Dairy cow versus dairy goats?

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GBov

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I have asked goat people (they say goats) and have asked cow people and they say, you guessed it, a cow. :lol:

So I thought I would ask you lovely people what you think.

I have an acre fenced off that is almost pure sand. EVERYTHING the goats or cow eat will have to be bought.

Right now I pay between $50 and $60 per WEEK for milk and more for butter and cheese.

Am tending tward a Jersey cow but there is a HUGE difference between the price of one cow versus several goats and its a big decision for me. Being a Libra I can see every side of the issue, to the point of total paralysis! :lol:
 
Cows do eat more than goats. Growing up, we had goats and a couple cows. The cow that ate like crazy was the Shorthorn. The Dexter was great. She did eat more than the goats, but MUCH less than the other cow. Goats tend to be more scrappy than cows and will be more forgiving in the type of food needed. They don't tend to need as rich of food as cows.
 
Have you ever tried goat milk? Personally I cannot stomach it but I dutifully milked the family nanny when my nieces and nephews were young and drinking gallons of it

Bovine artificial insemination is relatively inexpensive and it's easy to hire someone to do, goats not so much. Do you have access to a Billy to breed to your Nanny (s) ? Are you aware of the pungent odour of rancid urine that male goats like to wear as cologne :p usually all over their heads

Cows are more likely to have birthing difficulties and can be dangerous to be around when you've got to be back there to help out

Waste management with goats is MUCH easier as they poop little "goat berries" which quickly disappear while a sloppy cow patty the size of a dinner plate is not fun to try and dispose of

Unlike goats, you cannot strong arm a cow when they are injured and need treatment if they decide not to co-operate. If you're leading them and they decide to run you really cannot do anything to stop them. You also cannot walk them into the back of the mini van (or car) to take them to the vet to avoid the $80 house call premium :x

Temperament wise I really like cows, the goats drove me nuts! They were destructive, escape artists who thought playing "keep away" in the steet was the best game ever :angry: and we got rid of all but one very well behaved and cow like whether who is my mums personal pet
 
Yeah, goats milk tastes a little like a billy goat smells. Sorry but that my take on it. Get a small cow. They come in minis now too.
 
How much milk do you want? We have a couple goats and that is the right amount for us including making cheese. One cow would be a lot more and would need more space, more feed.
I grew up drinking raw cow's milk and when we got the goats I was concerned about the taste, but to me it just tastes like fresh raw milk--when we've had both does dry before kidding and had to get milk from the store it now tastes like plastic to me. We don't keep a buck--I've heard that having one on the premises affects the taste of the milk but that may just be a myth. I do know that keeping whatever you milk into and what you store the milk in scrupulously clean is important if you don't want an off or sour smell.
Goat milk is naturally homogenized so you need a separator if you want cream for making butter. Cow's milk will separate if left to sit and you can just skim off the cream.
Goats can be challenging--or interesting, depends on how you look at it.
 
Goats are cheaper to feed but if you don't like the taste of their milk straight then it's a moot point. As Dood mentioned, try goat milk first if you haven't. Try going for something fresh from a local farm since sometimes goat milk and cheeses sold at chain stores are intentionally treated/aged to gain a much stronger "goaty" taste (I stupidly bought a small piece of goat cheese once at winndixie - it was like licking a billy goat in full rut) which isn't found with the fresh product you are likely to be handling(not to say the taste isn't still... unique...).

That said, check with your local feed stores at feed prices; loose mineral(goat) vs block mineral (cow), hay prices, pellets (read the instructions for feeding suggestions for an estimate of what you'll be paying). Also figure into equipment as you will need their feed, hay, and minerals to not touch the ground (if it's on the ground, they start eating sand which can turn into impactions if you aren't careful).

Also look at your local animal supply; what is the initial cost of a quality animal? Is there so few that should anything happen to them, you'd be unable to replace them? How will you get the animals impregnated? Is there a market for the resulting offspring? Will you keep them too? How do you plan to transport them? Goats (even meat goats like Boer) can fit in nearly any vehicle. I fit a full grown Boer Doe in the back of a 2-door honda civic before quite comfortably. Was no different then having a large dog in my car.
 
We had goats when I was a teen. They are definitely mischievous. But even a rascally goat won't blast down your fences like a cow and they are much more economical. I was always chasing my best friend's cattle down when they broke out.

We refused to drink goats milk at first so my mom, being even more devious than a goat, began mixing the goat milk into our regular cow's milk until eventually it was 100% goat. We never noticed. I would do that if you try it first. I have noticed since having moved back to the country, that many fresh home grown animal products had a different taste that I did not like until I became accustomed to them again, including eggs.
 
We do like goats milk but dont like goats much. Having had them at a very bad time in my life though didnt help liking the escape artists much so I was willing to try again.

Right now we drink 5 gallons of milk a week and would willingly drink more. My boys esp. are happiest with a full glass in hand.

And we have pigs and chickens who could happily drink some extra and we live less than a mile from a flea market where we could sell extra as well. "For pet consumption only" of course. :roll:

Must admit, I am leaning tward the cow.
 
alforddm":21987vdq said:
If you want to make butter cows milk is easier. If you don't want a full sized cow you can always try one of the smaller breeders like dexter.

:yeahthat:

Good idea! Dexter would be good. There are also Mini Jersey's but those might be harder to find.
 
BlueHaven":3jgmzj1v said:
Yeah, goats milk tastes a little like a billy goat smells. Sorry but that my take on it. Get a small cow. They come in minis now too.

From my understanding to avoid the milk being tainted by the billy he has to be kept at least 50' away at all times. Meaning you would need to visit a billy once every so often or have two separate pens. We had a dwarf nanny goat and couldn't find a stud billy the right size without having to buy one and we didn't want a billy around the house. Nasty animals. :x If you do get goats they do best if they are in a herd of 3 or more. Cows do best with a partner. But that can be done simply my allowing the calf to stick around till butchering size.

Just my 2cents,
Cathy
 
I will say though, it might help your decision to meet with both kinds of critters before taking the plunge if you can, down to the specific breeds that interest you if you can (go to livestock fairs and shows, markets where they're being sold, etc.). No sense taking the plunge if you can't stand the specific personality or quirks. I say goats AND cows are capable of both being pretty mischievous and naughty when they want to be though and usually the friendlier the naughtier. I met a pair of longhorns that were sweet as could be but had no concept of the things on their heads so would crowd you for a cookie then immediately turn their heads and clock you one. :| In general I find they don't seem to realize how big or strong they are when friendly and seem to have a very good idea of that when they aren't.

A slight word of warning too, depending on your state one animal can bring a lot worse consequences than the other when they get out. A cow that figured out how to jump/trample a fence (and some will) is a much bigger liability than a goat. If someone hits a small dairy goat with their car - they aren't going to total the vehicle and possibly kill or severely injure the driver. A cow however... (I just got a call about this today so I thought I'd mention while it came up, this is why I avoid most larger livestock... depending on your area animal control might not even handle cows and it may be a sheriff knocking on your door if it got out) Because of this insurance might be higher too with cattle than with goats. <br /><br /> __________ Fri Nov 20, 2015 6:35 pm __________ <br /><br />
wamplercathy":y3h3dkz1 said:
BlueHaven":y3h3dkz1 said:
Yeah, goats milk tastes a little like a billy goat smells. Sorry but that my take on it. Get a small cow. They come in minis now too.

From my understanding to avoid the milk being tainted my the billy he has to be kept at least 50' away at all times. Meaning you would need to visit a billy once every so often or have to separate pens. We had a dwarf nanny goat and couldn't find a stud billy the right size without having to buy one and we didn't want a billy around the house. Nasty animals. :x If you do get goats they do best if they are in a herd of 3 or more. Cows do best with a partner. But that can be done simply my allowing the calf to stick around till butchering size.

Just my 2cents,
Cathy

What was suggested to me - and worked very well when I tried it - was to buy a young buck(goat buck ofc, not rabbit bucks ;D) after it has been weaned(or use bucks you birthed yourself if you have enough does that it would not be inbreeding too far) and keep them with your does (they can impregnate does at a very young age without any ill effects - something like 6 months?) and once the does were for sure bred, take the buck to slaughter/auction/sell directly to someone. You get pregnant does, milk, meat/money, all very efficiently without any notable bucky behaviors because they can impregnate does before they start the whole peeing on themselves thing.
 
You can take your nanny to a billy and pay a small stud fee and avoid having to mess with butchering. It really depends on the person and what they want to deal with. For me a visit to a stud would simpler. But I don't like goats at all. They destroy things, escape, tap dance on my car, :evil: But cows aren't much better. Well they don't dance on your car. But they can get out too, and they get stuck in the strangest places. One bull calf got stuck in the water trough even though it was designed to keep that situation from ever happening, but leave it to a cow to find away. Just recently one of the bull calves climbed in to the Round Bale Feeder and got trapped. Had to go out lift it up shoo an 800lb calf out of it. Then the next day same calf stuck again in the Round Bale Feeder. Now these aren't even our cattle they belong to the neighbor a 1/2mile up the road, but we rent out the pond paddock to him.

A good book to have is:
Barnyard in Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Goats, Sheep, and Cattle by: Damerow, Gail
I don't know what City would allow goats, sheep, or cattle but anyways it's full of information.
 
I have milked both, - although I like goat cheese, my family definitely prefers cow milk, [as the flavor, and smell, of goats milk is drastically effected by what they eat] my last cow was a Jersey x Brown Swiss, she was wonderful to me, as I raised her with a bottle, she would come running when I called her, do what I asked, and get in a trailer for me just for asking, - but she was not so great with everyone else, and tried to drive strangers away from her family, and yard.-- she gave 3 gal / milking when fresh, and 2.5 after the first few months, - that was a lot of milk, and cheese, [I sold it at the farmers market]-- if you get a cow, I would suggest halter training at a very early age. -I would put the halter on the calf before I led her out of the pen, to go eat grass, or just to go for a walk, - she looked foreword to the halter being put on, because it meant she was getting out of her shed/ pen.,-- and I might add, dehorning paste is cheap, and horns on a family cow is a very bad idea
 
michaels4gardens":1b46spk4 said:
horns on a family cow is a very bad idea

Haha...yeah. :p Our Dexter came full grown with a beautiful pair of horns...and completely wild! :x She came close to severely/fatally injuring my mom with them once(Mom's winter jacket was between the tip of the horn and her throat, and is what saved her), and tossed me clear across her pen another time(6 to 10 foot distance). She sure knew how to use them. :shock: We never got her dehorned because we couldn't bear to just cut them off... :roll: but we would have been safer if we had. Eventually she calmed down and became a wonderful family cow. She would go wild again every time she calved...it was pretty terrifying to separate the calf out and work with her those first few days after calving. She was never completely safe, but I did love those horns on her! They kept us on our toes! :lol: She really became quite the pet....I would put the little kids on her back to ride her back to her pen after milking. :D She and a wether we had became close friends ( we had no other cows). They went together when we sold them... :lol:

She was rounded and meaty, but not quite as round as a beef cow. She produced around 3 gallons a day at her peak. We never ate her offspring...they were all heifers...so I don't know personally how they work as beef. It was terribly hard to tell when she was in heat, so was kind of difficult to get her bred. We bought semen and had a local farmer inseminate her.

Here's a picture of her...I'm a little over 5 feet, so you can see how small she was. Her udder was small and compact with short teats, so it was difficult for my dad to milk her.
[album]3431[/album]
 
There are people hurt or killed each year by their "pet" horse, goat, or cow etc. ;. as mentioned above, the animals can get aggressive when in heat, or after giving birth, I personally think anyone who decides to let a milk cow grow those beautiful, natural, horns, is asking for trouble, especially if you have children. -I have milked a lot of cows, and goats- [JMHO] horns on a milk goat is a bad idea, horns on a milk cow is just foolish.
 
Some of the cows I see on CL have horns and yep, that is such a deal breaker.

We had four Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goats and even without horns and being very small they managed to know down my youngest son a couple of times.

Am tending tward a Dexter (hornless) but cant seem to find any. And we have a dairy 11 miles from us that I am going ot go talk to. Learning what works local to us will be a great help I think, esp. with calculating feed bills.

Until I am sure I have found the PERFECT for us cow we will keep buying milk. I am SOOOOO not rushing into this purchase!
 
M4G, good point too.

Dogs
30-35 people are killed each year in the US.

Cows
22 people are killed in the US every year from these seemingly docile creatures.

Horses
20 people die each year.

I couldn't find any instances of a domestic goat managing to kill a human though I did find a report of a wild mountain goat killing a man several years ago (back in 2010?)

EDIT: Just found one case back in 1991 of a domestic goat killing its owner http://www.snopes.com/horrors/animals/snowball.asp but the owner also beat the goat mercilessly in an effort to make it mean.
 
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