The Rural Voice, 1998-08, Page 35Kitchener (who prefers not to be
named).
"He continues to buy all of our
milk," said Bob, "but we are starting
to exceed the plant."
Last year the Reids got enough
money together to mechanize their
operation. The first step was to build
a milk house off the goat barn. They
wanted the house to be built to dairy
standards so they hired Faromor Inc.,
a general contractor in Shakespeare
with an expertise in the dairy
industry. Inside the house they put a
600 gallon tank which they bought
second-hand.
The Reids invested close to
$150,000 in their new barn, milking
parlour, equipment and pure-bred
animals.
"For a long time dairy goats were
considered the lunatic fringe, that's
changing," said Bob.
The Reids are determined to
change the public's perception of
goats. Goat farmers are no longer
"hippies with long hair and beads"
raising a couple of animals in their
backyards — the commercial
industry is growing.
The Reids' herd has grown to 160
Saanens, Toggenburgs and a few
LaManchas. This year they are
milking 77 does in their new parlour.
The parlour is automated, with
natural ventilation, solar panels and
radiant floor heating for the winter.
"My hands were never cold
milking this winter," said Linda.
Milking and feeding time has been
reduced to just over an hour, twice a
day. The goats are let into the parlour
which has room to milk 32 does.
They have been trained to stand in
place at their feeders while being
milked.
It took close to two weeks to train
the goats to use what is called a
cascading head gate. The goats stick
their heads through a gate, which
locks it in place. Once they were
trained milking has been easy.
"Almost always the same goat
enters the parlour at the same time
every day," said Linda. "There's a
real pecking order."
Twice a day the goats are fed a
mixture of 14 per cent dairy ration
mixed with brewers grain. Bob buys
the grain, which is cheap and high in
protein, from a local brewery in
Kitchener. In the hot, moist weather
Seven-year-old Emily Reid plays with her goats, known to he friendly annuals.
it often develops mould so he buys it
in small quantities. In addition to
feed the goats get hay, minerals and
salt in the barn.
The Reids' goats produce close to
1,500 litres of milk a week. Their
goats average three to three and a
half litres a day. The milk is shipped
once, or sometimes twice, a week.
The goats are in their prime
between their second and sixth
lactation. While the Reids don't do
milk testing they plan to start soon.
"When we start culling it would
be good to know how much they are
producing," said Bob. "A lot of
things are similar to the dairy
industry."
With close to 160 goats, the
Reids let them move around in the
free -stall barn. They are not on
pasture but have an exercise pen
outside the barn. The kids and bucks
are separated from the rest. For the
first three days of their lives the kids
get colostrum from their mothers and
then are bottle fed.
"It's better to give the kids milk
because then they get used to you
and they aren't wild when you go to
milk them," said Linda.
Close to 45 of the Reids' does
kidded this year giving them 90 kids.
They will sell some of the young
ones this year. A young milking goat
sells for between $350-$450.
A goat can kid as early as eight
months old and averages a litter size
of two. They had one goat who
kidded twice this year and produced
four kids. Goats are usually milked
until they arc eight years old.
The Reids have been lucky so far
when it comes to avoiding illness in
their herd. They attribute their
healthy goats to the natural
ventilation in the barn, expanding the
herd slowly and keeping the breeds
pure. They don't cross -breed their
goats.
Last summer the herd contracted
pink cye. Despite the frustrations of
having to give each goat medication
the infection cleared up but cost the
lives of two animals. The two goats
went blind from the infection and
died after getting tangled in the
electric fence.
The biggest problem Bob and
Linda have experienced so far is
keeping predators away — namely
the neighbours' dogs. To deter the
dogs they put in an 8,000-10,000 volt
predator fence.
According to Bob, marketing is
the weak end in the goat milk
industry. Hewitt's dairy in
Hagersville has 80 per cent of the
milk share. A majority of the milk
shipped to them is sent to a cheese
AUGUST 1998 31
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