Goat collective

Posted on September 30, 2007 | 6 Comments

Although I would love to have goats in our backyard, I think to be fair to the goats, they need more space. Somehow I met a lovely woman who has a large backyard in Oakland who will host the goats. We’re gathering a team of 10 people who will share the duties of milking and feeding the goats. Each time you milk you get over one gallon of goat milk. Many people in the group are what I call goat cheese motivated. We’re planning on buying the goats in the springtime. Before then, we need to build outbuildings, fences, hay racks, stantions. If you’re interested, email me at novellacarpenter at yahoo dot com, our first meeting is October 9.

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6 responses to “Goat collective”

  1. Unknown's avatar yatima | September 30, 2007 at 2:52 am |

    Arg! Any role for silent partners? We’re in SF, but I could sponsor a hayrack or something…

  2. Unknown's avatar Riana | September 30, 2007 at 10:30 am |

    That is so amazingly cool. I love goat milk. I just made waffles with goat milk. Cheese would be heaven and then there is yogurt too. If you have too much I bet that you can freeze it and use it later.

  3. Unknown's avatar Sandra | October 2, 2007 at 10:58 am |

    What a great idea – to do a goat collective! Have you considered Dwarf Nigerian Goats? The fencing requirements would be the same, but they need less space, eat less, and produce a lot of milk for their size.

  4. Unknown's avatar Novella Carpenter | October 4, 2007 at 3:26 am |

    sandra–have you milked a nigerian dwarf goat? i heard they can be very difficult. but if you say it’s not so difficult, i’ll look into having them..

  5. Unknown's avatar Sandra | October 4, 2007 at 11:44 pm |

    I don’t have goat experience myself, but I’m very interested in their potential as a milk, meat, fiber and pet animal. At this year’s Common Ground Fair in Maine I met some people who have started the first and only commercial goat dairy with dwarf Nigerians:

    http://www.paintedpepperfarm.com/nigerians.html

    I showed up early for their milking demo, and surprised to see such little goats I tactlessly blurted out “I did not realize it was commercially viable to use dwarf goats as dairy goats.” Lisa from Painted Pepper said “we’re making a go of it” and very generously shared information, answered questions, and demonstrated milking & hoof trimming. I bet she would be more than happy to answer questions via email!

  6. Unknown's avatar Novella Carpenter | October 6, 2007 at 2:32 am |

    hi sandra;
    great, i’ll email her. love your blog, btw, i’m going to link up. the DE tip for potato bugs: genius.

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