Pam Buck and her husband, Floyd, live in Weathersfield Bow with their herd of about 20 Boer goats and a few cows. The following is an edited interview.
We started out with two. One was that billy goat out there, and we liked the look of him, so we had two more. Then we took in a couple more from another farm, and since then they’ve just multiplied. That’s what they do.
When we just had a couple, they were more like pets. But it’s been six years now, and with the babies having babies, we’ve got to the point where we either sell them or...
When it comes time to slaughter them, we’ll have to bring someone in. My husband is a little too softhearted.
Floyd only really eats hamburger. But with the price of beef, I was thinking we could grind up the (goat) meat. I’m sure he won’t know the difference. They say goat is low in cholesterol, so it’s supposed to be better for you anyway.
We’ve kept a Jersey cow with them since she was two days old. That’s our way of keeping them out of trouble. We have coy dogs around here, and a coy dog will carry a goat right off. The cow seems to make them more wary, and she’ll actually chase them off if they get too close.
The cow thinks it’s a goat. That’s all she’s known. She grazes like a goat. She plays and head-butts with the rest of them. They’ve got a sand bed, and she’ll make a burrow in the middle and let all the baby goats climb on her when she lays down. When the black-headed one gave birth, the cow was cleaning the baby as it was born.
They’re a good fit. The goats like the weeds and brush. Good grass and clover they’re not all that partial to. So, having the cow, she’ll take the good stuff and then go along with the goats and trim up the trees, too.
We’ve got five acres here, but it’s all scrubby. That’s why we had them initially was to clear it. We put them out on neighboring fields just to keep them in order. If we didn’t do that, the fields would just be grown up with brush.
They’re sometimes called the poor man’s cow because they don’t take much to keep. The biggest job is making sure your fencing is good. Other than that, they pretty much look after themselves.