Watch this before getting Dairy Goats: A Beginner's Guide to Maximizing Your Herd's Potential

We cover the lessons learnt since getting our fantastic Saanen dairy goats. They give us abundant milk and have become part of the family. If you would like to have dairy goats of your own, this episode is for you! A list of all topics covered is contained in the chapter breakdown below.

#dairygoats #homestead #foodsecurity

Chapters
00:00 Our Saanen Dairy Goats and brief introduction
01:05 Breeding you goats
01:57 Kid birthing and our experiences.
03:37 Our favourite resources on kidding and goat health/nutrition
04:56 Leaving the does with their kids
05:48 Morning milking routine
06:14 Their morning feed including the minerals we add and why we add them
07:39 How to see copper deficiency in a black goat
08:24 Morning milking routine continued
08:48 Our milking stand
10:19 Hygiene procedure before milking
11:35 Goat milking techniques. Tips and tricks from us both.
14:21 After milking hygiene procedure
15:41 Dealing with the milk
17:42 Hoof maintenance
20:05 Goat grooming
20:26 Mental health needs
20:48 Our goat shelters
21:46 Our goat feeders for hay and browse
22:50 Keeping your goats entertained
23:42 Pros and Cons of keeping dairy goats
23:48 Goats are hard to fence! Their enclosure and electric fence set up.
27:16 Proximity. They want to be close to you all the time.
28:17 They will eat anything.
29:04 Good for blackberry management and other feral species
30:02 What to do with baby bucks (bucklings) and our experiences with elastration.
33:42 Fantastic manure for the garden and our experiences with deep bedding.
35:24 The kids are incredibly CUTE. They bond with you strongly.
36:43 Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis. A brief overview.
38:27 Hardy and easy to maintain.
39:19 They are a big responsibility and you need to spend time with them to form a strong bond for easy management.
40:29 Thank you and wrap up (with a very cute sleepy Hugo our baby wether)

RESOURCES
Fias Co Farm website by Molly Nolte

Natural Goat Care by Pat Coleby

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Music Credits

[kbhorseman]

My mare passed away leaving us with a 1 month old foal. We jumped in head first into dairy goats since he refused milk replacer. He surpassed the older foals his age in size drinking 3-4 gallons a day. We are expecting our first kids next month. I have loved the fresh milk and never imagined I would be milking goats daily. 😊

[shabbydoris]

The world needs more folks like you two. Good job, Troy & Pascal - please keep sharing . . .

[JEYbagaDONUTS]

I know Pascal loved the boating life but she's adopted to the farm life quite nicely. Her bonding with the goats is so heartwarming, it's easy to see what a great mom she will be when the time comes .

[herewegrowmama]

LOVED this so much, reignited my desire to get dairy goats in the future. Thank you for sharing!

[Quarryx]

No content rammed into us and no kidding around you provided quality information. Thanks for not acting the goat. I feel like I milked some of that comment best I hoof it.

[Willy-tn]

Hey Troy
Happy 50th b/d!
Congrats on being a Senior stay at home Dad, great achievement!!

[Cookie-cymy]

Greetings from Florida, USA! Thank you for your excellent videos. I marvel at how you two went from sea lovers to land lovers and appreciate all your hard work while making it look so easy. Continued success in all you both do!!

[SueFletcher-er]

Goat are something else. I had a herd of 17 does to milk at my peak. Used a milk machine and fed calves... I wasn't so crazy about the milk, but loved the meat... The calves did so good on that milk... Really enjoyed the podcast...

[footrodeo]

While this video may have been long, It still felt super short and concise at the same time. a lot of people on social media can be gate keepy but this video felt like your cool aunt and uncle teaching you fun new skills. We just bought property in Taree, and I have of having my own homestead so I will be referring to your guys channel often x

[mmoore]

I know nothing about goats, until now. Great video…

[DominicScatto]

Thank you both so much for this! We're getting our first Nigerian Dwarf goats in the coming weeks and this is very helpful!

[MoniqueAduSustainableLiving]

This was so helpful. Especially when just learning about keeping goats. Thank you!

[meeplord]

Just a tip to cool your milk rapidly. Use the rapid, cool method. All you need is a larger neck container and any type of bottle or smaller contaitainer. Fill the smaller container with water and freeze it. You can use the freezer packs for this. Imerse the freezer back in the milk and refridgerate. Use a thermometer at first. Your milk should go from the warm temp down to 40 degrees within 2 hours. You may need to put in the freezer for a short time. If you're noticing, it's not dropping temp in that time frame. Over time, you will be able to figure out your routine and won't need to temp. This is the training for any food service establishment that cools anything from high temp cooking to ambient, i.e., roomtemp down to the 40-degree mark.

[andrewelliott]

Thank you for your easy instruction. More importantly thank you for your kindness. You are an inspiration.

[scotty]

What an amazing video, I love your goats and philosophy that drives what you do. I'm not in a position to buy land like this and don't want to take on a daily, long term responsibility like this but it's wonderful to see what that can look like

[danielorr]

Enjoyed the video. We had Nubian goats for about 5 years. They were registered and showed them in fairs. The kids never nursed the mothers, so they bonded with us readily because we bottle fed them. The highlught was when our goats won champions and grand champion ribbons Pleasant memories: How good is ice cream made with goats milk? The best😊 ever!

[jinksto]

Really well done video! Thanks for all of the effort that you put into these.

[tammyyoung]

Hi Guys!
Very informative vlog. We had goats when I was growing up, a Nubian and a Saanen, and we used to milk them sitting on our haunches, we would clip their collar onto the fence, and then rest our head in the ‘crook’ of their hind leg and belly, which would help to prevent them from kicking the milk pail. A milking stanchion would definitely have been easier, but it is possible without one😀

[kellymalone]

An inspiring and truly helpful video... just in time as I had already bought my Saanen goats... had I watched this first I probably wouldn't have bought them but now I'm looking forward to the bonding!

[lajwantishahani]

Greetings from India! I've been thinking about keeping a couple of milking goats and going through YouTube to learn everything I can before taking the leap. Just found your video which has covered the most comprehensive info I could find. Waiting for our rainy season to get over and subscribed to you 😊