***Do you have only chickens?***
Right now I have only chickens. Last year I had five steers and two pigs. I am still eating one beef and one pig out of the freezer.
I would like to get some more but the price is out of sight for me. Except for the pigs which are always cheap.
I have been thinking about some goats but no plans yet. The wind and ice storms here have put several trees down on the fences so if I ever get a day off I need to do lots of chainsaw work and fence streaching.
Meanwhile, there are lots of deer here. I saw seven on my back pasture about four days ago and fourteen two weeks ago.
Where are you located that you have so many deer?
I loved the goats for milk and cheese and honestly think that goat milk is better for a person.
The highest butterfat comes in the Nubian Goats milk, or did when I kept them.
I like the Nubian for this heat and for their personality, they are fun and interesting.
Be sure the milk is tested for Bacteria and that there are no lumps in their bags.
If you are thinking only of meat, then there are breeds that are larger and will produce more meat and I know nothing about them except that they exist.
I like hogs and eating pork.....but love goats.
If you had goats, I had good luck buying day old calves and feeding them the goat milk in a bottle, we were buying 10 at a time and selling to the feed lots for further feeding, when they were weaned.
Except of course for those we ate.
If you have all that pasture, I would sure have something on them.
What is the law about out of season deer? There was an old law that, allowed them for food in the mining camps and loggers camps, but it is sure to have been changed.
Stay safe.