Why pygmies?

**mygoat** · #21 04/08/09, 01:14 PM

I couldn't imagine milking a pygmy... A quart a day just isn't worth it to me, not when I can feed about 2x as much and get at least 4x the milk. Since they haven't ben bred for dairy, I would only expect about 5 months of worthwhile milk supply, if not less. Plus those teeny teats... ugh!

As for fiber, they don't have long fiber like the mohair of angoras, but are often bred to angoras to produce 'Pygoras'

And as for meat, they usually dress out at 50%! That's pretty darn high! You won't even get close to that with dairies. For a small meat herd, they would be an EXCELLENT idea - more on less property, with them at least twinning every year. If you have nice quality stock, the females can be sold as show animals as well as a few select bucks as breeding stock, with all the culls going for meat. Show quality pygmies can pull in quite a price tag, too.

critterluv · #22 04/08/09, 01:55 PM

My DH came home yesterday and said a guy he works with raises pygmies, he told my husband he makes more off the pygmies that his brother does raising pigs and he only sells them for 25-35$ each. I think Im going to try and get a trio. Id love to try and milk one! and when I went to the auction the baby pygmies were bringing as much as the baby boers and meat goats!

snoozy · #23 04/08/09, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaManchaPaul

Here, pygmies are almost free (sometimes are), but usually in bold print: NOT FOR SLAUGHTER

Paul

Around here, though, they seem to be as expensive or more so than regular size goats, meat or dairy.

hoofinitnorth · #24 04/08/09, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mygoat

I couldn't imagine milking a pygmy... A quart a day just isn't worth it to me, not when I can feed about 2x as much and get at least 4x the milk. Since they haven't ben bred for dairy, I would only expect about 5 months of worthwhile milk supply, if not less. Plus those teeny teats... ugh

Yep, as I said, my friend got lucky. Now if you can find milking stock pygmies, with big teats, nice udders, and a good record of what the dam has produced, you are off to a better start. But if you really want milk, buy a dairy animal. If you like little goats, go with Nigierans, but do the same thing and buy from a milking herd. Hand milking if you are hand milking so you know they evaluated the teats!

True dual-purpose is hard to find without giving up something along the way. You usually give up meat to get dairy and you usually give up dairy to get meat.

snoozy · #25 04/09/09, 11:58 AM

Can somebody tell me why one would care or pay extra money for a "registered" wether? I mean, you can't breed him, so what is the point? I would think registration would only be relevant if you were going for milking prizes or to ensure good birthing/breeding.

Sonshine · #26 04/09/09, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mygoat

I couldn't imagine milking a pygmy... A quart a day just isn't worth it to me, not when I can feed about 2x as much and get at least 4x the milk. Since they haven't ben bred for dairy, I would only expect about 5 months of worthwhile milk supply, if not less. Plus those teeny teats... ugh!

As for fiber, they don't have long fiber like the mohair of angoras, but are often bred to angoras to produce 'Pygoras'

And as for meat, they usually dress out at 50%! That's pretty darn high! You won't even get close to that with dairies. For a small meat herd, they would be an EXCELLENT idea - more on less property, with them at least twinning every year. If you have nice quality stock, the females can be sold as show animals as well as a few select bucks as breeding stock, with all the culls going for meat. Show quality pygmies can pull in quite a price tag, too.

When you have a small family and no desire to sell the milk, a quart a day works great. At least for my family. We bought a doe and her 2 kids, both does. We figure that when the kids are old enough we can breed them at different times in order to keep one in milk throughout the year. If not, then I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

hoofinitnorth · #27 04/09/09, 01:12 PM

snoozy - in some organizations & events, wethers can be shown. If you can show in classes that offer premiums, they aren't any less valuable from a showing standpoint. Wethers are a big deal to 4H families or to those that can't take the time to milk two goats but need a companion. They are also a big deal to those that only want to keep one buck (again, they need a companion). With the versatility of the wether, many people want them and that drives up the price. And there is still a large portion of the buying population that thinks that papers mean greater value, even if it doesn't really translate to more paying utility. Sometimes that's just plain brag factor.

sadie6447 · #28 04/09/09, 01:32 PM

I fell in love with our pygmy's until I got the boer goats and realized what totally different attitudes they had. I had a pygmy mom in our kiddin pen as she had a baby and she ruint the ligiments and tendons on two of my boer babies I had to put them down so that was the end of the pygmy's for me. I sold all of them.

snoozy · #29 04/09/09, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sadie6447

I fell in love with our pygmy's until I got the boer goats and realized what totally different attitudes they had. I had a pygmy mom in our kiddin pen as she had a baby and she ruint the ligiments and tendons on two of my boer babies I had to put them down so that was the end of the pygmy's for me. I sold all of them.

What are the differences in attitudes?