Is goat farming in the USA humane?

Question

for like feta cheese and goat milk?

also, what goat farms in the usa are there? how many?

Answer 1

I ask a goat once, I didn't hear any complaints.

Answer 2

What is your definition of "humane?"

I've raised meat goats since 1999.  So the goats I raise are sold for meat.

I do not separate kids from their mothers.

I do not dehorn kids.

I do not castrate my bucklings.

Dairy goats (for feta cheese and goat milk) take the kids away from the mothers, usually at birth, but sometimes the does are allowed to have the kids for a day, before they are taken away.

Dairy goats are almost always dehorned.  That means before they are 10 days old, a hot iron (like a tiny branding iron) is held to the baby goats skull...twice.  Once for each horn.  I believe the dehorning iron is held to the skull for 7-10 seconds, to kill the horn buds.  Count to 7 seconds (1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3 one thousand, ect) and imagine a goat kid no more than 10 days old screaming in pain, and struggling in the dehorning box you put them in.  It's a very small box that just allows their head to poke out.

Dairy farms castrate the baby goats.  Dairy farmers are usually very busy.  Most of the dairy goat farms I know of castrate the male kids at birth.  It actually causes little pain when they are so tiny.  However when they get bigger, if the goat has been sold as a pet, or a pack goat, it is probably going to develop urinary calculi problems.  Goats that are going to be sold as pets, or as pack goats need to be allowed to have their testicals develop for 6 months (at least), before being wethered (castrated).  

In goats, the testicals produce hormones which tell the urinary tract in males to grow and develop.  If a goat is wethered as a baby, the urinary tract does not develop.  If the male goat developes any urinary calculi (stones) it will not be able to pee.

My meat goats kids (the males) rarely make it to age 6 months on my farm.  They are butchered before that age, usually around three months.  They are butchered right here on my farm.  So they never have the stress of being shipped like most butcher animals, or standing around stockyards waiting their turn.

My goats live with their herd all their lives.  They are allowed pasture, and shelters, and not kept in confinment feeding.

Some dairy goat herds are not allowed on pasture, but instead have concintrated foods brought to them.  They live their entire lives in barns, just as dairy cattle do.

My bucks (male goats) are allowed to live with their "wives" 99.9% of the time.  In dairy goat herds the buck is only allowed a brief encounter with the does, and must live 99.9% of his life in solitude and frustration.

My goats are not given any un-needed medications.  Dairy goats are often given constant meds to keep them healthy since they live in confinment, and to boost their milk production

Most of the kids I sell here on the farm for butcher are killed by having their throat slit.  That most closely mimics falling into a deep sleep, and is actually the most humane way to kill an animal (I did quiet a bit of research on the subject).

Dairy farms sell their extra male kids.  They are usually trasported  to another place to be slaughtered.  I've seen live goat kids have all four feet tied, and be put into the trunk of someones car to be trasported to another location to be butchered.

Old dairy goat does are sold off cheap at auction, and go for things like dog food.  That means they leave their herd for the first time in their lives and are trasported to an aution.  It causes an animal a lot of stress to be thrust into a new enviroment.

When I have a goat that is too old, or must be culled from the herd for a reason (like refusing to raise her kids and allowing them to die), one of two things happen to her.  She is sold to a customer who likes a larger, older goat, and she is slaughtered here on my farm, or we butcher her, and freeze the meat, and use it to suppliment the diets of the Great Pyrenees (dogs) who live with and guard the goats 24/7.

Numbers are not kept on goats farms, by the department of agriculture.  Goat farms are too small an agricultural endevor, and do not contribute enough to the Gross National Product to be worth keeping track of.  For meat goats, most farms are well under 39 goats.  If you have 39 or more goats, you are concidered to be a large goat farm.  I currently have over 100 goats.

So....you need to state what YOUR definition of humane is.

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Answer 3

There are many goat farms in the USA/ Do you know that they use goat milk and cheese to help prevent some medical conditions such as cancer. Goats Milk is also very good for babies. Goats can also be like dogs when it comes to protection and awareness.