Letter Re: Goats for Thrifty Livestock Feeding

I love the Christmas season, and it is not for all the time and money wasted watching kids rip open boxes with toys or gadgets that they will forget about in a month. I can really reduce my hay bill for January even in the worst winters. Round about December 21st, I post small notices at the library, banks, and other places that will let me that advertise; “Tree Removal – $5 Mountain/Clean Trees or $10 all others” Costs me less than an hour of my time to make and post the notices and nets me between 50-100 trees a year. I’ve only had two clients ask where I take the trees. My answer, “I feed my goats.” Remember, goats are browsers and would prefer to dine on trees than hay. As a bonus, when the stock is done, I’ve got firewood.

Spring is another great season for me. The best goats I’ve ever gotten were free. I keep the word out around town and inevitably end up with at least one bum every year. I’ve raised cattle, sheep and goats all free. Last year, someone gave me a mare and foal. Why, because the foal is blind and the mare hasn’t been earning her keep. The mare is due to foal again in March. That is three free horses simply for being willing to take someone’s rejects. This is a good way to get stock if you know what to accept and what to pass on or send straight to slaughter. We have filled our freezer numerous times on free cattle and sheep. Another trick I use in Spring is to drive every night behind the local greenhouse. They throw away an amazing quantity. Because it’s not grass, the goats go nuts over it. I kid out in January-March and I’ve never had to feed grain, the extras from the greenhouse keep everyone sassy. Now that leads to another source: broken bags at the stores. I have a route I drive each week that nets me 1-6 bags of free/reduced feed. Goats don’t care if they eat rabbit food. Chickens love dog and cat food. [JWR Adds: Be sure to read ingredient labels carefully!] This way, when I have to lure in an escape artist or feel like giving everyone a treat, I don’t have to pay so much for it.

Summer is the hardest time of year for me. I don’t own any land suitable for livestock. I use my parents’ barn and pastures all year. I have gotten on friendly terms with the neighbors. I also have a solar-powered electric fence earned as payment for eating down the city’s weeds. Since high school, I’ve grazed off the barrow pits along the county road to their place. I’ll admit, it is a lot of manual labor for sometimes a bit of free feed, but some years it can’t get all eaten down and people still end up mowing them. I also beg the use of empty pastures, though it is easier to find pasture for horses and cattle than goats and sheep. Summer is the season I bug the tree services. I’ve got one or two that will let me know when a real leafy tree is coming down and I’ll give them free labor for all the leaves/branches we can stuff into our trucks. Evergreens or hardwoods, the stock doesn’t care. The greenhouse treasures are not as welcome this time of year by the goats, usually because they are browsing on pasture, but I still bring them home. Summer is also the season we start delivering hay. We have been paid in the past to clean out hay storage. Usually this starts coming in as our pasture starts running out. We also let it be known that we are not adverse to weeds in our hay. Over the years, I’ve gotten several tons of hay for $10-50 a ton because it was too weedy to be sold to anyone else. One of our suppliers was shocked to see the goats trample the timothy to get to the bindweed in the bale. Last year, hay averaged $115 per ton, so this saved us quite a bit.

Fall is they hurry-up season for me. This year my son and I made quite a bit of money raking leaves. Again, they all went to the stock. For each truck load of loose leaves, I saved a bale of hay. I don’t reveal the reason we are the cheapest service in town is because it saves me money to take them home and not to the dump. We also watch for those that have bagged their own leaves. We get permission to take the bags. Usually they are grateful we are grabbing them. These we store next to the hay in the hay shed for late season treats between the first snow and Christmas trees. Depending on the weight of the bag, two-four bags save me a bale of hay. Fall is when people clean out their gardens. This year, we had a lady borrow two of our gentlest goats and simply turn them loose in the garden after she was done with the harvest. For the most part, we donate labor to pull out gardens and it all goes to the stock. I sort as we unload and end up with food for our table too. I don’t raise pigs, but for those that do; free feed is easy. I have a friend that stops by all the grocery stores, fast food joints and restaurants in town with her pick-up once each day. She raises 20-30 hogs a year and never buys food. She passes on what is still safe to the family table and to neighbors that are on hard times. I’ve known others that raise hogs to pick up road kill. If you butcher your own stock or game, hogs love the entrails and will pick clean the bones. If I didn’t have these cheap fall backs for feeding my stock, I couldn’t own any. There are probably more that are not available in our area, or I haven’t thought of yet. I’ll keep my eyes open and hope I’ve opened others. – KB