Wife wants to have an animal or 2 roaming around. Horse, cow, sheep, goat. Anything. How many acres and what is entailed in doing such a thing?
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They can be a pain at times, but not near as big of a deal as a lot of people make them out to be.
Stocking rate is totally dependent on how good your pasture is. If you take good care of your ground (fertilize and rotate) you can stock 1 cow to 3 acres pretty easily up here and never feed. -
I have 5 goats on one acre. Rule of thumb is, 10 per acre if you have good grass/browse/forage! I have good grass but no browse/forage. Goats prefer the leafy,weedy stuff.Originally posted by tonyguitarguy View PostComment
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We only have 2. She really wants to have something walking around. I don't really like the idea knowing id rather have like 20 acres and be unrestricted. But gotta let a gal dream right! Area is south texas outside San Antonio.Comment
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In Mills county it's about 10 acres per cow. Depends on how much you want to spend on feed.Comment
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You see a lot of people these days with goats on small acres out in the country. If in town could have restrictionsComment
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How many acres do you have for roaming? I have two acres that I have a couple of "pasture ornaments" on and that is about 1-1/2 horses more than I need on it. Horses are harder on a pasture than cows are- haven't really had any grazing for them since the first drought a few years ago so been having to feed hay. Cows would be better but don't let your wife get too friendly with them- remember to never name something you might end up eating. Goats will keep the brush down but not much into grazing- they are browsers more than grazers. Sheep can also be hard on a pasture but you can control the numbers yourself rather than have to go to the weekly auction or locker plant. Not much help for you. I'm sure others can be more help.Comment
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Depends where you live. Nothing wrong with meeting your local county extension agent and getting a good start on things. There are good organizations that will help you too.
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i'm on 2 acres. I'm more open to 1 cow than anything. Starting as a calf. Sole purpose would be just to eat it? cant really resale i'm assuming.Originally posted by Russ79 View PostComment
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As stated above, I have 5 on one acre. You're right they prefer to browse but if grass is all they have then grass it will be. They will be fine! mine do get fed most days, a mixture of different things and get tree trimmings, thinned plants from the garden and I will mix in a throw and grow into the "pasture".Originally posted by Russ79 View PostComment
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Right on. What do you plan to do with them in the future? Let them graze and grow, resale, etc...Originally posted by locolobo View PostComment
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In my part of the world, roughly 30 acres for 1 cow, 4 sheep, or 5 goats.Comment
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Tony, I got them about 10 years ago strictly to help clean up an acre I bought next door. It was terribly overgrown with hundreds of small trees, mostly Elm. There is nothing on the place that they can reach now except for grass and they keep it gnawed down enough that I do not have to mow but they have plenty of grass.
Started out with a doe with kid. I now have 4 does and one buck. I keep replacement does and sell the little bucks and extra doelings. Replace bucks every few years for new blood. I have gone from mutts to Lamanchas which are milkers. They are very friendly and tame, easy to handle. They give good milk but I do not utilize much of it because no one else in the family drinks milk. Beside the fact that goat milk has a higher butterfat content than cow and in the raw has a distinctly different taste. Not goaty (that happens only to people who do not take care with milk handling) just different.
They are kinda hard to get and ,or sell around here because most people want meat goats.
Hope this helps
PS: Fiasco Farms is a good website if you want to learn more about goats!Comment
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