How do I make my goat make milk?
Can I drink goat milk if I'm allergic to cow's milk or am lactose intolerant?
How much space do Nigerian dwarves require?
What type of fencing do Nigerian dwarves require?
What type of housing do Nigerian dwarves require?
What do I need to feed my Nigerian dwarf?

The first time I had this question, I didn't understand what the person was asking. I have since answered this question many times! Like all mammals (cows, dogs, mice, humans, etc.), goats will only make milk if they get pregnant. Their bodies will not produce milk, unless there is a baby (or babies) who needs it. No, there is not a special feed or drug you can give them to force them to make milk. The milk you buy in the store comes from cows that are bred yearly, and most are also given drugs to increase their production even more. But drugs can only increase production. They cannot be used to start production.

If you want a fresh supply of goat milk year-round, you can breed two does six months apart every year, so that as one's supply is decreasing, the other is just getting started. For example, breed one doe to kid in February and one to kid in October. Some people don't realize this also means you must have plans for those babies!

It depends on which one it is. If you are lactose intolerant, it means you cannot digest lactose, and all mammals' milk (human, cow, goat, mouse, dolphin, etc.) contains lactose, so you might respond to goat milk the same way you respond to cow milk. Some people, however, respond differently to raw milk than to pasteurized milk, so you might be able to drink raw goat milk.

If you are allergic to cow milk, chances are very good that you may be able to drink goat milk. The protein in cow milk is very hard to disgest, because calves go hours between nursing. Baby goats, on the other hand, nurse every 20 minutes or so, because goat milk is very quickly digested. This is why many humans are able to drink goat milk, even if cow milk does not agree with them.

There is a third category that most people are unaware of ... those who are allergic to the drugs and hormones in commercial cow milk. If you are one of those people who can "sometimes" drink cow milk without trouble, it could be because you are actually reacting to the drugs or hormones in some milk. I first heard about this from a Canadian dairy farmer. She said her son was allergic to penicillin, and although they could sell milk from cows who had been given penicillin after a few days, her son would break out in hives if he drank milk from one of those cows any sooner than two weeks after her last dose of penicillin. This explained to us why one of our daughters has intestinal upsets if she consumes commercial cow milk, but is fine if she drinks organic cow milk or our goat milk. Indeed, one of the many advantages of having your own milk goat is knowing exactly what is in your milk.

Nigerian dwarves only require 1/3 to 1/4 the amount of space and feed as the standard size dairy goats. The number of goats you can keep in an area really depends on how much hay you want to feed. If we keep four bucks in a 64X64-foot pen, they will eat down all the grass, which isn't a problem if we're willing to feed them an extra flake of hay every day. (We have since added additional buck pens of the same size, so they can be rotated.) Our does never get hay in the summertime, because they are in a 2-acre pasture, which has so much grass, we have to cut it!

Although some does will stay in an area with electric fencing, bucks need woven wire or livestock panels. Some breeders have had good luck with electric fencing, and some have not. It really depends on the goats. We have had some who would run through electric, and we have had some who are constantly testing it and know as soon as it isn't working -- they'll be running around, stealing the chickens' grain the minute the fence isn't working! And we have some does that won't go near the electric fence!

Nigerian dwarf goats do not require anything fancy in the way of housing. During the summer months, our goats stay in the pasture with a 3-sided shelter that they can use when it rains. They also go in there to sleep at night. During the winter, the goats are brought into the barn at night. They ONLY stay inside during the worst winter weather, because fresh air is important for healthy goats, and even though our barn is far from air-tight, the fresh air outside is much better for keeping goats healthy. In case you're worried about these goats from African freezing in northern U.S. winters, you can be assured that they have adapted beautifully and do grow a thick winter coat.