Goats: Exploring an Interest
I've been dreaming about
living on a farm and having animals since I
was a little girl, and in Iowa there have
been overwhelming opportunities to explore
those dreams in real life. Learning how to
care for goats, milk them, and make cheese
has been one of these lifelong fantasies,
it's turned out to be both more difficult
and easier than you might think!
Here are some links, compiled by my friend
Suzanne Vesely, that may help you get
started if you have similar interests:
http://riley.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=8&tax_level=2&tax_subject=10&level3_id=0&level4_id=0&level5_id=0&want_id=483&topic_id=1735&placement_default=0
Contains a wealth of articles on the
feasibility of getting started raising
goats. Do keep in mind that these are from
a conventional agricultural perspective and
you will need to modify some
recommendations for an organic/free range
operation.
http://datcp.wi.gov/uploads/Business/pdf/GoatStartUpGuide.pdf
A step by step guide to starting a
commercial dairy goat operation, pg. 41 has
links to resources on goat
housing; pg. 45 has lists of places to
contact for getting grants when starting a
business.