Old Style Book - Ducks & Goats Advice Needed

Curry_Queen

:rotfl:

Thanks for bringing back some very fond ... and some not so fond! ... memories of my days of goat-keeping


BTW ... capricious ... Capricorn ... goat

caelshorn

MSE_Sue wrote:

Anyone keep ducks and goats and want to share their advice on where to buy, what to look for, upkeep, costs, how to sell on produce etc? Have got lots of 'chicken' advice but now need your worldly wisdom on ducks, goats......

Hi Sue

my parents used to breed goats, but had to give up due to the foot & mouth restrictions on transporting animals.
On the face of it, it is very straighforward.
You need outdoor space which is very well fenced, and indoor space. The outdoor space does not have to be "lawn", ours lived mostly on scrubland, but this does mean you have to buy more feed. It would also be beneficial for it to have some rocky areas - goats love to climb, and the activity means their hooves get natuarlly worn away (and you don't have to manually clip their hooves). The indoor space should be shelter from wind and rain. Bringing goats indoors in summer is not necessary if they have an enclosed space they can go to themselves (but in this case go for a hardy breed).
What causes the most problems, is access to the right equipment etc. Buying hay by the bale can get very expensive, goat mix is not so easily found in anything other than rural areas, goat kids are difficult to find a home for (rabbit ranches sometimes take them while they're cute - just don't think about what happens to them afterwards), many local slaughter houses have been closed down, laws regarding selling and transporting livestock require a lot of paperwork (as well as vaccinations, registration etc), as do the laws around selling produce.

Now that I have re-read what I'm writing I'll keep it a bit shorter, sorry!
Basically: If you want a goat to produce milk for yourself, and you will never try to breed goats for re-selling, make sure you have local suppliers of the appropriate food and bedding. You also need someone nearby who is willing to "lend" you their billy every now and then, and you need to know what you are going to do with the offspring.
Do not rely on money coming in from willing friends and neighbours: it's not legal, if the milk hasn't been treated, and it only takes one mean-minded neighbour to point you out to the local authorities and your darling pet could be carted away (plus the big fine you might get).

Still rambling, sorry: keeping goats on a small scale is a labour of love, not of making or saving money.

If you really want more info, PM me.

bargainaddict

We are new to keeping ducks. (8 months) We have 2 girls and 1 boy. They seem to be laying 1 egg each every day and up till yesterday were quite happy for us to remove the eggs. This morning they were quite upset when we tried to get the eggs and were running around and quacking quite loudly! The girls went and sat on the eggs but got off again soon after. Should we leave the eggs in there yet or is it still too early?

we have just covered the top of their pen with wire so they are protected from the foxes at night and from any wild birds in case the avian flu arrives. They are pure joy to watch waddling around the garden and the kids are there in the morning looking for eggs. They have layers pellets every day and they love lettuce and white bread.

debbym

Mum kept goats when she first moved to Lincolnshire as she is allergic to cows milk and the alternatives were hard to find (20 years ago now). I reiterate what huggermugger said - they butt. One of our goats was a Sarnen (not sure of spelling!) which is a standard milking breed and quite big and was quite placid as she had been bought as an adult from someone who used to milk her on a regular basis. The other however was an Angora/Jersey cross (mum had a wild idea about selling the wool) and we got her as a kid. She looked v. cute all white curly wool but was a vicious bully who would bite/jump on you/butt - not good as the cottage next door was a holiday let and we would frequently get children wanting to stroke the goat - they always got a bit miffed when we said no. Tethering was the only option - getting her out of the shed and onto the tether was another matter. Not my favourite chore!
If you want to keep goats for your own milk supply then be aware that the milk will be flavoured by what they eat - if they are going to be foraging out doors it will probably be strong tasting - try some from someone who does this first. The only way to prevent this would be to restrict their diet by keeping them inside as otherwise they eat anything - organic or not.

mattt44

bargainaddict wrote:

We are new to keeping ducks. (8 months) We have 2 girls and 1 boy. They seem to be laying 1 egg each every day and up till yesterday were quite happy for us to remove the eggs. This morning they were quite upset when we tried to get the eggs and were running around and quacking quite loudly! The girls went and sat on the eggs but got off again soon after. Should we leave the eggs in there yet or is it still too early?
.

No take them away as soon as possible, sometimes mine don't want me to take their eggs away, I don't know why, maybe they get a bit broody sometimes, but I don't really think its that.
The sooner you take ducks eggs away the better, helps keep them cleaner, do you want to hatch them, is that why you want to leave them in?

bargainaddict

Hi thanks, yes we do want to hatch some eggs, but we know its way to cold at the moment. They didn't lay any today surprise surprise, as we have had wet slusshy snow all day!

They are such fun and we have 3 teenagers who are brilliant with them. When is the right time to leave the eggs in there and should we build a separate nesting box for them in their pen? I don't if ours are strange, but they love lettuce and we have tamed them to come to us and eat it from our hands. They turn their noses up at brown bread though!

Prudent

My mother used to breed goats, but gave up due to ill health. The hobby seemed to consume quite a large amount of money (not very mse) and was very time consuming.

Goats can have lovely natures - all of ours were very easy to handle and affectionate. If trained from an early age they were easy to lead around and would go for a walk.
They are herd animals so it is kindest to keep more than one. They require well fenced grazing (my mother used a kind of large netting style fencing called stock fencing) to the height of around four foot. They will chew wooden fencing and fence posts. It is important that the grazing contains more than grass as they tend to like bits like clover. Often verges are a good source of food to be picked as they love plants like rosebay willow herb.It is best to have a grass eating animal (such as a pony or sheep) to rotate with the goats on the fields.
They need draft proof indoor housing. They have to come in every time it rains as they have insufficient natural oil in their coats. If you don't have a field shelter this is a tie.They need to be beeded on deep straw (oat not barley as it can stain their coats).
They also require hard food which can be commercial goat mix or you can mix your own.I don't know what the costs would be today, but this wasn't cheap. Most also benefit from a mineral supplement and a mineral lick. They need regular worming and I think an annual injection for CAE (expensive). There are also transport requirements.
Goats can milk well -if properly bred and fed you can get around 9 pints per day. They can milk from around age 2 if they have had a kid. You have to milk them twice a day at regular hours.

Prudent

Sorry -extra points. Goats need regular hoof trimming, which you can do yourself.
Goats need to have kids every two years to maintain milk supply. Ours usually had 1 -3 kids with 2 being the most common. Male kids are generally worthless unless of good bredding stock and are often put down at birth.

Goats milk tastes different to cows milk and if the goats aren't fed carefully/wormed it can be quite strong. I think it can help some skin conditions.

mattt44

bargainaddict wrote:

Hi thanks, yes we do want to hatch some eggs, but we know its way to cold at the moment. They didn't lay any today surprise surprise, as we have had wet slusshy snow all day!

They are such fun and we have 3 teenagers who are brilliant with them. When is the right time to leave the eggs in there and should we build a separate nesting box for them in their pen? I don't if ours are strange, but they love lettuce and we have tamed them to come to us and eat it from our hands. They turn their noses up at brown bread though!

What sort of ducks have you got?

As far as I am aware, a few breeds of ducks (generally the more modern egg laying breeds) are not very good at being broody, chickens or incubators are used to sit on the eggs.
This is not something I've had dealings with, done chickens, but not ducks.
If you go along to https://www.acountrylife.co.uk and look in the forums, mention the breed, someone will know exactly what you need to do.

Best of luck.
Matt

bargainaddict

They are call ducks. Thinks that the right spelling. Their parents live next door and we have seen them from the minute they were born. We have asked next door so many questions but don't want to annoy them so need to get as much info as we can ourselves. We hope to be able to keep 1 chick and sell the rest.