# Goats or Pigs?



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Ok, last spring we got our flock of chickens going. This year we are trying to decide between some Nigerian dwarfs or pot bellied pigs. We only have 2 acres of land, part of which is being used for our garden, so we have limited space. I like the idea of the goats because I know I can use them for meat and milk. But I have a few questions. How many of the ND's could you keep on about a half an acre? How hard are they to keep fenced in. I'm always hearing stories about goats escaping and eating everyone's gardens and flowers. How about time and cost of caring for them? Anyone here butcher their own? How difficult is it? With the ND's do you have to keep the males separated from the females to prevent the milk from being tainted? What does goat meat taste like? How do you prepare it for cooking? Is it a lot different than beef or venison? Thanks in advance to your responses.


----------



## togg75 (Nov 28, 2008)

A pig will take up very little space if you raise them singles for butchering.....and you can use any left over goat milk to raise the pig on.....I'm gonna say both. A pair of milkers and a single pig to grow on table scraps and spoiled or excess goat milk.


----------



## desertshi (Jul 23, 2008)

I don't know if I would go with pot bellies if you want them for meat. Some say that the meat is too strong flavored. I have never personally had a potbelly, but I know that it 6-8 months you can have a good sized pig to butcher of the farm type varieties. But Nigerians are a great idea!! They are small and won't eat as much as some larger types of goats and I hear give enormous amounts of milk for their size.

I go with togg75...get both!! But I wouldn't get a buck on your size of land. They DEFINANTLY should be housed seperatly and WILL taint the milk and DO stink alot!!
Check out the buck section of this webpage to see why http://fiascofarm.com/goats/buck-wether-info.htm


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

What we're hoping to do is actually breed so we don't have to buy new piglets every year, just raise our own. I don't want to sell them, but want to keep from spending out money for someone else to breed them. Would it still be feasible to do both?


----------



## Blue Oak Ranch (Aug 23, 2005)

I've had goats for many years. I just got back from helping a friend move two pot-bellied pigs - out of the pen and into a pickup truck to go to a new home.

Get goats. 

Trust me. 

No, really - _*trust me*._ 

All kidding aside (pun not intended), goats are great. I raise mini-Nubians. With Nigerian Dwarfs, the basic management/buck issues/feeding/housing is the same as any other goat - just a bit smaller. You have options. How many would depend on your management - would they browse/graze or be dry-lot kept? But, be prepared to milk into a *short* bucket...they're hard to get a grip on those tiny teats, and it's really hard to get anything of any size under them to milk. 

Goat meat is really, really good. It tastes a lot like a cross between lamb, venison, and elk. I don't like most lamb (too gamy) but find goat meat milder. I started out cooking it with lamb recipes only - but as long as you keep in mind it is leaner, you can use almost any recipe for beef as long as you keep in mind what cuts you're using (substitute loin for loin, leg roast for leg roast, shoulder for chuck). If you butcher right (no hair on the meat, give those bucks a BATH before you butcher 'em) there's no taint - even a buck in full rut. 

Goats escaping or other problems usually occur from weaknesses in the system - good strong fencing means good healthy landscaping (grin). Combo panels are good, except they won't hold in ND kids (those suckers are tiny). Pigs aren't any different in these respects - they can and will destroy flimsy fencing. 

As with any livestock, the cost will depend on your management and resource options. If you have cheap hay, goats will be cheap. Expect to pay more for quality NDs than the same quality of regular dairy goat - seems to just be the market. Cheap goats, though, are just that - cheap. Don't expect stellar performance without a good background. 

Cheers!

Katherine

getgoatsgetgoatsgetgoatsgetgoats


----------



## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

kinda depends on how many ppl were' feeding here too. and would you have any outlets for extra milk? you can make cheese too, and its wonderful! on your site place, i dont' see why not a couple milkers and the pig. to raise pigs every year from breeding, its gonna be more than just milkers and baby pig i think. 

and do get really nice goats, dont' go sale barning and expect to get overflowing pails. spend a small bit now, and enjoy it for years to come.


----------



## powderhooves (May 11, 2008)

My neighbor told me this......she said you can take your goat barn cleanings and put them in a pile....spread some corn...repeat over and over as you clean. Then in the spring get pigs. They will root to get the corn and you will be left with nice compost for your garden.


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

desertshi, there's only 3 of us to feed, DH, 10 yr old DS and myself. I figured the potbellies would be small enough for us, but wasn't sure how much meat I could expect from them. I've never eaten potbellies before either, but have heard there's no difference in the taste of the meat, so that will take further research.

Katherine, as far as the size of the nigerian's, I have very small hands (size 3 ring) I don't know if that would be an advantage or not on milking the little ones.  Before we get either one or the other or both, I'll try to have done all my research so I'll know best how to handle the management of them. Then again, I know I'll always be able to come here to get expert advice from folks like you. I know that when we got our chickens I researched it before we got our first chicks. That was last spring and we haven't lost one yet. Guess I'm not doing to bad for a city gal turning into a homesteader.  Thanks for your advice, I'm sure I'll be asking more questions before we take the plunge.

Chewie, right now we sell our extra eggs to people at our church. I'm sure if we have extra milk we could find some takers. I also want to learn how to make cheese. Can you make butter with goat milk? Do the nigerians have enough fat content to try?

powderhooves, that's good to know about the corn and compost. Eventually we want to get both the pigs and the goats. Our decision right now is which one to start out with. I'm leery of trying to start with both because it'll be a new adventure for us and I want to be comfortable with what we're doing before we add more to our stock. I started with the chickens because they seemed the easiest, but they only got me excited about raising more of our own food.


----------



## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

I have both nigerians and mini pigs.


The goats are much more enjoyable. The pigs are messy and root up everything and difficult to handle. The goats are a joy in every respect. 

The price of buying a weaner pig ($30-$40) once or twice a year is MUCH cheaper then feeding parent pigs all year long. 

Get two nigerians and raise a weaner pig and butcher it any size you want. Butchering them at 200# or so is a good size. Me and my boyfriend have eaten 1/2 a 250# hog in two months and we dont even eat it that often. You will use more then you expect.

A potbelly takes almost a year to get to a descent butcher size too so why bother unless you can get a grown one for free or cheap.

also dont count on eating the nigerian buck kids, they sell very well, better off selling them. They grow so slow there isnt much meat on them either. You can raise a larger breed dairy wether or boer dairy cross and have much more meat in a shorter time span plus some cash from nigerian sales.


----------



## Feathers-N-Fur (Dec 17, 2007)

We breed full size "farm" pigs as well as full size and mini goats. My best advice is don't try to breed pigs, it's more work than its worth if you just want pork to eat. Buy your feeder pigs once or twice a year. We breed them for 4H, we are working towards producing the best show pigs, not just pork. Goats on the other hand are just fun. If you are thinking meat, I would go with full size, quality dairy does then breed them to a boer for meat kids. On that much land you would be better off looking for buck service once a year or doing as Vikki advises and get a buck kid, breed your girls, then eat him. We have done it and it worked great. Butchering a goat was relatively easy. I would rather do a goat than 5 chickens. Emily posted a great thread on how to butcher goats. I would also recommend starting with just 2 does. Breed one in August or September then the second one in late December. If you bought good quality does, you should have year round milk. A good doe will average about a gallon a day for 10 months, then you dry her up the last 2 months of her pregnancy, meanwhile you can still be milking the other doe. If you are only interested in milk, ND's are fun and don't require as much land, but you want to seriously look at the production of the parents. I think 4 would be ok on 1/2 an acre, but they aren't worth much for meat, just plan on selling the babies.


----------



## goatkid (Nov 20, 2005)

I definately would choose goats over pigs. They are so much easier to handle and safer to be around. Pigs look cute on TV, but in reality, can be mean. If you want pork, like the others said, get a weaner pig and raise it on goat milk, grain and old veggies and fruit. If you feed mostly hay rather than pasture, you can have a larger number of goats on your land. If you only want small breed goats and still want goat meat, buy a couple of Nigerian does for the milk and breed them to either a Pygmy or Fainter buck, as both of those are small meat breeds.


----------



## prairiedog (Jan 18, 2007)

We live in a small town on 1/3 of an acre we have chickens, goats and gardens to feed a family of seven. Granted we have to hay year around and do plenty of cleaning but it is doable. Would love to do pigs but think that would be streching things way too far but would not like giving up that milk


----------



## Leo (Feb 7, 2006)

If I had to choose between goats or pigs, it would be goats(you get milk, milk products(cheese, soap)& meat, with a pig, you get meat, & lard(soap,cooking).

PBP take awhile to grow out, they do taste very good though. Ours, even though she was lean, had quite a large ratio of fat:meat. (So now we have tamworths). So both if you can, or buy a piglet/feeder, and raise it out and butcher so you don't have to worry about space for a breeder pair.
Megan


----------



## Madfarmer (Mar 22, 2008)

You don't have enough land, nor would it be cost-effective to breed pigs, as others have said. Nigerian Dwarfs give the richest milk of any of the dairy goats, and are very effecient as far as feed:milk ratio. You still need to shop carefully and know the production records of the bloodlines your stock comes from.

Madfarmer


----------



## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Thanks for all your responses. DH and I will take all the comments under consideration. Our first thought was for goats, but I love pork too, and as I stated, we are trying to raise as much as we can without having to buy a new pig every year. We'll probably start with the goats this spring and see how that goes.


----------



## Laura Workman (May 10, 2002)

I'd get goats first. You'll soon find that if you want milk all year, you'll have extra milk during certain seasons. If you and your chickens can't use all the milk, then get pigs.

I have Potbelly pigs and like them quite a bit. They are small, so don't eat much. My breeding pair costs me between $100 and $150 a year in feed at $15 per 50 lb. sack. I feed each pig about 1-1/2 pounds a day during cold weather when they aren't eating anything else. That lasts about four months out of the year around here. After that, they get fresh cut grass, weeds, garden culls and trimmings, extra milk, extra eggs (from nests I discover), windfall apples, leftover Halloween pumpkins from the supermarket, etc. I keep an eye on their condition, and usually they get enough of this other feed that I don't use much hog feed at all eight months out of the year.

Potbellies are indeed tasty. You can get them as lean or as fat as you want, and eat them at any age, so you can have a litter and eat a small one (roast suckling pig), then a bigger one (put the whole thing on the barbecue), then bigger, and so on. Even an adult potbelly is small enough that one person can butcher it alone in an afternoon, though help is mighty nice.

If you have any pet market where you are, you can easily pay to feed your breeding stock by selling one or two piglets a year for the very reasonable price of $75 each.


----------



## LittleRedHen (Apr 26, 2006)

get both!

I am on 2.24 acres. Plan on buying in hay and grain but get both. Variety is the spice of life


----------



## crazygoatgal (Jan 15, 2008)

I agree with Lasergrl. I raise Nigerians and just love them to pieces. As far as the teats go, they are not too bad. Some are larger than others and I have only milked them, so they seem "normal" to me. You just use your first two fingers and you get used to it in no time. Seriously. I wouldn't know what to do with a full size teat. It looks monstrous to me!!LOL. You will never regret getting Nigerians especially when you have your first kids. Oh my gosh, they are "beenie-babies with legs". At an average of 2lbs. they will melt your heart. And definitely get tested animals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And registered babies sell for more than unregistered and cost just as much to feed. I like the weaner pig idea. But definitely goats, all the way.


----------

