That would be an expensive way of finding something to write about!
Gill will be jealous and might stop reading! and Kev asked why we gave up keeping them.
There were several reasons. We were thinking about moving to Wales, our neighbour who milked for us when we were on holiday had started to get arthritis in her hands and with the children moved out we didn't need as much milk. The first person who planned to buy our goats then backed out, we gave up the moving plan when we searched for a house and found that everyone selling was English, moving back to England, had bought when prices were high, and wanted daft amounts for their houses, and then to cap it all I wasn't well for a while. By the time I was better and the house move was cancelled a new enthusiastic buyer had appeared on the scene. So we sold the girls and didn't regret it. Goats are a real tie, it's easy to ask someone to feed chickens and collect eggs but not so simple to find a goat milker. Even a long day out needed someone to come and check them.
You can't keep one goat on it's own and they need mating at least every other year to keep producing milk. That's not easy now as there are all sorts of movement restrictions.
( Only totally insane people keep a Billy goat !!)
But they are such gorgeous animals to keep, loads of character and it's lovely having fresh milk everyday without needing to go the the shop. The smallholding just doesn't seem right without them.
Another BUT - The price of a good milking goat is now around £200! They were around £50 for years and when you want to buy goats it's always hard to find any for sale.
Here are a couple of photos of the goats we had at various times - can you see why I loved them!
On the plus side - I kept my stainless steel milking bucket!
So we shall think about it. Or I will think about it and let Him Outside know what I decide!
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And now a question -- Who had the last laugh me or Tesco?
Last week I did my main monthly shopping at Tesco and at the till I was given a £4 off £30 spend ( to use before tomorrow) and a £2.56 voucher because my shopping was more expensive than elsewhere, I also had several through-the-post vouchers for things I buy.
Now today I needed to shop for a few things, milk, celery, fruit and three things missed off the list last week. That would probably have come to about £10. So my dilemma was :-
1. Do I just get what I need and not use the vouchers
2. Or do I spend extra on some store cupboard stuff, make the most of the voucher which is after all more than10% off.
Have I got £30 pounds available - YES
So YES I did use the vouchers and I counted up as I went round and got £32.24 of things I needed today and things for the store cupboard for £24.18p.
So did I win by saving £8 on food or did they win by making me spend more than I would have done today?
