My goats milk is better than the raw cows milk I was buying from a local farmer. I tested how long it tasted good, got up to 12 days and called it. I also have sheep (hair), if I had to choose it would be my Mini-LaMancha's.
We had both sheep and goats for many years. The sheep were very easy keepers, but honestly, the goats were pretty easy also. They were a meat sheep breed and our goats were for dairy. Our goats never got out unless a gate was left open. I think all the issues are breed specific. They say if the goats are happy and all their needs are met, they really won't think about going anywhere else. The milk was fantastic!
Well, AH dude ❤’ed this comment. So, he’s saying his son was raised on the Devils’ milk??? Whoa, if I believed that, I’d go with shitty crappy formula before I’d let my son suck the devil’s teets The biblical comments are bunk. But my goat did do a number on my truck. Did the devil make her do it
Appalachian homestead loves her goats . She takes really good care of them . I think its a full time job. I'm not sure what she does with all those goats . She does use the milk and makes cheese. But she has a lot of goats
I know! I was cracking up and had to share work my 13 year old daughter who loves our goats and she was not impressed lol. If you are okay with goats on top of your car, then okay you're a goat person 😂😂😂
My sister and I had a few pet goats when we were teenagers. They were so fun! I'll never forget seeing one of them up on the very tippy top of the two story barn looking like she was going to jump, lol. Also the time my dad left the truck door open for a minute and she was in the truck eating the owners manual😅
😂 Your comments about goats is hilarious! I have no experience with goats or sheep, but have heard similar comments from other homesteaders. Often heard of goats as like having a new puppy that wants all your attention and requires lots of time, on top of all their destruction lol. They're cute, but I couldnt handle the constant deadly shananigans they seem to get themselves in to.
I'm a goat person, Nigerian Dwarf for milk and meat. I've never had sheep though. We have no worm problems with Lespedeza and Bkack Walnut Trees. Lol at your goat stories. I'll look into sheep, thanks. I have a closed heard. I think I'm moving to sheep. Do you have any for sale?
I have experience with both. Everyone is different but my preference is goats by far. I like the milk and did not have any worm issues. Sheep were a battle with shearing and hoof care where with my goats I could walk right up to them, pick up a hoof and work on it. Also my area is very wooded and goats are great for cleaning the brush. I had the same amount of issues with sheep as to ramming the gate, eating the inner wall and insulation where the goats didn't. So it varies as to the area you live and experience with care required; but again, I found goats easier to take care of.
We never had sheep but did have goats. They were Nubians. It totally depended on the individual animal as to how ornery they were. One nanny was the friendliest, sweetest thing and another was a real knothead. We spoiled the little kids so they were really friendly and easy going as they grew up. Thanks for sharing.
Tomorrow I'll be putting up the last of my wire, for a total fenced area of 7 acres for my goats. It's been a brutal project, but I did not want my goats jumping on my UTV anymore. But I don't have pasture, instead a lot of woods. I'd rather have sheep as their meat does taste better, but for my circumstances, goats make more sense. Now I'm going to enjoy watching them eat through my woods and turning it into a park like you said.
With goats, you could easier turn the woods into pasture, since the shoots from the tree stumps will be browsed down, and the stump will die. Sheep do eat the shoots from trees, but I'm not sure if they eat as many tree varieties.
Pigs do a better job because they get the roots, also. They're also MUCH easier to keep, requiring only two or three hotwires for their fence, and much tastier 😋 Sheep also do well in the woods - we run ours through the forest as we clear and sow pastures. I actually had one escape and disappear for 6 days, living off only what the forest had to offer until she finally came home!
What a timely video. I was just thinking maybe I should get a couple lamanchas to milk. I think you might have talked me out of it though. But the only reason is the weather situation. I need something that can hang with the sheep. For the most part I agree about sheep being easier. I do have a sheep named Amazing Grace , she was blind when she was born but now she can see. I have no idea what caused her to be that way but she is also "special" . I know she would be the top of most peoples cull list but she has taught me so much about the Bible and the Father's love. She is never where she is supposed to be. She frequently risks 12,000 kv of electricity to try out the next paddock. Or sometimes she's just standing in the cattle shoot at the barn or chasing chickens. I understand grace now & that's why she has a place on our farm. Even though she acts like a darn goat I still love her and I go looking for her often.
We love love love our goats! We don't have a big pasture so we haven't tried sheep. Our goats milk tastes just like cows milk. We use a metal laundry bin for a feeder and they've never broken it. Our fence keeps them in and when we let them free range they follow us right back to their pen when we need to secure them. Our goats are sweet and have personalities almost like dogs. They've been a wonderful addition to our homestead! Would love to try sheep too, but just don't have the pasture for it!
New Subscriber, found ya the other day. I LOVE goats, BUT I will not own them ever again! Exactly all the reasons you have said. When we switched homesteads, I sold all my goats (had goats for 8 years). I can say hubby hates the goats, they ate his tractor, ate our landscaping, ate our neighbors' trees. We currently stick with sheep and other livestock. We have Katahdin for meat and we also have Lincoln/Jacob cross for wool.
I have mini lamancha goats Super easy and quiet overall. Our in tact males live together peacefullly. Never had any get into trouble. Overall a good fit for us. Not too hard on structures. Plus we live in hot shrubby poor grass land area. Meat and milk (wonderful flavor, it depends on breed and what they possibly feed on) and tallow.
I live in a small rural town so neither goat or sheep for me. As a young child, my grandma's next door neighbor had a few Saeen goats as well as chickens. I LOVED watching the new babies every Spring. Goats have always had a special place in my heart, but what you say about sheep and what I've seen from Doug and Stacy's channel makes alot of sense. Never had sheep milk or cheese......now I'm curious. Wonder if the little Amish store a few towns over has some.......ROAD TRIP!
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
I have both sheep and goats. I never used to like sheep, but we have hair sheep, (St. Croix) and we milk them. The milk is the most amazing creamy drink you’ve ever had. (We also milk cows and goats, so I can say that from experience). Our very favorite thing is homemade sheep milk ice cream. Raspberry is the best. Rams don’t stink, they are so gentle and watchful with their flock. We lost our registered upcoming breeding ram with one of the tornadoes (Oklahoma) this spring. I literally cried. I have learned so much by spending time with our sheep. I’ve learned so much about our Shepherd. Our sheep had never been milked before us. They were wild at the beginning. You know what happens once they know and trust you? You can go out into the pasture, and milk them lose. They come in at the same time every night to get put in the barn. The difference between sheep and goats is amazing (I still like my goats, but they are naughty pains).
We have mostly woods, brush and very little grass/yard. We currently have two meat goats which we have used only tie downs for. They will be processed soon, and we will be starting fencing for new goats, but milk goats this time. We had two lambs my children raised for 4-H and they we’re terribly destructive , wrecked the small enclosure we made for them and ate the garden- and were sick all the time.
5 years now never trimmed a hoof, hilly and rocky. Im a sheep person. I have couple black bellies and 1 st croix ram. My favorite is katadin. Mine are super hardy now. Got to breed ,cull all non or slow sheders, wooley ones are weak . Dont fair as well in the cold or heat. Tried 4 strains of dorper, not tough enough in my environment! No more of that breed here for me. I use the st croix and blackbelllie blood on my problem ewes. Im surprized the size and hardiness i get out of some of them. Going to use a stcroix/ blackbellie x katadin. Cross. On the last 6 dorper x ewes i will ever try. Will see if i get anything worth moving foward with. The strain of katadin i have produced and still improving, seeming hard to beat. So well see!
For milk and it’s ferments, kefir yogurt etc; and goat hair makes a soft yarn too I’m a goat gal For wool and lamb 🤤 I’m a sheep gal Both seem to clear land for pasture well And goats only need a corner to be able to get into shelter from wind if you live in a harsh climate, like a fence wall corner with a light cover to keep off precipitation (tarp will do it but a piece of rusted tin or old T1-11 works too) I can’t imagine shearing sheep, I would only brush the goats for hair
I have both, and I would say my goats are my darlings. I do have woven wire fence everywhere, and lots of reinforcement. Definitely not as low maintenance as the sheep, but so much more personable.
Also I just wanna say my goats choose pasture before they go to the fence rows or woods. If brush is all they got, then sure they’ll eat it, but that doesn’t mean that’s what they prefer. I believe it also depends on breed and perhaps the individual goats
I loved this video it was hysterical! Everybody on RUclips says the exact same thing you are so I will take your word for it. I would consider a Nigerian Dwarf though.
I raise dairy goats and dislike nigerian dwarfs specifically. Mine were determined to escape any fences. Tall fences, electric fences everything I tried. I got rid of them. But I did have a mini nubian buck that was sweet and docile. Nubians are the loudest, but great docile animals that are easy to fence in, great milk and I like them best. Kiko are great all around, less social, and great for brush clearing. They are more determined to get deep into the thick woods than my others. Lamancha, not my favorite dairy breed, they are most lean, and have less fat content in milk. Boer, are head strong and headbutt housing and destruction is fun for them. I'm curious what breeds of goats Zach has tried. My goat milk is delicious. People that don't like goats milk like ours. My goats are browsing year round in east texas thicket, and being fed chaffhaye and grain on the stanchion. I don't have drylot dairy animals... maybe that makes a difference. Maybe I handle it better, but I can't say it's the breed because I have experimented with several breeds and they milk is always good past the first month after birth. The first several weeks it tastes off from colostrum production, but is sweet and delicious after that.
@thesmiths629 We are in East TX and looking into adding goats this next year. I am curious which breed specifically you mentioned is best for milk? Hubby travels so we need goats that aren't escape artists and that I could handle on my own if need be. Do you sell any of your goats?
I have to 'working pet' goats. I named them after their jobs; Bush Hog and Weed Wacker. They do a good job at keeping an area I can't get a mower into clear.
Zach you had me rolling in laughter especially as i look out at the deck and my new griddle bbq that goats love to stand on top of...🤦 can you please share what corral you use or what type of shelter set up you do have for your sheep? I live in a suburban rural area and it's HARD to find the gray headed farmers and livestock owners. In western Oregon so it gets wet and we have amazing blackberries that grow everywhere and on everything that everyone gets goats to help with... Our goats are apparently allergic to eating blackberries 🤦
I think both goats and sheep can be used to good purpose in the right areas and with the right keepers. Here is NW GA, the few people I knew who tried sheep ended up switching to goats because of the sheep dropping dead for no apparent reason. However, I don't know how well they researched before getting sheep and I don't know what breeds they tried. It's worth finding someone in your area who is raising each successfully and willing to mentor before getting either (or both) of these kinds of animals.
I drank goats milk for the 1st 3 years of my life when I was born, we lived in Germany. My dad was stationed there and then we moved to the US. I have tried goats milk and cheese since and all I taste is how they smell. I think they are cute and funny but until I moved here to SW Central IA and seen how destructive and suicidal my neighbor's 3 goats are.. and having gotten a ram lamb at 3 days old almost dead from a farmer who needed someone to save him, having him around until he was all but grown before he was sold. I hands down will only have sheep!! I don't have a lot of land but I can graze them on my neighbor's back pasture if I needed to. I have been looking to get 3 or so to start with to see how it goes and if I can handle raising them on my own. I raise Muscovy, for show and meat, as well as some chickens. I'd love a few cows. I love Jersey, mini dexter and highland. But all that takes money.
This has been a question I've wondered about for a long time. It sounds like sheep act similar to chickens. I'm a "hands off as much as possible" person. Thanks for the input!
Awhile back I was seriously considering getting a couple of goats for meat, milk and to help keep the vegetation down. BUT after listening to you and a couple of others in goats, including one farm that raises goats, I decided I am in your camp, Not for me. I like easy and simple too. So have decided on sheep. I now have to research what type are best for my area, as we live in hit and humid summers and 40 below winters, without wind chills. The wind chills drive it even lower. I will definately need winter shelter for them. Lol everything needs winter shelter here. I have a friend here that has a goat milk farm. She has a grade A dairy. They milk hundreds of sheep daily. It us the best goat milk I have ever tasted. Tge first time I had it, I was not aware it was goat milk and thought it was cows milk with the cream left in. I have learned, Good goats milk is all about the hygiene. Lol I will buy the milk from her and keep my sanity. They do not have the problems with their goats. They are well adjusted goats and stay where put and gave never seen as much as a feisty lamb in the feeders. We used to raise cows, when we had more acreage, but even they are like drunk teens. Will go through a fence just because a blade of grass looks better on the other side or they just decide to go on an adventure or the cows in the other side look better than their choice in this side. Especially bulls.
I have goats and it wasn't until after I got them that I understood bible references to goats and sheep. I appreciate your knowledge on sheep. I might swap to sheep now. I got goats first as I was taught in school that sheep have a weak stomach and experience lots of issues with rough land....
LolI love your attitude about goats. Had me rolling around in laughter. Goats seek adventure! You seek adventure with them. When they get hurt, you get hurt. When they die, you will die struggling to protect And live with them. It's just the way it is. You live with them and die with them. That is until we see this video and there's actually a way out of this madness. I didn't know one could change until I saw your video. Now I know their is hope that one could have rest. That one could work on their PTS symptoms and get legitimate help by making a change today. Thanks for your help and encouragement. Sick and in love with my goats.
Very good video and i love to have more land to have seep. Sheep love still waters so do i and with some land in a more stressful world today one sure can use sheep with a lower stress level in life. Scripture is so clear on sheep and goats. I love your video and i wonder if your coming to Springfield, Ohio when Doug and Stacy comes? I missed the last conference you all had cause i was closing on my home in the country.
I was raised on a 1200 acre ranch where my dad raised sheep. They were good to graze in the fields during the day and come back up to the barn at night for safety....The thing I didn't like about sheep was that you always had to watch out for the rams because they would really ram you hard. I, also, didn't like it when my dad would always seem to sheer sheep right before I went to a dance as a teenager so I would smell like lanolin...ugh... Currently, my hubby and I are raising Nigerian Dwarf goats...We started out with 3 kid goats, 1 male and 2 female...We found out quickly that goats breed like rabbits and now we have 27...The thing we like about goats is that they have a lot cleaner bums than sheep and you don't have to cut off their tails...As long as you build their fencing with drill pipe, you have no problem containing them. I have never had any of our goats ram me on purpose...I only got rammed once when I got in the way of two bucks going after each other...But our goats are really sweet and I absolutely love raising them. Nigerian Dwarf goats have a very sweet milk due to them having the highest fat content in their milk of goat breeds. It doesn't taste goaty at all if you cool it down quickly in the fridge. Also, our Nigerian Dwarf goats are great about coming back to the barn every night after free-ranging on our 400 acre Rocky Mtn Homestead...They will come running down to the barn when my hubby whistles to them...They know that they will get their alfalfa cubes and they love them...When you feed goats a diet of forage instead of hay, their health is amazing. They are not skinny like the goats I see on a lot of homestead channels. They are buff just like the 'big billy goat gruff'...Goats are browsers, like deer...they are not grazers like sheep, horses and cattle...Hay is the wrong diet for them if you want a healthy and robust goat....We have no problems with our goats killing themselves...They are really tough...
We walk our sheep daily. And have had great success. I hated our goats and I love our flock... Sheep are easily led, the goats had to be herded. My sheep will follow me all day sometimes close sometimes maybe seventy yards out they will browse the forests but when I call they come. Plus when you are raising your children biblically they understand the sheep references to a higher degree. Keep up your great works.... Sheep all the way
My goats are exactly like dogs...they follow me through the woods single file with pack saddles and no leed ropes..if they get scared by something they run towards me
I love BOTH. But I always tell people to look where they are getting animals from and find ones that fit their goals in how they raise them. I like low maintenance in any animal. I want my animals to live off the land and try to raise them as naturally as possible. I breed both our sheep and our goats and select those that fit the goals the best. So I believe selective breeding and retaining is key to making the herd/flock you want. I laughed, our Mini-Nubians/Nubians we've raised (8 years) seem to defy all the goat woes. They are super quiet, easy going, hardy and parasite resistant, they don't destroy things (maybe the bucks, I'll give that), mine never test the fences and stay I 4 line hot wire. Once the gate was left open, the girls browsed and put themselves back up! BUT, I breed and cull for the traits I want in my animals. And their milk is GOOD! It tastes similar to our Mini Jersey. Typically if it doesn't, there are mineral/worm/mastits issues going on. We've bred for good hooves (which we had rocky areas but alas soft soil, but minimal hoof care), great mothering, calm, easygoing milkers. On the other hand we've had rams tear up fences and the sheep went through 4 line barb wire to the neighbors pasture. But I loved our Katahdins here. They were super easy, my one complaint was moving them from pen to pen, they'd scatter. Otherwise, rare deworming if at all, minimal hoofcare, they ate low quality forage and turned it to great meat. We did buy from herds that focused on good meat production and natural grazing and parasite resistance etc. Also not putting the less hardy ones back into the breeding pool. They are fantastic mothers too. There are animals I wont have that others love, I hate guneas as ours were SO loud 24/7 and got on our vehicles and in places they didn't need to be LOL. But people need to find what works best for them, sheep are awesome but so are goats :P Our sheep are amazing lawn mowers and the goats keep the brush down!
I’ve researched a lot, but never actually owned goats. However with the problems you mentioned with sheep (the wool kind especially) I know I don’t want the hassle just for the fiber. There are goats that have good milk and give fiber nigora (cross of Nigerian dwarf and Angora goats) for this reason (and I am aware of what I am getting into- maybe I am a gluten for punishment- I want a husky pup too) I am going with goats!! Also goat meat is awesome!!
QUESTION: I need a recommendation on a sheep breed for my area. I live between you and Doug and Stacy in SW MO. I am 40 miles from the AR border and like 10 miles from the Kansas border. I have always thought Katadan (sp?) sheep were the option for us but after hearing this I think that the St. Croix would be a better breed. Sounds like they are lower maintenance than the "K" breed. Just how much room does sheep need to have? I would like to have 2 females and bring a male to the girls for mating every year, what is your opinion on that? The offspring will be food. I expect this process to take about 2 years...am I close? Lastly, I was thinking on using electrified fencing for rotational grazing depending on the required pen size for such a thing. What would "once sheep day" look like? How much will one sheep eat in a day? I'm thinking moving a 2 sheep pen 1x per week and have 4 paddocks for a monthly rotation. I would like to have a recommendation on a minimum amount of land for that. I will raise chickens (mostly free range) and sacrafical Guineas along with Rabbits for dog food and sale to "outsiders" LOL..... I am nearing retirement and just getting myself positioned for it when the world started going to hell in a handbasket. I hope it holds out another few years but I may not get to live my dream of self sufficiency on a small piece of land in a 850sqft house. Doing the best I can to "get ready" now. Got enough solar panels and things to make them work but need more batteries to be really ready. Can go for nearly 8hrs on just the basics now but this is an area of real necessity as we are coming into winter storms. Thanks for your reply in advance. I hope I am not the only one with these questions! and We all appreciate your insight on this channel. Shalom, Chuck.
ive had sheep and goats, i find the goats easier to keep alive, the sheep just seemed more delicate, i have 1 goat that tries to get out untended gates occasionally but then he comes when i call like a dog so its really not a big deal, maybe i just have angelic goats but ive never had trouble with them getting out or jumping on my car 😂 i dont like mutton or goat meat and i have them for milk, ive never had a problem with off flavors, but that can be breed and handling dependant as well... i did love my sheep and miss spinning their wool but they were too high maintenance to keep with small kids
Still love my goats after this video!:) I have had them for 3+ years and have NEVER had one on my vehicle. The miniature versions, like pygmy and nigerian, that do that crap! ;) We have Kiko, which are like the goat version of St. Croix, except from New Zeland. Cheers to both sheep and goats--they each serve a purpose!
I WANT sheep but we have no experience with any sheep/goats/cows yet. I want milk, wool, meat, pest/disease resistance, great in heat and long cold winters... and excellent shofar growth 😂 too much to ask for? -I'd absolutely love recommendations for the perfect breed!
Yes, I love my goats! I have never had a problem with them jumping on my truck. Going under it, yes, but never on top of it. I free range my goats. They return every night to their pen where they are fed and I lock them in till morning. The only 1 that was destructive was my buck. He taught me to build better. That buck has moved on. All that said, I just got my first sheep. In some ways they are better, in some ways not. One thing I have learned, they DO like shelter. When it starts to rain they run to the barn. Didn't expect that!
I am definitely a sheep person. I am from sweden but live in Missouri now. I prefer my viking finn sheep. They are easy keepers. In sweden we have poor rocky soil. The fields were for people food not hay. Hay was cut on the swamp land. In the summer the sheep were taken out in the woods to eat leaves or whatever green they could find. They thrive in woodlands. Their wool is fine good for spinning, can be sheared twice a year. I shear my own. Put them in a stantion and use hand shears so no electricity needed. They give good milk and they are know for producing lots of lambs 3. 4 5 a lambing with no problems. I have registered finns in several brown shades. I really enjoy them. Good meat too 😊.
Goats are absolute HEATHENS!!! I lost an entire summer chasing after a neighbour's goats, and even after locking them up in the barn that i built for my sheep (thus displacing my sheep), they proceeded to eat their way out of said barn and even played leap-frog to get over the 5' walls (the barn was built out of large pallets), so then i was constantly adding and replacing boards! My sheep are absolute darlings 🥰 If you want to try another breed, look at getting Icelandic. They are multi-purpose, raised for fleece, meat and dairy - but they're a hair sheep so don't need to be shorn unless you want to shear (most keepers of Icelandic shear their sheep). Our sheep also do just fine living in forest, but if brush-clearing is what you're after, then the animal to get would be pigs ;)
I can honestly say in the 4 years I’ve had goats, I’ve never had them destroy anything or get into my garden. We built their feeder out of IBC cage. It works great! Before that, we took the side of a crib and made a wall feeder with it. That worked well as well. Goats milk should taste exactly like cows milk. If it doesn’t… you’re doing it wrong. You either have a rutty buck on the property , didn’t filter the milk and cool it fast enough, or there’s some forage that is making it off tasting. When I first started milking them it tasted more goaty…then I got faster at milking and cooled it faster and no one can taste the difference. I love letting people taste it who have had goat milk before and didn’t like it. they’re stunned.
I am super glad your goats genetics are manageable and I want to know In future where I would get a goat for milk that does NOT exhibit behavior that will not be conducive to Home keepers
I don't agree that goat milk tastes exactly like cow milk. I think goat milk mixed with a little bit of oat "milk" is indistinguishable from cow milk though. I've never tasted that "goaty" flavor that people complain about in goat milk though. I don't know what "goaty" means at all, since goat milk is so similar to cow milk.
I have had does in a pen with bucks breedingand milked her out that evening and fon't have goaty flavor. Bucks nearby is a myth. Many people keep them ear. Mine share a line with my girls and everyone says they love our milk, to them it tastes like cow milk but a touch sweeter. Also I don't cool ours quick. We milk quite a few and it sits in the milk barn for a short bit while we finish chores then gets filtered and put in the fridge. Tastes fantastic. In our experience and what we see in other herds, it's typically mineral deficiency, worms, or subclinical mastits that will cause off or goaty tastes.
One relatively new breed not mentioned here is Kinder-goat. This is a cross of Nubian and Pygmy goats resulting is a smaller size yet retaining greater milk production than the pygmy alone. Sheep much prefer just grass while goats will eat browse, small bushy even woody plants, including landscape plants which may be toxic, rhododendron for one. But, if you have blackberry or other bushy undergrowth and want it cleaned up, goats are the ticket. The Kinder-goat was developed with the idea of exporting to less developed areas along the lines of Heifer International.
I've eaten both and they're not bad. I've raised lambs and they are professional escape artists. Haven't raised goats and the best thing I could say about them is that they provide some entertainment value. Gotta agree with the milk issue. Sheep milk yogurt is the best.
I’ve had both hair sheep and Nigerian dwarf goats. I LOVE the goats and still have them. Sheep were “fine”. When it came down to it, I sold the sheep because the ewes were hard to handle and very flighty. The rams were highly destructive creatures, and tore up buildings and fence posts. I also prefer the goat meat to sheep meat. It’s much more mild and like beef. The goats (including the bucks) are friendly and easy to handle. Nigerian dwarf milk is fantastic, and absolutely nothing like the milk of standard breeds.
I would be interested in the ways people use the meat. I've never tried either (yet) but we are looking into expanding beyond chickens and turkeys. I assumed goats would be the next step - hadn't even considered sheep. Now I'm deep diving the comments here. 😂
I have dairy goats and I rotate them through our woods. We only have a little under 2 acres of pasture and they seem happiest to chow on muscadine and tree leaves. But oh I love some lamb so I’m wanting some meat breeds good for the Deep South if anyone has any recommendations.
Icy cold goat’s milk is fine, but I have yet to try a goat’s milk in coffee that doesn’t progressively become more goaty-tasting as it sits in the cup.
I have meat goats and there are blend of Spanish , myotonic and kiko they can be a pain to keep in but it’s taken about 10 years to get a goat that’s hardy and not need worming I ended up adding hair sheep some are full kat and some are a mix of kat and st coix mix with a touch of dorper Culling the weak and keeping the best is what keeps you in the game
I really enjoyed this video and commenting twice. I had sheep first. Then added goats. My goats are so sweet. I was out in the pasture with them pondering the characteristics of each and why biblically "sheep" are the way to be. Anyone have insite?
You can lead a flock of sheep. They will follow the shepherd, or anyone else that leads them in the wrong direction. Goats need to be driven. They are definitely independent thinkers.
I'm team sheep! We had goats my whole childhood and you are correct they are like teenagers. My husband didn't believe me until he talked me into getting some one year. He couldn't get to the auction barn fast enough after a few months lol😂😂
I’m a goat person! 🤣 But our grandma car isn’t precious to me and they can’t get up on our F450! 😜 I grew up with goats and have been shocked with all the hate on goats from homesteaders. For me, it took raising one sheep for 4-H to say never again…too dumb for me! I guess I’m gal who likes personality though. I also love goat milk much more than cow milk and have more forest than pasture currently. 🤷♀️ Every animal that I’ve ever raised can be frustrating at some point though so…
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I'm more of a wolf person
Have you eaten an MLT?
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward." Vernon Law
Most Valuable Wisdom.. especially in marriage and plantings having children ❤
Our goat milk is fantastic! No off flavor, just creamy and slightly sweet. So good!!!
My goats milk is better than the raw cows milk I was buying from a local farmer. I tested how long it tasted good, got up to 12 days and called it. I also have sheep (hair), if I had to choose it would be my Mini-LaMancha's.
We had both sheep and goats for many years. The sheep were very easy keepers, but honestly, the goats were pretty easy also. They were a meat sheep breed and our goats were for dairy. Our goats never got out unless a gate was left open. I think all the issues are breed specific. They say if the goats are happy and all their needs are met, they really won't think about going anywhere else. The milk was fantastic!
What breed of goats?
I loved your Biblical comment at the end. When I started listening at the beginning that’s what was on my mind😂❤
I'm convinced that the Bible-sheep connection is why many slick homestead channels have goats, not sheep.
Well, AH dude ❤’ed this comment. So, he’s saying his son was raised on the Devils’ milk???
Whoa, if I believed that, I’d go with shitty crappy formula before I’d let my son suck the devil’s teets
The biblical comments are bunk.
But my goat did do a number on my truck.
Did the devil make her do it
Appalachian homestead loves her goats . She takes really good care of them . I think its a full time job. I'm not sure what she does with all those goats . She does use the milk and makes cheese. But she has a lot of goats
In Idaho and I'm sure probably in other areas as well goats are rented and used to clear empty lots of weeds and grasses to help maintain the property
Yep! I know Cal Fire uses them as well.
I raise Katahdin sheep, and they do quite well at that also.
I can’t stop laughing with your description of goats!
He even didn't mention that male goats have a very strong... unpleasant smell. Unlike male sheep.
I know! I was cracking up and had to share work my 13 year old daughter who loves our goats and she was not impressed lol. If you are okay with goats on top of your car, then okay you're a goat person 😂😂😂
My sister and I had a few pet goats when we were teenagers. They were so fun! I'll never forget seeing one of them up on the very tippy top of the two story barn looking like she was going to jump, lol. Also the time my dad left the truck door open for a minute and she was in the truck eating the owners manual😅
I have had both, give me sheep any day.
A SMARTIE ❤❤❤❤❤❤
do a video on sheep fencing and perimeters please. I really want sheep.
Wool is a fantastic resource on the homestead. It could be used as insulation, it can be used as a soil amendment or to start seeds. Wool is amazing
😂 Your comments about goats is hilarious! I have no experience with goats or sheep, but have heard similar comments from other homesteaders. Often heard of goats as like having a new puppy that wants all your attention and requires lots of time, on top of all their destruction lol. They're cute, but I couldnt handle the constant deadly shananigans they seem to get themselves in to.
I'm a goat person, Nigerian Dwarf for milk and meat. I've never had sheep though. We have no worm problems with Lespedeza and Bkack Walnut Trees. Lol at your goat stories. I'll look into sheep, thanks. I have a closed heard. I think I'm moving to sheep. Do you have any for sale?
Me too. I have a small herd of mostly ND and Mini LaMancha. They're wonderful.
Are ND goats noisy? Someone in another comment said that mini LaManchas are quiet.
I have experience with both. Everyone is different but my preference is goats by far. I like the milk and did not have any worm issues. Sheep were a battle with shearing and hoof care where with my goats I could walk right up to them, pick up a hoof and work on it. Also my area is very wooded and goats are great for cleaning the brush. I had the same amount of issues with sheep as to ramming the gate, eating the inner wall and insulation where the goats didn't. So it varies as to the area you live and experience with care required; but again, I found goats easier to take care of.
We never had sheep but did have goats. They were Nubians. It totally depended on the individual animal as to how ornery they were. One nanny was the friendliest, sweetest thing and another was a real knothead. We spoiled the little kids so they were really friendly and easy going as they grew up. Thanks for sharing.
Tomorrow I'll be putting up the last of my wire, for a total fenced area of 7 acres for my goats. It's been a brutal project, but I did not want my goats jumping on my UTV anymore. But I don't have pasture, instead a lot of woods. I'd rather have sheep as their meat does taste better, but for my circumstances, goats make more sense. Now I'm going to enjoy watching them eat through my woods and turning it into a park like you said.
With goats, you could easier turn the woods into pasture, since the shoots from the tree stumps will be browsed down, and the stump will die. Sheep do eat the shoots from trees, but I'm not sure if they eat as many tree varieties.
Pigs do a better job because they get the roots, also. They're also MUCH easier to keep, requiring only two or three hotwires for their fence, and much tastier 😋 Sheep also do well in the woods - we run ours through the forest as we clear and sow pastures. I actually had one escape and disappear for 6 days, living off only what the forest had to offer until she finally came home!
What a timely video. I was just thinking maybe I should get a couple lamanchas to milk. I think you might have talked me out of it though. But the only reason is the weather situation. I need something that can hang with the sheep. For the most part I agree about sheep being easier. I do have a sheep named Amazing Grace , she was blind when she was born but now she can see. I have no idea what caused her to be that way but she is also "special" . I know she would be the top of most peoples cull list but she has taught me so much about the Bible and the Father's love. She is never where she is supposed to be. She frequently risks 12,000 kv of electricity to try out the next paddock. Or sometimes she's just standing in the cattle shoot at the barn or chasing chickens. I understand grace now & that's why she has a place on our farm. Even though she acts like a darn goat I still love her and I go looking for her often.
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Great video informative and hilarious!
We love love love our goats! We don't have a big pasture so we haven't tried sheep. Our goats milk tastes just like cows milk. We use a metal laundry bin for a feeder and they've never broken it. Our fence keeps them in and when we let them free range they follow us right back to their pen when we need to secure them. Our goats are sweet and have personalities almost like dogs. They've been a wonderful addition to our homestead! Would love to try sheep too, but just don't have the pasture for it!
My 4 goats are awesome. So much personality, they keep me laughing.
New Subscriber, found ya the other day. I LOVE goats, BUT I will not own them ever again! Exactly all the reasons you have said. When we switched homesteads, I sold all my goats (had goats for 8 years). I can say hubby hates the goats, they ate his tractor, ate our landscaping, ate our neighbors' trees. We currently stick with sheep and other livestock. We have Katahdin for meat and we also have Lincoln/Jacob cross for wool.
Great review of differences of sheep and goat, those who have ears....God bless you.
I have mini lamancha goats
Super easy and quiet overall. Our in tact males live together peacefullly. Never had any get into trouble. Overall a good fit for us. Not too hard on structures. Plus we live in hot shrubby poor grass land area. Meat and milk (wonderful flavor, it depends on breed and what they possibly feed on) and tallow.
This is super encouraging for folks who'd like to provide goats milk for children with allergies and medical challenges from Over-vacvination❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I live in a small rural town so neither goat or sheep for me. As a young child, my grandma's next door neighbor had a few Saeen goats as well as chickens. I LOVED watching the new babies every Spring. Goats have always had a special place in my heart, but what you say about sheep and what I've seen from Doug and Stacy's channel makes alot of sense. Never had sheep milk or cheese......now I'm curious. Wonder if the little Amish store a few towns over has some.......ROAD TRIP!
32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Parables are not literal. Preferring goats as your stock has no bearing on your salvation.
@@Heather-xm9ulThat goes without saying.
I have both sheep and goats. I never used to like sheep, but we have hair sheep, (St. Croix) and we milk them. The milk is the most amazing creamy drink you’ve ever had. (We also milk cows and goats, so I can say that from experience). Our very favorite thing is homemade sheep milk ice cream. Raspberry is the best.
Rams don’t stink, they are so gentle and watchful with their flock. We lost our registered upcoming breeding ram with one of the tornadoes (Oklahoma) this spring. I literally cried. I have learned so much by spending time with our sheep. I’ve learned so much about our Shepherd. Our sheep had never been milked before us. They were wild at the beginning. You know what happens once they know and trust you? You can go out into the pasture, and milk them lose. They come in at the same time every night to get put in the barn. The difference between sheep and goats is amazing (I still like my goats, but they are naughty pains).
Thank you for the content, enjoy every episode you put up and looking forward to the next one.
Even though I don’t have sheep or goats, I enjoyed your knowledge, as usual.
We have mostly woods, brush and very little grass/yard. We currently have two meat goats which we have used only tie downs for. They will be processed soon, and we will be starting fencing for new goats, but milk goats this time. We had two lambs my children raised for 4-H and they we’re terribly destructive , wrecked the small enclosure we made for them and ate the garden- and were sick all the time.
Love that !!! My neighbors love their goats..what a headache for us!!!!!
Shalom from Rogers, Arkansas. I love goat milk.
5 years now never trimmed a hoof, hilly and rocky. Im a sheep person. I have couple black bellies and 1 st croix ram. My favorite is katadin. Mine are super hardy now. Got to breed ,cull all non or slow sheders, wooley ones are weak . Dont fair as well in the cold or heat. Tried 4 strains of dorper, not tough enough in my environment! No more of that breed here for me. I use the st croix and blackbelllie blood on my problem ewes. Im surprized the size and hardiness i get out of some of them. Going to use a stcroix/ blackbellie x katadin.
Cross. On the last 6 dorper x ewes i will ever try. Will see if i get anything worth moving foward with. The strain of katadin i have produced and still improving, seeming hard to beat. So well see!
I love my goats ❤They are wonderful, charming pets, as well as good dairy animals.
For milk and it’s ferments, kefir yogurt etc; and goat hair makes a soft yarn too
I’m a goat gal
For wool and lamb 🤤 I’m a sheep gal
Both seem to clear land for pasture well
And goats only need a corner to be able to get into shelter from wind if you live in a harsh climate, like a fence wall corner with a light cover to keep off precipitation (tarp will do it but a piece of rusted tin or old T1-11 works too)
I can’t imagine shearing sheep, I would only brush the goats for hair
I have both, and I would say my goats are my darlings. I do have woven wire fence everywhere, and lots of reinforcement. Definitely not as low maintenance as the sheep, but so much more personable.
I've said this in your comment section before, but I'll say it again. *Friends don't let Friends buy Goats*
😜
Great educational and very funny video. Thank you!
Also I just wanna say my goats choose pasture before they go to the fence rows or woods. If brush is all they got, then sure they’ll eat it, but that doesn’t mean that’s what they prefer. I believe it also depends on breed and perhaps the individual goats
I have both and you are so right. I laughed through this video and needed that this morning. Thank you Zack!
I loved this video it was hysterical! Everybody on RUclips says the exact same thing you are so I will take your word for it. I would consider a Nigerian Dwarf though.
I raise dairy goats and dislike nigerian dwarfs specifically.
Mine were determined to escape any fences. Tall fences, electric fences everything I tried. I got rid of them. But I did have a mini nubian buck that was sweet and docile.
Nubians are the loudest, but great docile animals that are easy to fence in, great milk and I like them best.
Kiko are great all around, less social, and great for brush clearing. They are more determined to get deep into the thick woods than my others.
Lamancha, not my favorite dairy breed, they are most lean, and have less fat content in milk.
Boer, are head strong and headbutt housing and destruction is fun for them.
I'm curious what breeds of goats Zach has tried.
My goat milk is delicious. People that don't like goats milk like ours. My goats are browsing year round in east texas thicket, and being fed chaffhaye and grain on the stanchion. I don't have drylot dairy animals... maybe that makes a difference. Maybe I handle it better, but I can't say it's the breed because I have experimented with several breeds and they milk is always good past the first month after birth. The first several weeks it tastes off from colostrum production, but is sweet and delicious after that.
@thesmiths629 We are in East TX and looking into adding goats this next year. I am curious which breed specifically you mentioned is best for milk? Hubby travels so we need goats that aren't escape artists and that I could handle on my own if need be. Do you sell any of your goats?
ZACK,, we just bought 4 sheep.
Depends on your forage resources: goats 30% grass grazing, 10% foraging weedy, broad leaves, 60% browsing woody shrubs, young trees. Sheep 50% graze, 30% forage, 20% browse. Cattle 70% graze, 15% forage, 15% browse.
I have to 'working pet' goats. I named them after their jobs; Bush Hog and Weed Wacker. They do a good job at keeping an area I can't get a mower into clear.
Zach you had me rolling in laughter especially as i look out at the deck and my new griddle bbq that goats love to stand on top of...🤦 can you please share what corral you use or what type of shelter set up you do have for your sheep? I live in a suburban rural area and it's HARD to find the gray headed farmers and livestock owners. In western Oregon so it gets wet and we have amazing blackberries that grow everywhere and on everything that everyone gets goats to help with... Our goats are apparently allergic to eating blackberries 🤦
If you live on a mountain slope, goat. Anywhere else, sheep 🐑 for sure. Shalom👊🏼
Sheep don't do well in desert scrub. Goats do better on slopes and cliffs, and they do better in scrubby BS that all the ruminants can't handle.
I think both goats and sheep can be used to good purpose in the right areas and with the right keepers. Here is NW GA, the few people I knew who tried sheep ended up switching to goats because of the sheep dropping dead for no apparent reason. However, I don't know how well they researched before getting sheep and I don't know what breeds they tried. It's worth finding someone in your area who is raising each successfully and willing to mentor before getting either (or both) of these kinds of animals.
Didn’t know goats and sheep were so different. ❤
I drank goats milk for the 1st 3 years of my life when I was born, we lived in Germany. My dad was stationed there and then we moved to the US. I have tried goats milk and cheese since and all I taste is how they smell.
I think they are cute and funny but until I moved here to SW Central IA and seen how destructive and suicidal my neighbor's 3 goats are.. and having gotten a ram lamb at 3 days old almost dead from a farmer who needed someone to save him, having him around until he was all but grown before he was sold. I hands down will only have sheep!! I don't have a lot of land but I can graze them on my neighbor's back pasture if I needed to. I have been looking to get 3 or so to start with to see how it goes and if I can handle raising them on my own. I raise Muscovy, for show and meat, as well as some chickens. I'd love a few cows. I love Jersey, mini dexter and highland. But all that takes money.
I live relatively near Camden, not sure I will be able to go, but would love to.
Zack, do you have LGD's to protect your flock?
You are hilarious. It’s 7:45 am and you started my day off laughing. And I don’t want goats on my car either!
This has been a question I've wondered about for a long time. It sounds like sheep act similar to chickens. I'm a "hands off as much as possible" person. Thanks for the input!
Amen ❤
Be a sheep dog not a goat dog!
Awhile back I was seriously considering getting a couple of goats for meat, milk and to help keep the vegetation down. BUT after listening to you and a couple of others in goats, including one farm that raises goats, I decided I am in your camp, Not for me. I like easy and simple too. So have decided on sheep. I now have to research what type are best for my area, as we live in hit and humid summers and 40 below winters, without wind chills. The wind chills drive it even lower. I will definately need winter shelter for them. Lol everything needs winter shelter here. I have a friend here that has a goat milk farm. She has a grade A dairy. They milk hundreds of sheep daily. It us the best goat milk I have ever tasted. Tge first time I had it, I was not aware it was goat milk and thought it was cows milk with the cream left in. I have learned, Good goats milk is all about the hygiene. Lol I will buy the milk from her and keep my sanity. They do not have the problems with their goats. They are well adjusted goats and stay where put and gave never seen as much as a feisty lamb in the feeders. We used to raise cows, when we had more acreage, but even they are like drunk teens. Will go through a fence just because a blade of grass looks better on the other side or they just decide to go on an adventure or the cows in the other side look better than their choice in this side. Especially bulls.
I have goats and it wasn't until after I got them that I understood bible references to goats and sheep. I appreciate your knowledge on sheep. I might swap to sheep now. I got goats first as I was taught in school that sheep have a weak stomach and experience lots of issues with rough land....
LolI love your attitude about goats. Had me rolling around in laughter.
Goats seek adventure! You seek adventure with them. When they get hurt, you get hurt. When they die, you will die struggling to protect And live with them. It's just the way it is. You live with them and die with them. That is until we see this video and there's actually a way out of this madness. I didn't know one could change until I saw your video. Now I know their is hope that one could have rest. That one could work on their PTS symptoms and get legitimate help by making a change today.
Thanks for your help and encouragement.
Sick and in love with my goats.
Should we have an AA meeting for us goat lover gluttons for punishment? 😂😂😂
Very good video and i love to have more land to have seep. Sheep love still waters so do i and with some land in a more stressful world today one sure can use sheep with a lower stress level in life. Scripture is so clear on sheep and goats. I love your video and i wonder if your coming to Springfield, Ohio when Doug and Stacy comes? I missed the last conference you all had cause i was closing on my home in the country.
I was raised on a 1200 acre ranch where my dad raised sheep. They were good to graze in the fields during the day and come back up to the barn at night for safety....The thing I didn't like about sheep was that you always had to watch out for the rams because they would really ram you hard. I, also, didn't like it when my dad would always seem to sheer sheep right before I went to a dance as a teenager so I would smell like lanolin...ugh...
Currently, my hubby and I are raising Nigerian Dwarf goats...We started out with 3 kid goats, 1 male and 2 female...We found out quickly that goats breed like rabbits and now we have 27...The thing we like about goats is that they have a lot cleaner bums than sheep and you don't have to cut off their tails...As long as you build their fencing with drill pipe, you have no problem containing them. I have never had any of our goats ram me on purpose...I only got rammed once when I got in the way of two bucks going after each other...But our goats are really sweet and I absolutely love raising them. Nigerian Dwarf goats have a very sweet milk due to them having the highest fat content in their milk of goat breeds. It doesn't taste goaty at all if you cool it down quickly in the fridge. Also, our Nigerian Dwarf goats are great about coming back to the barn every night after free-ranging on our 400 acre Rocky Mtn Homestead...They will come running down to the barn when my hubby whistles to them...They know that they will get their alfalfa cubes and they love them...When you feed goats a diet of forage instead of hay, their health is amazing. They are not skinny like the goats I see on a lot of homestead channels. They are buff just like the 'big billy goat gruff'...Goats are browsers, like deer...they are not grazers like sheep, horses and cattle...Hay is the wrong diet for them if you want a healthy and robust goat....We have no problems with our goats killing themselves...They are really tough...
I really enjoy our goats milk is wonderful they clear brush for us on 10 acres but i do enjoy sheep for meat
We walk our sheep daily. And have had great success. I hated our goats and I love our flock... Sheep are easily led, the goats had to be herded. My sheep will follow me all day sometimes close sometimes maybe seventy yards out they will browse the forests but when I call they come. Plus when you are raising your children biblically they understand the sheep references to a higher degree. Keep up your great works.... Sheep all the way
My goats are exactly like dogs...they follow me through the woods single file with pack saddles and no leed ropes..if they get scared by something they run towards me
I love BOTH. But I always tell people to look where they are getting animals from and find ones that fit their goals in how they raise them. I like low maintenance in any animal. I want my animals to live off the land and try to raise them as naturally as possible. I breed both our sheep and our goats and select those that fit the goals the best. So I believe selective breeding and retaining is key to making the herd/flock you want.
I laughed, our Mini-Nubians/Nubians we've raised (8 years) seem to defy all the goat woes. They are super quiet, easy going, hardy and parasite resistant, they don't destroy things (maybe the bucks, I'll give that), mine never test the fences and stay I 4 line hot wire. Once the gate was left open, the girls browsed and put themselves back up! BUT, I breed and cull for the traits I want in my animals. And their milk is GOOD! It tastes similar to our Mini Jersey. Typically if it doesn't, there are mineral/worm/mastits issues going on. We've bred for good hooves (which we had rocky areas but alas soft soil, but minimal hoof care), great mothering, calm, easygoing milkers.
On the other hand we've had rams tear up fences and the sheep went through 4 line barb wire to the neighbors pasture. But I loved our Katahdins here. They were super easy, my one complaint was moving them from pen to pen, they'd scatter. Otherwise, rare deworming if at all, minimal hoofcare, they ate low quality forage and turned it to great meat. We did buy from herds that focused on good meat production and natural grazing and parasite resistance etc. Also not putting the less hardy ones back into the breeding pool. They are fantastic mothers too.
There are animals I wont have that others love, I hate guneas as ours were SO loud 24/7 and got on our vehicles and in places they didn't need to be LOL. But people need to find what works best for them, sheep are awesome but so are goats :P Our sheep are amazing lawn mowers and the goats keep the brush down!
I’ve researched a lot, but never actually owned goats. However with the problems you mentioned with sheep (the wool kind especially) I know I don’t want the hassle just for the fiber. There are goats that have good milk and give fiber nigora (cross of Nigerian dwarf and Angora goats) for this reason (and I am aware of what I am getting into- maybe I am a gluten for punishment- I want a husky pup too) I am going with goats!! Also goat meat is awesome!!
QUESTION: I need a recommendation on a sheep breed for my area. I live between you and Doug and Stacy in SW MO. I am 40 miles from the AR border and like 10 miles from the Kansas border. I have always thought Katadan (sp?) sheep were the option for us but after hearing this I think that the St. Croix would be a better breed. Sounds like they are lower maintenance than the "K" breed.
Just how much room does sheep need to have?
I would like to have 2 females and bring a male to the girls for mating every year, what is your opinion on that? The offspring will be food. I expect this process to take about 2 years...am I close? Lastly, I was thinking on using electrified fencing for rotational grazing depending on the required pen size for such a thing.
What would "once sheep day" look like? How much will one sheep eat in a day? I'm thinking moving a 2 sheep pen 1x per week and have 4 paddocks for a monthly rotation. I would like to have a recommendation on a minimum amount of land for that. I will raise chickens (mostly free range) and sacrafical Guineas along with Rabbits for dog food and sale to "outsiders" LOL.....
I am nearing retirement and just getting myself positioned for it when the world started going to hell in a handbasket. I hope it holds out another few years but I may not get to live my dream of self sufficiency on a small piece of land in a 850sqft house.
Doing the best I can to "get ready" now. Got enough solar panels and things to make them work but need more batteries to be really ready. Can go for nearly 8hrs on just the basics now but this is an area of real necessity as we are coming into winter storms.
Thanks for your reply in advance. I hope I am not the only one with these questions! and We all appreciate your insight on this channel.
Shalom,
Chuck.
Look into St. Croix, they are a hair sheep so you don’t have to shear them. They are easy keepers and known for their parasite resistance.
ive had sheep and goats, i find the goats easier to keep alive, the sheep just seemed more delicate, i have 1 goat that tries to get out untended gates occasionally but then he comes when i call like a dog so its really not a big deal, maybe i just have angelic goats but ive never had trouble with them getting out or jumping on my car 😂
i dont like mutton or goat meat and i have them for milk, ive never had a problem with off flavors, but that can be breed and handling dependant as well...
i did love my sheep and miss spinning their wool but they were too high maintenance to keep with small kids
Easy. I prefer sheep. Gulf coast native crossed into a few. I prefer their milk, their meat, their wool.
Still love my goats after this video!:) I have had them for 3+ years and have NEVER had one on my vehicle. The miniature versions, like pygmy and nigerian, that do that crap! ;) We have Kiko, which are like the goat version of St. Croix, except from New Zeland. Cheers to both sheep and goats--they each serve a purpose!
Thank you Zack!!
I WANT sheep but we have no experience with any sheep/goats/cows yet. I want milk, wool, meat, pest/disease resistance, great in heat and long cold winters... and excellent shofar growth 😂 too much to ask for? -I'd absolutely love recommendations for the perfect breed!
Yes, I love my goats! I have never had a problem with them jumping on my truck. Going under it, yes, but never on top of it. I free range my goats. They return every night to their pen where they are fed and I lock them in till morning. The only 1 that was destructive was my buck. He taught me to build better. That buck has moved on.
All that said, I just got my first sheep. In some ways they are better, in some ways not. One thing I have learned, they DO like shelter. When it starts to rain they run to the barn. Didn't expect that!
I am definitely a sheep person. I am from sweden but live in Missouri now. I prefer my viking finn sheep. They are easy keepers. In sweden we have poor rocky soil. The fields were for people food not hay. Hay was cut on the swamp land. In the summer the sheep were taken out in the woods to eat leaves or whatever green they could find. They thrive in woodlands. Their wool is fine good for spinning, can be sheared twice a year. I shear my own. Put them in a stantion and use hand shears so no electricity needed. They give good milk and they are know for producing lots of lambs 3. 4 5 a lambing with no problems. I have registered finns in several brown shades. I really enjoy them. Good meat too 😊.
Goats are absolute HEATHENS!!! I lost an entire summer chasing after a neighbour's goats, and even after locking them up in the barn that i built for my sheep (thus displacing my sheep), they proceeded to eat their way out of said barn and even played leap-frog to get over the 5' walls (the barn was built out of large pallets), so then i was constantly adding and replacing boards!
My sheep are absolute darlings 🥰 If you want to try another breed, look at getting Icelandic. They are multi-purpose, raised for fleece, meat and dairy - but they're a hair sheep so don't need to be shorn unless you want to shear (most keepers of Icelandic shear their sheep). Our sheep also do just fine living in forest, but if brush-clearing is what you're after, then the animal to get would be pigs ;)
Icelandics are wool sheep, not hair sheep.
My experience with goats and sheep is very different! My sheep are very hard on fencing and have destroyed more fence then my goats.
I can honestly say in the 4 years I’ve had goats, I’ve never had them destroy anything or get into my garden. We built their feeder out of IBC cage. It works great! Before that, we took the side of a crib and made a wall feeder with it. That worked well as well.
Goats milk should taste exactly like cows milk. If it doesn’t… you’re doing it wrong. You either have a rutty buck on the property , didn’t filter the milk and cool it fast enough, or there’s some forage that is making it off tasting. When I first started milking them it tasted more goaty…then I got faster at milking and cooled it faster and no one can taste the difference. I love letting people taste it who have had goat milk before and didn’t like it. they’re stunned.
I am super glad your goats genetics are manageable and I want to know In future where I would get a goat for milk that does NOT exhibit behavior that will not be conducive to Home keepers
I don't agree that goat milk tastes exactly like cow milk. I think goat milk mixed with a little bit of oat "milk" is indistinguishable from cow milk though. I've never tasted that "goaty" flavor that people complain about in goat milk though. I don't know what "goaty" means at all, since goat milk is so similar to cow milk.
I have had does in a pen with bucks breedingand milked her out that evening and fon't have goaty flavor. Bucks nearby is a myth. Many people keep them ear. Mine share a line with my girls and everyone says they love our milk, to them it tastes like cow milk but a touch sweeter. Also I don't cool ours quick. We milk quite a few and it sits in the milk barn for a short bit while we finish chores then gets filtered and put in the fridge. Tastes fantastic. In our experience and what we see in other herds, it's typically mineral deficiency, worms, or subclinical mastits that will cause off or goaty tastes.
Blackmarsh homestead doesn’t seem to be a searchable channel. Can anyone help me figure out how to find them? 🤔
They are on X
One relatively new breed not mentioned here is Kinder-goat. This is a cross of Nubian and Pygmy goats resulting is a smaller size yet retaining greater milk production than the pygmy alone. Sheep much prefer just grass while goats will eat browse, small bushy even woody plants, including landscape plants which may be toxic, rhododendron for one. But, if you have blackberry or other bushy undergrowth and want it cleaned up, goats are the ticket. The Kinder-goat was developed with the idea of exporting to less developed areas along the lines of Heifer International.
The wonderful St. Croix Sheep for us in So Cali ❤❤❤
Zack likes no drama.😂
Help me out here. I have been contemplating sheep. How does ground lamb taste compared to ground beef??
From experience eating Katahdin lamb meat, it's quite similar. Lamb is a bit 'stronger' tasting than beef, but good.
Run a fence charger that is so hot they only touch it and once
Bah 😂 good luck. We did that before and our goats would get tangled up in it still and die from heart attacks. Eyes popping out of their heads.
@@Anamericanhomestead I run a 18k volt. Even the humans take that long way around. I can leave the fence off and nothing will touch it.
I've eaten both and they're not bad. I've raised lambs and they are professional escape artists. Haven't raised goats and the best thing I could say about them is that they provide some entertainment value. Gotta agree with the milk issue. Sheep milk yogurt is the best.
I’ve had both hair sheep and Nigerian dwarf goats. I LOVE the goats and still have them. Sheep were “fine”. When it came down to it, I sold the sheep because the ewes were hard to handle and very flighty. The rams were highly destructive creatures, and tore up buildings and fence posts. I also prefer the goat meat to sheep meat. It’s much more mild and like beef.
The goats (including the bucks) are friendly and easy to handle. Nigerian dwarf milk is fantastic, and absolutely nothing like the milk of standard breeds.
Zack's goat rant, lol. I like them both each one serves its purpose, but I do love sheep more. Nothing like a sheep burger 😋
Have you had an MLT? 🤤
I would be interested in the ways people use the meat. I've never tried either (yet) but we are looking into expanding beyond chickens and turkeys. I assumed goats would be the next step - hadn't even considered sheep. Now I'm deep diving the comments here. 😂
I have dairy goats and I rotate them through our woods. We only have a little under 2 acres of pasture and they seem happiest to chow on muscadine and tree leaves. But oh I love some lamb so I’m wanting some meat breeds good for the Deep South if anyone has any recommendations.
I always tell people that goats are not starter animals. Also, good fences make great goats. 😉
Icy cold goat’s milk is fine, but I have yet to try a goat’s milk in coffee that doesn’t progressively become more goaty-tasting as it sits in the cup.
Thank you. I would be on team sheep 😊❤
I have meat goats and there are blend of Spanish , myotonic and kiko they can be a pain to keep in but it’s taken about 10 years to get a goat that’s hardy and not need worming
I ended up adding hair sheep some are full kat and some are a mix of kat and st coix mix with a touch of dorper
Culling the weak and keeping the best is what keeps you in the game
what sheep breed would u recommend for southern az? highs of 100 and lows of 25. high uv index and i cant sheer to save my life
lived this loved this !!
Goat bro here for sure, just started out with some pygmy goats. They're hilariously entertaining for me
Kinder is a good breed, hardy and good milkers. Pygmy and nubian cross.
Thanks!
Answer is cow
Best answer! 🎉
I really enjoyed this video and commenting twice. I had sheep first. Then added goats. My goats are so sweet. I was out in the pasture with them pondering the characteristics of each and why biblically "sheep" are the way to be. Anyone have insite?
You can lead a flock of sheep. They will follow the shepherd, or anyone else that leads them in the wrong direction. Goats need to be driven. They are definitely independent thinkers.
Love my goats
If a fence won't hold in shelled corn it won't hold in goats. If you have goats your neighbors have goats.
Dude, i clicked cause i thought it was a biblical reflection on sheeps or goats
🤦🏻♀️🤣here I thought we were talking biblically. Darn it, Zach, I forgot! GTSY 😃
Loveland, Colorado ❤
By the way my goats are relatively low maintenance lol. But i do have a couple that are spoiled
Great info. Thanks
I'm team sheep! We had goats my whole childhood and you are correct they are like teenagers. My husband didn't believe me until he talked me into getting some one year. He couldn't get to the auction barn fast enough after a few months lol😂😂
I’m a goat person! 🤣 But our grandma car isn’t precious to me and they can’t get up on our F450! 😜 I grew up with goats and have been shocked with all the hate on goats from homesteaders. For me, it took raising one sheep for 4-H to say never again…too dumb for me! I guess I’m gal who likes personality though. I also love goat milk much more than cow milk and have more forest than pasture currently. 🤷♀️ Every animal that I’ve ever raised can be frustrating at some point though so…