When you’ve got space to space at your home, with a large yard or paddock, then it’s time to start thinking about what you should put in there. Is the answer goats? They can make great pets and have a host of benefits. Here are our top tips for how to raise goats and the benefits of keeping them.
Tips for raising goats
Depending on the size of the goats that you’re raising, you’ll need to ensure that they have plenty of room to run about. Goats need a fair deal of exercise, so make sure that you aren’t confining them to a small space – let them roam free!
Goats need keeping well fed
This either means a lot of space to roam and munch on your greenery, or ensuring that they always have a well-stocked feed tray. Goats are notorious for munching anything and everything which leads us to our next tip…
Make sure to keep anything you don’t want to be eaten out of their space!
Don’t put your goats near a clothes line where clothes are hanging down; they’ll eat them. Don’t put your goats in distance of your very favourite flower garden; this will be a delicious snack for them. In short: anything you don’t want to be eaten, keep goats well away from.
Stopping goats from becoming aggressive
One of the least fun activities about keeping goats, and, in particular, keeping male goats from becoming aggressive, is removing their testicles. Generally, this is done by tying an elastic band tightly around their balls until they eventually shrivel up and fall off.
The benefits of goats
They’ll keep your overgrown garden in check
If you’re not much of a gardener and have a wide expanse of space to look after, then goats may well be a good way to keep your garden in check. They’ll munch away any overgrown weeds, grass, blackberry bushes – really whatever you have around.
Goats milk and goats cheese
If you are feeling up to it, then getting produce from your goats is another great benefit of owning them. Goat’s milk is very healthy, tasty and lactose-free, and goat’s cheese has that amazing, creamy taste that’s put it on the menu at elite restaurants around the world.
Their droppings are easy to clean up
Cleaning up cow pats is just… well, it’s pretty gross. When you’re cleaning up goat droppings you have a much, much easier time. Their droppings are small, firm pellets which can easily be raked or picked up. These droppings can also make a great garden fertilizer.
Goats are loving and affectionate
When you’re looking for new family pets you might not have goats come up at the top of your list. However, goats are sensitive animals and become very loving and affectionate towards you if you spend time with them. A new pal or two perhaps?