Few things in married life make me nervous. One is my husband asking for the checkbook. It means he wants to go to an auction. Over the years, my entrepreneur-husband has convinced me to help raise a variety of livestock and poultry. Things start out seemingly interesting and fun, but after a couple of weeks my partner (husband) and children lose interest and I find myself alone endeavoring to keep animals alive.
A couple years ago, my husband and a friend researched meat goats. By research I mean, they calculated facts and figures on the number of kids a doe could have in a year versus a cow. I was skeptical. Let me share what I learned from this dark, comical experience.
The first foray into goat production was the two of them picking up 10 goats from a farm. These went to his buddy’s home. He had a proper fence. Rule 1: If water can get through your fence, so can a goat.
My husband began work on his own fences and within a week he and his friend were headed to a goat auction. He didn’t just ask for the checkbook, he also hooked up the stock trailer. He returned the next day with a menagerie of goats fit for a petting zoo. Some were meat goats and some were… I have no idea and neither did he.
He unleashed the beasts into a field and they began to eat brush and breed. On Easter Sunday we found the goats in our front yard. They destroyed every green leaf on my blackberry bushes. I was steaming mad. Rule 2: Goats eat everything and anything, except what’s inside the fence.
We found two kids a doe had abandoned in our yard when we herded them back into field. Our children were delighted. They fell instantly in love with them. We put them back in the field hoping the mother would get back over and nurse them. Rule 3: Meat goats can be TERRIBLE mothers.
We experienced some worm problems and had to round up the goats to work them regularly. We had a few dead ones in the field. I was really starting to stress. The new babies were slaughtered by coyotes along with their mother. Our kindergarten daughter was devastated and wound up with the school counselor for therapy. Rule 4: Goat production is not for the faint of heart.
My husband made plans to purchase 20 registered goats from a farm in Missouri. I went along to pick them up, desperately trying to talk him out of it. The best part of this transaction was a Great Pyrenees guard dog, Dutch. He was a huge beast with amazing protection skills. This led us to purchase two additional female Great Pyrenees puppies. The goal was to raise them alongside Dutch and he’d train them to guard the ever-growing herd of goats. Rule 5: Livestock guard dogs are essential to goat herd protection.
Spring turned into a wet, hot summer. We were starting to lose goats on almost daily.
In a few months we’d lost nearly half the herd. A neighbor found me crying in the barn one morning. My husband realized I was at a breaking point. Rule 6: Raising goats requires immense knowledge, skill, patience and hard work.
When the trailer took the remaining goats to the sale barn I was relieved. We were able to find a good home for the three guard dogs. We worked hard and learned valuable life lessons. Rule 7: When raising livestock, stick to what you know, neighbor.
