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36 THE RURAL VOICE
Despite this trend, 90 per cent of
goat owners still see their goats as pets
and get most of their income not from
goats' milk, but from showing their
animals at the 200 shows around the
country each year.
"Not too far from my area a man
got into goats as a hobby because he
thought they would be a release for
him — a way to get back to nature.
But he bought 150 animals at once and
immediately put in a milk parlour to
handle the milk," says Barker, shaking
her head. "He didn't know how to
milk or feed the goats, and a year and
a half later, the milk parlour was up
for sale."
Whether goats are easy to take
care of or not depends on the number
you have in the barn. Notes Suzanne
Bishop, secretary -manager of the
Canadian Goat Society: "My husband
is a fisherman, and there definitely is
more involved in getting him ready for
fishing than the time I take to look
after my goats in the barn. Keeping
goats is not all that complicated, but
the management has to follow a
routine. When you are handling dairy
animals of any kind, you have to have
discipline."
Besides the twice a day milking,
the management involved with
keeping goats includes shaving the
udders before they freshen and before
they are shown, and trimming their
hooves every month. "There are a lot
of hooves to be trimmed," says
Bishop, "but it is very simple once
you are shown how, and you are not
going to have the life squashed out of
you as you would with a cow."
Even the twice daily milking can
be avoided if you let the dams raise
the kids, but mother nature is not
always organized and a doe can have
triplets (a doe can have up to five
kids). Given the dam's feeding
limitations, the kids may have to be
raised by hand.
"Goat people," Barker says "have
a soft spot for their goats. I don't
think that you can make money from
being a hobby farmer, but my goats
pay for their upkeep and have sup-
ported me in time of need."
The address of the Canadian
Goat Society is P.O. Box 357, Fergus,
Ontario, NI M 3E2, telephone 519-
843-3294.0