[Mephistopheles Janx]

Originally Posted by Couch-Potato

Serious question… why do farms keep goats? Do you eat them? Do they cut the grass? I get cows, horses, and chickens utility, but are goats just for fun or do they serve a purpose?

Originally Posted by Easy 6

Yeah I'm curious why you chose goats over more traditional stock like chickens or pigs, Janx

I know some people like goat meat/milk, but wouldn't something more traditional be more profitable?

I'm a huge fan the Homestead Rescue tv show, and I'm always surprised when the homesteaders prefer goats over other options

I chose goats over cows for several reasons.

1) An cow weighs 600 (miniature) to 2,200 (standard) pounds while an angry Myotonic goat weighs 150 pounds. I can tank a sneak attack from an angry goat far better than I could a cow. Especially as I'm out here, basically, on my own now.

2) Myotonic goats will produce an equal amount of meat to cows (meat to bone ratio) on 2/3rds of the food... so it costs substantially less to keep goats than cows.

3) I have the ability to grow a lot of my own food here but meat based protein is skyrocketing in price so I wanted to be able to be more self sustainable. Since these are meat goats... they meet my needs.

4) They actually do keep my lawn down. I mowed twice all of last year and it was glorious.

5) Mine faint... and it is highly amusing.

6) Goat meat, price per pound, fetches a bit more than cows do at auction.

7) Grew up eating goat and it isn't exactly the easiest meat to find short of going to a specialty butcher... where you will pay specialty butcher prices.