The County Fair
We just got back from the County Fair smelling of goats and geese.
Apart from a ride on the ferris-wheel (for the view of the surrounding forested hills and hayfields) and a sentimental treat of cotton-candy, we spent most of the time checking out the livestock.
We are going to raise goats for milk (and cheese) so we narrowed down our choice of goats to Saanens (the Holsteins of the goat world) and Nubians (which have the most cream in their milk.) They are both pretty animals but the real beauties are the Boer goats (from my old country, South Africa) which are not good dairy goats and are raised mostly for meat.
Our nearest neighbors (who live within walking distance but their farm is on a steep hill above ours so we usually drive to their farm unless we have time for a leisurely hike) have La Mancha goats. I used to think that they were the ugliest animals I had ever seen. They are sometimes called Elf-eared goats because they have such tiny ears it looks like they have been cut off. Their eyes protrude like chameleon eyes and they have very bony backbones and prominent hip-bones. We have had to take care of them and milk them six times since we moved here while the family was away and I have come to that they are not really ugly just odd-looking and the kids are very pretty up to a certain age. Anyway you get a gallon of milk twice a day from them once the kids have been weaned. Mrs Neighbor makes a lot of cheese.
The choice between Saanens and Nubians is a choice between quantity and quality. Two gallons of milk a day is a lot of milk. So we'll probably get Nubians - less milk but creamier. Also they have long floppy "rabbit" ears like Boer goats but are smaller.
Apart from a ride on the ferris-wheel (for the view of the surrounding forested hills and hayfields) and a sentimental treat of cotton-candy, we spent most of the time checking out the livestock.
We are going to raise goats for milk (and cheese) so we narrowed down our choice of goats to Saanens (the Holsteins of the goat world) and Nubians (which have the most cream in their milk.) They are both pretty animals but the real beauties are the Boer goats (from my old country, South Africa) which are not good dairy goats and are raised mostly for meat.
Our nearest neighbors (who live within walking distance but their farm is on a steep hill above ours so we usually drive to their farm unless we have time for a leisurely hike) have La Mancha goats. I used to think that they were the ugliest animals I had ever seen. They are sometimes called Elf-eared goats because they have such tiny ears it looks like they have been cut off. Their eyes protrude like chameleon eyes and they have very bony backbones and prominent hip-bones. We have had to take care of them and milk them six times since we moved here while the family was away and I have come to that they are not really ugly just odd-looking and the kids are very pretty up to a certain age. Anyway you get a gallon of milk twice a day from them once the kids have been weaned. Mrs Neighbor makes a lot of cheese.
The choice between Saanens and Nubians is a choice between quantity and quality. Two gallons of milk a day is a lot of milk. So we'll probably get Nubians - less milk but creamier. Also they have long floppy "rabbit" ears like Boer goats but are smaller.
posted by Joubert at 6:45 PM
The Alliance
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