>My question is, why avoid goats? Is there something about them not
>conducive to permaculture?
Kathryn's comments about goats match my experiences.
Hopefully you won't let permaculture boundaries be the only
basis for decisions. If you have a high interest in goats it
may be possible to find a place where goats fit. I think the
basic Permaculture principles of multiple use and recycling
etc. are possible with goats. On the other hand, we don't
have goats anymore and instead just sit around recycling
stories about their antics and laughing.
There is one caution that seems important to me. Raising
animals is a responsibility and can get complicated. Plants
are much easier to start with and predict behavior. This
might suggest a program of cautious animal use or following
well defined paths where lots of resource materials are
available.
>Part of why I ask is that I am a vegetarian. Many of the animals that I
>would have liked to keep at one time, no longer seem to be a wise move
>due to the fact that I would not harvest them. I had thought I might be
>able to justify milk goats and was fence-sitting on fowl. Other than
>manure and a non-meat product (milk/eggs/wool/etc), what are other
>considerations?
Lets see... there is a lot of variety in goats. We had
nubians for awhile and they were noisy and too friendly.
Goats eat poison oak and then pass it on. There is a fun book
called "Never kiss a Goat on the Lips" which recants a tale
about this. Goats make good fence testers and older male
goats can be dangerous. Neighbors dogs and goats don't mix
very well and is a serious problem. Goats also like to eat
the bark off of some trees and this is a problem in the
orchard. Some sheep do this also. On the other hand, i
think running a grazing animal through orchards is a great
disease and pest control.
In this area the small goat breeds with spinning wool (hair)
are becoming quite popular. The little males still think
they are King Kong and children need to learn this quickly.
Goat milk is great and ours tasted just like cows milk. It
did not cause reactions the way cows milk does. Maybe it is
the stuff they pump into cows or the lactose content, don't
know for sure. The down side is time. Having goats takes
time and for us could not be justified by economics. Goats
are more like family and a labor of love.
----
jeff owens, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.teleport.com/~kowens
underground house, solar power, self-reliance, edible landscape
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