not always) get the best of both breeds. For example, I have a Nubian, Oberhauslie, Alpine cross that is a beautiful doe. She gives creamy lovely milk like a Nubian, has beautiful dairy conformation like an Alpine, a very nice udder, is worm resistant and has a great personality. She is only slightly more vocal than my other goats but not anywhere near as vocal as a regular nubian and she has the lovely gentle personality of an Oberhauslie. As a first freshener, her volume is very good.

I also have a purebred Alpine and she is a lovely girl and is very quiet . She is quite large. She gives a LOT of milk, but very low fat. The milk is quite good tasting.She does require a lot of hoof care.And is higher maintanance than my other goats. But as far as personality and intelligence, she is very sweet and very, very smart.

I do have a Nigerian Dwarf and I love her perky little personality. She also seems very hardy and tolerates a LOT of stress. She is very worm resistant, needs little hoof trimming, and is a great mother. She gives good milk volume.

Personally, I prefer the milk volume of the larger breeds because I make cheese and that requires quite a bit of milk.

 

[lovinglife]

Just cannot wait!!! Could use advice on cheese making kits...

 

[animalmom]

I like the cheese making supplies I get from Hoegger. I initially purchased the starter kit from Caprine but I didn't like the taste of the chevre I made with that kit. I tried the chevre starter from Hoegger and it made all the difference for me.

It is just a matter of what tastes good to you. I like dealing with the folks at Hoegger. I like the Caprine folks too. Seems like all goat folk are nice.

There are lots of outfits that stock cheese supplies. You may want to wander over to New England Cheese Making Supply Company's website, cheesemaking.com. They have a newsletter you can sign up to receive. I'm sure the other cheese making suppliers have newsletters too, but that's the one I read (for what that is worth).

Making cheese isn't mystical or difficult. I strongly suggest following all directions the first few times you do make what ever you decide to make and then venture off on your own.

There's a book, "Goats Produce Too" by Mary Jane Toth that found very helpful. I got my copy through Hoegger, but I should think it is available elsewhere.

Get ready to delve into the mystery of chemistry! It is fun, really!

 

[lovinglife]

I will check into the places you listed. I have been reading reviewes of some of the kits and they didn't sound all that great. Maybe Hoegger is the way to go. I have time to get all prepared and do my research, this is going to be awesome!