Brandon asked me if I considered my goats to be pets or livestock. He thought that by defining my relationship with my goats, it would help me with goat management decisions. To breed or not to breed is the question.
This is our gentle Noobi, who is nearly five months old now. She's too young to be a mom yet, but it won't be long before both of my nubian goat does, Noobi and her mother, Peaches, could be bred so they can make more goats.
If they make more goats, we could eat the goats, especially if they are boys, or sell the goats, especially if they are girls. Of course, the process of making more goats also results in more opportunities for goat milk. I haven't had time to harvest much milk so far, but I haven't given up on the idea either.
I want to keep Little Buck, who is a gentle boy and has been tested and found negative for some common goat diseases, so he can make more beautiful babies with Peaches. I've been reading about line-breeding with goats, and it's not uncommon to mate father to daughter, so I could let Little Buck and Noobi make a baby too, and see what we get. Maybe we would get goat meat, which we do enjoy. This was the essence of Brandon's question, I think. Could I eat one of my goats? I think I could. I think I could provide them an enjoyable goat life, and they could provide me with healthy food.
If I didn't think I could eat the offspring of the goats I have now, I might discourage myself from allowing them to breed. If my current herd are pets, then five pet goats is plenty!
No comments:
Post a Comment