The decision to dam raise or to bottle raise kids needs to be made before the kids are born. There has been a bias towards bottle raising baby dairy animals for the past few decades as factory farms took over … Read More
One of the hardest things for humans to understand is why goats are so mean to each other. And sometimes the goats that are the most outgoing towards humans are the roughest with other goats. They butt heads and slam … Read More
Every spring I respond to multiple phone calls and emails from people who want a pet goat. They are unaware that goats are herd animals and need to have another caprine friend to be healthy and happy. Here are a … Read More
One of the advantages that goats have over cattle, sheep, and pigs is that the equipment and infrastructure required for them is not nearly as costly. Goats were the first livestock we bought after chickens, and we had to buy … Read More
After reading my post on 5 reasons to milk test your does (or cows), you have decided you want to get started! So, what next? 1. Read the rules If you have goats, you can do DHIR (Dairy Herd Improvement … Read More
Remember that goats are herd animals, which means you need to have at least two so that they have a friend who speaks the same language. Keeping them with a pig, sheep, or horse is not the same. Pigs communicate … Read More
I admit that we started milk testing because my daughters wanted our does to have those fancy stars and letters after their names like *M in ADGA and *D in AGS. However, after getting started, we discovered there are many … Read More
If you are thinking about getting goats or planning to bring home a couple soon, here are eight things that you will want to make sure you have ready for them when they arrive! As an Amazon affiliate, I earn … Read More
Were you absolutely sure that goat was pregnant, but she never kidded, and now she doesn’t look as big as she did last week? It is possible for a doe to get bred and stop cycling and even to get … Read More
We have now had 8 sets of quintuplets on our farm, and one of the most popular questions is, “Can the doe feed that many?” I never say “never,” but I will say it is highly unlikely that a doe … Read More
Thrifty Homesteader was created in 2012 after the publication of my second book, Ecothrifty. The name was coined by one of my followers because I said that I didn’t want anyone to think that they had to be rich to homestead or live a greener life....
