An overcast day in Co. Tyrone provided the backdrop for the return of the Northern Ireland Goat Club’s in-person events, with a farm visit to Brian and Linda Cowan’s renowned Owenskerry Herd.
This 60ac farm is somewhat of a novelty, as one of the few commercial goat dairy herds in the whole of Northern Ireland. The Cowan’s milk around 260 goats.
All the milk from Owenskerry is supplied to Strathroy Dairies.
They market full cream and semi-skimmed goat milk after pasteurising, standardising and homogenising it.
The kid goats have their own snug house and with the use of colour coding, are fed colostrum from their own mother for two to three days before they go onto Novalam milk replacer.
Linda has found this product produces the best results. The kids are introduced to solid food early to encourage rumen development.
They have free access to their milk for up to eight weeks before it is reduced, encouraging them to avail of concentrate and hay. Surplus kids are sold on to other herds.
Rather than pedigree, Owenskerry Herd is seeking to breed quality milkers and good udders, predominately Saanen and Toggenburg.
Linda explained that Toggenburgs tend to have better udders while Saanens give more milk, while they also make use of Alpine and Anglo Nubian.
There are three groups of breeding females, each group kidding at different times of the year to ensure continuity of milk supply.
Artificial lighting is used in winter to keep them cycling. Owenskerry is an indoor herd which is milked twice a day.
Brian explained that a dairy nanny would have an average of three lactations. 3L of milk per day is a good average with some giving up to 5L of milk a day, but others as low as 2L.
Brian said that the farm costs are currently rising rapidly but the price they get per litre has hardly risen at all.
“Years ago they were at a better level than a equivalent dairy farm with cows, but that gap has closed.
“We will keep doing it for now, but will not be able to keep doing it for long, unless things improve.”
