well, Zeke, I bought her for 50 bucks not knowing what she was, and then when I found out, she became the stem of goat jealousy among my other goat farmer friends. She weighed a good 80-100 lbs. but still looked sort of skinny, but I have been told that is normal. When we bought her in August last year she looked thin, then in Oct. she developed an udder, but didn't look pregnant at all, I figured since she was running with a billy at my place she probably just got pregnant. On November 11 though I heard her holler and when I got out there she had a HUGE billy baby!! Good breeder The milk was excellent, in taste and medium butterfat for my goat. She gave approx. 1 to 1 1/2 quarts per milking, even though her udder didn't look like it could hold that much. She was such a tame goat, skiddish when loose ( I would let them out of the pen to graze) and when she saw you carrying something, but when I put her in the stall to milk, and she had the food, I could do whatever I wanted to her and she would never squirm. I don't have a milking ramp thingy, I just sit on a bucket next to them, (yeah hurts the knees, and I won't milk again until I have a ramp thingy) She never had udder problems, however she is the one I had to put down, but that isn't due to her breed. Hope this helps, Let me know If I can help any more, here is a link I found useful. scroll down to the bottom for the goats Here is a link that might be useful: sheep and goat breeds

You'd need a license to run a Grade A or Grade B dairy, and each state is different, so you'd start here: Dairy Services Dept. of Ag. & Consumer Serv. Box 1163 Richmond, VA 23218 (804) 786-8899 Div. of Food & Envm. Serv. State Health Dept. 1500 E. Main St. Station Suite 115 Richmond, VA 23218 (804) 225-4003 Generally speaking, you can't get a license until after your plans for facilities and equipment are approved and until after the completed facilities are inspected. Not being able to judge the quality of your product, packaging, etc... a retailer is unlikely to give you a commitment. Therefore, selling milk in bulk for further processing through a coop is an easier way to get started than to try establishing your own brand name with no experience in dairying whatsoever. The organization that could help with marketing questions and dairy goats in general would be the American Dairy Goat Association. Here is a link that might be useful: ADGA

Well, to be honest, M&P soaps are not the same as real, natural handmade soap. You don't know what is in it or if the glycerin has been removed, and chemicals added for hardening, sudsing, etc. I teach soap making and have receips and directions for making it from scratch, yourself, using a blender. It's not difficult but it does take weeks to set. To say a soap is made with goat's milk, you may have to actually make the soap with goat's milk. However, you can always say it's so and so soap with goat's milk added. As for how much to use, how big is the block of M&P soap that you are using for this?

Ooooh Cheese - my favorite topic! I have made lots of different cheeses over the years, but concentrate mostly during the summer time on soft cheeses, such as chevre (a french style cream cheese), feta, crottins, and camemberts. When I first got into cheesemaking, I stuck with soft cheeses, figuring it would be too much trouble to make the hard textured cheeses, but, I changed my mind after a couple of years. I milk my goats "through", meaning I don't breed them every year because they are big milkers (l gallon or more a day), and I milk them right through their breeding season and have milk year round. I milked one of my Oberhasli's continuously for 4 years. Milking them through is a nice contiunous supply of milk for me especially in the winter. That is when I make hard texture cheeses, such as parmesan and romano. It takes 4 gallons of milk to make one wheel of the italian cheeses. It also takes 4-6 months for them to age properly. So, I make these cheeses in the winter and age them in my basement, and then they are available in the summer. It is very satisfying to have shelves of your own cheese aging in the basement or wherever. The best source of cheesemaking information is The Cheesemaker's Manual by Margaret P. Morris. She is from Canada, and I also buy all of my cheesemaking cultures from her as well. She is a VERY nice person, Very knowledgeable, and a great resource for reasonably priced cheesemaking supplies. She has a website at: glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca. I own just about every cheesemaking manual published and hers is definitely the best. I teach cheesemaking workshops occasionally, and I tell any new cheesemakers to pick one cheese you want to make and perfect that technique before you move on to another one. It is easy to jump in and want to make all kinds of cheeses at once, but it can get complicated. I tell new people that cheesemaking isn't really hard, it is somewhat time consuming in that you have to pay attention to temperatures and cultures and try to keep ahead of mold growth if you are aging cheeses. I have also been selling my cheeses at the local farmer's market in the summer for the past 8 years. It has been a nice source of revenue for me as it helps pay the grain bill. I have also educated the northern portion of our city on the finer aspects of good goat cheese. Most people turn up their noses and tell me some horrible story about goat cheese they had that was awful. I usually tell them that most imported goat cheeses are fairly strong in taste and smell - but - fresh cheese is absolutely wonderful. I always have samples out for people to try and they love it (most of them anyway). I started out making cheese using goat's milk and vinegar to curdle the milk. It is an easy recipe, but after a while I couldn't stand the flavor. Making chevre is SOOOOOo easy and it is sooooo good and versatile that I was sold.