Who doesn’t want a pet who has “the friendliness of dogs with the intelligence of cats”? In How to Raise Goats, current and future goat owners will find answers to all their goat-related questions.
From how to select your breed to showing your goat, this book has something for every goat enthusiast. The goat breeds are separated by goal. There are dairy, fiber, and meat goats. Some, especially wethers or castrated males, make good pets. You can train goats with commands of stop, come, and up like dogs. Plus goats love to play and can run obstacle courses in your yard.
Some of the negatives of goat care are dealing with horns in a humane way. The description of disbudding, or burning them off, was intense to read so I can’t imagine doing it to my pet. Even the author states that “neutering isn’t a pleasant task”, which seems like an understatement. Hopefully, culling only applies to goat farms and not pets.
In How to Raise Goats, the author is great at explaining how to save money while raising goats by using your Do-It-Yourself skills. It also has a section on how to kill meat goats for various religious holidays, how to sell the hair from fiber goats, and how to store goat milk. There is an extensive section on how to prevent disease and how to treat any illnesses that occur. If you want to start a goat farm, this book should be on your bookcase. 4 stars!
Thanks to Voyageur Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.