Old Style Book - Ducks & Goats Advice Needed

huggermugger

I think Prudent & caelhorn were more sophisticated goatkeepers than we were... my Dad was a townie & we tended to rely on trial & error or John Seymour. On the whole trial & error got more results. But our goats were very bad-tempered and difficult. I did ask my Dad what breed ours were as maybe that makes a difference. He said they were Welsh...

I have seen some rather lovely pygmy goats which could possibly change my attitude - at least they can't butt you above the knee.

We also kept ducks - ours were mostly Khaki Campbell and Indian Runner both of which are fairly productive and a scream to watch, particularly the Indian Runners. They're white & look a bit like they've been stretched - very upright with long necks. I adore ducks and as long as you can provide them with water they're not difficult to keep but they do need a reasonable amount of space as they make a lot of mess (All that dabbling they do & duck poo is pretty revolting ). Old John Seymour recommended letting them free-range around your veg garden as they will eat all the slugs off your lettuces and keep your garden pest free. They'll also keep it lettuce-free... Also raised a load of Aylesburys one year to sell at Christmas. Again, fairly easy to do but plucking them en mass is a bit of a nightmare.

With all livestock you have to make a decision about whether you're going to keep them in mixed sex groups. They're often happier if you do (surprise) and it's obviously a good way of increasing your stock or making sure a cow/goat stays in milk but then you have to decide what you do with the resulting surplus - usually the males. (Goats, like sheep, often have twins) My father referred to his billy goats as "walking stores" & kept threatening to kill them but never did. We gave some of them away - unless they're pedigree they're not really worth anything. The market for male goats is v. limited in every way as few people eat goat. Ducks are easier to kill - sorry that sounds awful but I'm only talking on a practical level - and there is a market for them. I was happy to kill & eat livestock because I knew we looked after them very well. Not a vegetarian, as you may have guessed.

huggermugger

bargainaddict wrote:

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.

Have you seen https://www.callducks.net ? Seems to cover most things in a fairly sensible way plus some lovely photos - I do envy you as they are absolutely gorgeous!

Also there is a Domestic Waterfowl Club of Great Britain - https://www.domestic-waterfowl.co.uk

mattt44

Wow, just found out by accident, I have been quoted in the little yellow book!
Fame at last