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• Foundation Curric. Map
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Farming Goats.

Goats - background

Goats are closely related to sheep. A female goat is called a DOE or more often a NANNY goat. Male goats are buck or more usually BILLY goats. Baby or young goats are called KIDS.

Goats are gregarious preferring to live in settled familiar groups, which helps them milk more consistently throughout the year.

Goats are kept domestically for meat, milk, as beasts of burden and even as pets. Many parts of the goat are economically valuable for a variety of purposes such as the skins for leather and the pelts for rugs and robes.

Goats like sheep and cows are RUMINANTS which means they have 4 stomach and are able to digest grass.

The gestation of a goat is 5 months and goats usually give birth to 2 kids.

St Helens Farm have 3,500 goats in their care and there is a well rehearsed daily routine of feeding, bedding and milking. Their goats are kept on straw in large barns with plenty of room to move around and with lots of natural air and light.

Goats inside

In shelter, they are protected from the vagaries of the British weather and the dangers of foot rot and soil borne diseases that can be a real health hazard to them. It also means that their diet can be controlled to ensure it is fibre-rich and nutritionally balanced for their own health and for good quality milk.

Milking

 

Milking takes place twice a day, in the very early morning and late afternoon.

The goats are milked in a 72-point rotary milking parlour, where they stay for a few minutes at a time until the milk is taken.

The goats walk in and have the milking teats or clusters put on. As the parlour slowly rotates the goats are milked. The amount of milk each goat produces is automatically recorded. When the goats have released all their milk, the milk cluster is removed automatically.

The goats can then leave the parlour and a fresh batch can come in to be milked. All very efficient, allowing over 3,000 goats to be milked each day. On average, each goat produces around 3 litres of milk a day.

Thanks to St Helens Farm for allowing us to film their goats and the processing of the milk.

Visit St Helens web site