GOATS

The original herd of Delamere goats, back in 1985, consisted of just three goats. Now, 20 years later, Delamere process and pack milk from eleven farms from Yorkshire to Somerset and their milk (both fresh and UHT) is available in most supermarkets, as is their award-winning cheese and their plain and fruit yogurts.

Farming goats

Farming goats, Liz reckons, is not only a financially viable alternative to farming cows, but more enjoyable. Because they are physically so much smaller than cows (you would need around 10 goats to weigh up to one cow!) goats involve more actual husbandry - but they are much easier to look after. They are impeccably clean (no sloppy manure to muck out), friendly and full of character. Because they have never been intensively farmed they are healthy, rarely suffer from mastitis or the other illnesses common in cows, and produce their kids with very little help from humans.

The goats on Delamere-supplying farms are not farmed organically but there is no routine use of anti-biotics and the farms operate low-input systems for fertilisers - the goats’ manure is spread back on the land. The goats live in large, airy, straw-bedded yards as free ranging more than 100 goats (the minimum number for a viable goat farm) is very difficult. Because goats have a strong social structure they are kept in groups according to when they kid. They are fed on grass or maize silage, hay, straw and a concentrate and are able to eat and browse at will. Each goat will produce around 1,000 litres of milk a year.

There are no subsidies available for goat farmers in the UK (the Suttons would much prefer it remained that way) so if you wish to farm goats, you have to make it pay. To do so, Liz reckons, you need a herd of around 600 goats and a milking parlour - an investment of around £250,000 - although you do not need much land. And of course you could run your goats in tandem with a herd of cows.

Tolerance & nutritional content

Goats’ and cows’ milk share a number of proteins so those who are allergic to cows’ milk proteins may also be allergic to goat milk. However, the fat globules in goat milk are smaller than those in cows’ milk so easier to break down and tolerate. Goat milk also forms a softer curd than cow’s so is easier to digest. Certainly there are a significant number of people who are not clinically ‘allergic’ to cow’s milk but for whom cows’ milk triggers symptoms from catarrh to hyperactivity to arthritis and who can tolerate goat’s milk and goat milk products with no problem.

Nutritionally goat milk has a similar protein content to cows’ milk, slightly less fat, carbohydrate and lactose, the same amount of calcium and higher levels of potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, and
vitamins D and B3.

Taste?

In taste terms fresh goats’ milk, milked in a modern parlour and kept well chilled, is mild and delicious. It has none of the sour taste associated with milk from the family goat milked in a bucket at the back door. It makes excellent yogurt and wonderful cheese - and cooks just like cow’s milk, although the flavour is slightly stronger.
Delamere Dairies’ products are in most supermarkets or check
www.delameredairy.co.uk 01565 632422.

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