Taste Great Less Filling

My daughter milking on our homemade milk station

As a prepper stockpiling foods is just part of our lives. On my farm we have slowly built up animals that will provide us with our basic needs. As I prepare the majority of foods from scratch, I use milk in my baking daily. Funny until recently I believed that a cow would be the answer to my family's milking needs. Then we began to research the cost of feed, and how we could get away with raising animals that are foragers. Goats are the answer as they cost so little and they forage so well.

We did not begin the farm looking to raise exclusive breeds as I believe the time is past to be selective. We instead, began with a pair of mixed La Mancha goats. La Mancha's have very small ears, and I thought when I first saw them that they were deformed. Since our first La Mancha's we began to barter or trade for more goats. On Craig's*List we found that the barter option is pretty big!

This is one of four goats(bonus=one was pregnant with triplets!)that we traded a 1/4 of a cord of wood

Our pens for the goats are very simple, as we began this lifestyle with the mantra 'Low cost, no cost', and have never wavered. Pallets are the easiest thing to use, and are free at so many locations. We built simple A frame shelters for pairs of goats, and the bonus is that they love to jump up on the pitch of the barns!

Our troughs were made out of salvaged wood from construction sites. Our buckets for drinking water are from a local fast food place- they give us 5- 10 buckets every two weeks, as we use these for many other things(they are food safe with lids)

This is one of the triplets born on the farm this year

Raising goats is such an incredibly easy thing to do. If I can raise goats in the middle of the desert anyone can raise goats. When you consider what is in our milk today this becomes a no brainer, and the bonus is that a doe is a three fold animal- she provides milk, young, and then meat- you can't go wrong with that!

If you are able to as a prepper acquiring a milking goat or a buck and a doe will make all the difference in your comfort level if and when things go bad.
Links:
Wikipedia
World's Healthiest Foods
Goat's milk Benefits
Goat's milk, cheese, soap
(c) Double Nickel Farm
Jennifer