Why I wrote the book.
My father raised goats as my sister had to have the goat's milk, so I was more or less raised into this life. Twelve years
after I left home, it was apparent that my own girls were not that healthy, and after years of fighting emergency rooms. I
went back to the country and got a milk goat. Within 3 weeks, they were healthy and robust, no more sporadic fevers and strep
throat. Come to find out, it was allergies, activating their sinuses and goats' milk took care of it. I am no doctor, but
I'll debate one in a minute about the healthful uses of raw goats milk, I have had friends get through ulcer attacks, IBS,
colds and flu a lot faster with goats milk, one acquaintance with AIDS lived over a year longer than doctors said he would,
drinking goats’ milk. I am a believer.
I
tend to lean toward the Nubians, as a breed, because they seem to me to be more affectionate, easier to control, and I love
the ears. However, I have a few Saanens, a couple Boers, and an Oberhausli. But I quickly learned that keeping one in milk
year around is difficult, and I wasn't having a lot of good fortune keeping them well. I went from vet to vet to not get answers,
and read every book on goats in 3 libraries to learn every thing I could. I joined a goat group and started taking goat related
magazines, and they still fell short of attaining my goals of healthy goats, easy keepers, longevity, and production. I don't
want the gallon a day for 5 or 6 months. I want the half gallon a day for 10 or more months, so production is not a goal I
work on as much as health and longevity, both in milking and in life. Let me digress for a moment, to explain this: I have
an 18 year old Saanen cross that has never given much more than a quart a milking. She has only been ill one time and it was
just last year. She faithfully drops me twins, even when I try to hold her back from the buck, she gets bred. Her daughters
improve over her, but not in health issues. However, her sons carry the life longevity.