Sunday 14 April 2013

Goats beat cows

It's 26 days since Pia kidded and she's producing 2.5 kg milk a day; enough for three families with some left over for cheese making.

Goats reach their peak yield about 6 to 8 weeks after kidding so she could be doing over 3 kg a day by then. A very rough estimate of her lactation yield (300 days) is about 800 kg. That's a lot of milk for an animal that only weighs 70kg. If you compare this estimated yield with that of a Holstein / Friesian heifer weighing 550 kg and producing 5,000 kg in her first lactation the goat is 20% more efficient weight for weight. But then as someone famously said, "there are lies....., damn lies and... statistics".

I should add; goats milk is creamy and  delicious. There's no "goaty" flavour and we are all enjoying it.

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