Goats are one of the most beneficial hobby farm animals

People love to talk about their futures and what kind of pets they’ll end up getting. Dogs, cats, parrots; you name it, people want it.

In recent times, there’s been an increase in “hobby farms,” smaller scale farms that are run by families for personal contentment rather than profit.

Often, the animals found on hobby farms can have dual purposes. My personal favorite animal to focus on at hobby farms is goats!

Goats have many environmental and health benefits as well as many uses on a hobby farm.

According to “What You Need to Know to Start Keeping Goats” by Chris McLaughlin, goats can provide essential needs such as food and clothing fabric; they can also keep your land clean and tidy.

Goats are one of many animals that can produce milk, specifically milk that is better for lactose-intolerant people.

According to Prevention.com, goat’s milk still contains lactose, the sugar that lactose-intolerant people cannot digest.

However, it contains lower levels of lactose, meaning it may be easier for people with an intolerance to digest.

They are also producers of textile fibers. Goats, specifically Angora goats, produce a special fiber called mohair. Mohair is referred to as “the diamond fiber” and is used for many different weaving and textile products.

The coolest part about goats is how they serve as wonderful replacement weed whackers.

Goats are known as “browsers”, meaning that they eat plants that are higher off the ground than general grasses.

This includes weeds, bushes, low-hanging tree branches and more. Thus, goats are fantastic to keep on properties because they will forage and eat any weedy areas in sight.

Why does this matter to our environment? With the increase in devastating wildfires across the Pacific Northwest and even the Central U.S., a large factor in how these fires spread is the unkempt underbrush that forms.

As piles of old branches, weeds, dry grass and more build up, it increases the chances of a rapidly-spreading fire.

McLaughlin, who was writing about hobby farms specifically in California, says goats serve as a natural defense to this by eating the underbrush that feeds these fires.

Considering their voracious appetites and love of underbrush, goats are fantastic at cleaning up land and assisting in the defense against natural disasters such as wildfires.

Hobby farms are wonderful, but many of the animals and practices should hold dual purposes, like with goats.

They are more than just cute additions to your family. They produce nutritious milk, make fantastic fibers and can keep your land clean of unnecessary weeds and underbrush.

Goats can be a vital part of our fight to slow climate change and the natural disasters that result from it.

They are a wonderful, multi-functional addition to any land, farm or not (plus, I mentioned that they’re cute, right?).

As always, if you want more information, I recommend starting with small, hobby farm blogs such as hobbyfarms.com. These authors tend to write from personal experience and can guide you in the right direction.