Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[anne/jim clements <anjclem@yahoo.com>]

Dianne, 
We have raised goats both in 'backyard' situations and
now with 2 acres of pasture.
>From experience I can say that in any place with goats
you must be able to fence and repair fence. Goats are
harder than many critters on fences.
Also, if you have neighbors you might want to consider
a breed other than nubian or nigerian dwarf, we have
had both and they are very big mouths. If you have
anyone close by that would raise a ruckus about the
noise these breeds are pretty sure to cause a problem.
Right now we have alpines and they are much quieter,
some of the does are so quiet it can be hard to spot
when they are in heat, you always know with nubians.
You must also consider grain and hay storage and a
strong and dry milking stand. We milked in the rain
and it's not something to make a habit of.
As Velta said, once you're milking, you're milking,
theres no missing or telling them that you'll get to
it later.
One last thing, fencing. Did I say that? Goats are
hard on fencing.
An old Okie who had herded goats in Mexico as a youth
told me a story one day as I was repairing a fence. It
went like this:
Do you know how to tell if you've got a goat fence?
Ans: No Cotton (the old Okie), how do you tell?
Cotton: Well you start with 8 foot bow d'arc post and
you put them in the ground 2 foot deep and 6 foot
apart. Then you staple up hog wire 6 foot high. Then
you string barbed wire ever 2 foot up the posts. Then
you stand back with a bucket of water and throw it at
the fence. If the water goes through, it ain't a goat
fence. 
More true than not.
Jim

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