too many goats, what you YOU do?

Yeah but none of us are trying to sell does who just placed at nationals and who have your goats reputation of milking gangbusters and appraising 91 even after moving to hot humid Texas

You have fabulous goats, your sales will always be brisk! Vicki

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Vicki McGaugh
Nubian Soaps
North of Houston TX
www.etsy.com/shop/nubiansoaps

A 3 decade dairy goat farm homestead that is now a retail/wholesale soap company and construction business.

Well, I hope they keep selling! Thank you for the wonderful compliment
I just clipped up a doe who is going to Billie in Tennessee, and I may have to beg her to trade goats, lol.

Culling gets harder and harder. At this point I am looking at culling a doeling because I don't like the way her neck comes out of her withers! LOL. This is a kid that would have been the cream of my crop 8 years ago!

BTW Alice -- until just a few years ago, I *never* sold doelings. I freshened out everything because I had a guaranteed dairy buyer who paid me $250 a head for FF milkers. Not only that, it allowed me to see exactly what every buck threw. Now I have a harder (ie longer) time involved in proving out bucks because I don't have as many daughters I get to see in milk.
It's worth it to me now to sell extra doelings so that I don't have them taking up precious winter barn space. I added to my own problem by buying 4 older brood does last year. They take up space, but make up for it in their very valuable kid sales. FF's have lower value kids.

Bottle babies - you bet I sell them. But my market at this point is other breeders, not many backyard type folks. They usually want a family quality milker. We ship a lot via air, so they have to go young.

Anyhow -- too many goats. Here's a trick that a long time breeder and ADGA judge told me :
Get a piece of paper, or a whiteboard, or chalkboard or what have you.
Decide how many does you will have in your ideal herd.
List your does from best to worst.
Draw a line between them at the number you have decided to keep, and sell everything under the line.

Doesn't matter a whole lot at that point if they go to the dairy buyer, family buyer, auction -- whatever. Just move them! Do some asking around your area to see if there are any commercial dairies that might be interested in milkers. I know I send a lot of bucklings to the Iowa/Ohio area into the Amish dairies. Might be worth you hauling them if they'll take them all.

I would think with all the folks on HT from Missouri, surely someone is looking for some nice family milkers??

Tracy

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Soldier Mountain Alpines
Southcentral Idaho
http://soldiermountainalpines.com

I like the white board and draw a line method. My mind swirls when I'm in the pen looking at them, for sure! Because my goat herd and I migrate south for the winter, the herd numbers are limited by trailer size. This will help keep my goat addiction under control. Also, due to the drought in Texas, there won't be much natural feed for them there this fall. Extra goats get expensive to feed in that situation.

The selling for different markets is absolutely true. I just want my goats to go to a good family milker home. I don't show.

I can't in good conscience bring them to the auction here. My animals are used to good care and respect, and purposefully taking them where they'd be exposed to disease and abuse is not something I'll do. I've seen this auction. It's disgusting.

Craig's List has worked this week. I'm amazed. There's not a listing for a town within 100 miles, but apparently local goat people that I didn't even know about read the ones read Craig's List for the whole midwest region. I'm meeting some cool folks!

I also sold one beautiful tri-color mini-Mancha buckling to someone on this list! THANK YOU!

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

Im kinda in the same boat, I love something about every doeling born here this season, something I can see to build on since i cant afford to go out and buy the very best, however I have more doelings than does and have not recouped any cost other than 50 bucks for a grade buckling. I know I cant keep them all to show and raise so Im going to see who does the best at the next show and hopefully send the others home with some one else.

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I'm a goat person, not a people person,
De @ Udderly Southern Dairy Goats
we will be adding a new breed in the spring

Almost all of the ones that I sell go to the livestock auction......or in the freezer.
I don't know if this is just coincidence,......since I started showing this year, some other Alpine breeders have asked me to call them when I am ready to sell anything in the future.

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"When you are having dinner with someone and they are nice to you, but rude to the waiter, then this is not a nice person.".....Dave Barry

Now if you were in Texas with them , I might would run up there and get A few, As I need some to keep the yard down.

James,
They will keep your landscape plants trimmed back and girdle your trees. The grass is the last thing they would eat.

Alice

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Alice
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"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

well theres over A half acre of mesquite and cacti they could eat..