How many goats do you have?

Dusky Beauty · #21 07/05/14, 12:10 PM

We try to avoid talking about how many goats we have. The current head count is somewhere in the neighborhood of 10.

**mygoat** · #22 07/05/14, 01:27 PM

I'm at a sane number for vet school. My herd was at its biggest at around 25-30 when I had boers. That was including animals I planned on keeping out of the kid crop, but then sold everything off.

Now I have:

3 Alpine does in milk
1 march Alpine doeling
1 march Alpine buckling
1 3YO Alpine buck
3 worthless old geriatric pet mini goats (12, 10, and 9 I believe)
1 worthless huge fat alpine wether
1 worthless boer doe and her 2 meat wethers for this year (she and her boys are getting picked up next weekend though, for meat)

So, actually that's still 15 goats. Ugh. Why does it seem like I had less than that? Probably because I only have 6 worthwhile animals. :P Dad won't let me butcher the wether (its a pet, though we also use it for animals in isolation so he kinda has a purpose), and geriatric old goats were my first goats and I'm admittedly attached to them. They're the only ones I'm really attached to. I don't mind - the pet goats' job is to keep me sane the next few years. I always like to think that I'm a very no-nonsense, non-pet keeping livestock owner in the way I manage them... but if push came to shove, I'd sell the dairies and keep the worthless old fart minis till they die. The dairies are the most labor intensive and my minis are super easy to care for and seem to get fat on air, so they aren't going anywhere till they die of old age. One has a large anal-skin sarcoma (butt cancer) but she is doing just fine so far this year (obese on nothing but meh hay and pasture, in fact) so she gets to stick around. The other has a permanent limp from her shoulder assembly - really loose shoulders, but I believe she damaged her shoulder in a fight with a new goat and since she's still fat, sassy, grazing and being perfectly normal I'm not going to do anything about it. The oldest is my first goat, 12 year old Daisy, broken horned devil that she is... She taught me everything I know about keeping goats and in return all she wants is a good itch. She has bad teeth in the back, every once in a while the one side will swell along the jawbone - but so far, she hasn't needed any supplemental feeding in addition to the decent feed we provide. She is one of the healthiest goats I have. None of them have gotten copper bolused or BoSe'd in years (neither has the wether). I can't remember the last time I dewormed them either.

Cali · #23 07/05/14, 01:46 PM

Easy question for me! Two dry yearlings (1 LaMancha, 1 LaMancha x Alpine) and 2 bottle baby Alpine doelings. Can't wait to breed these yearlings and start feeling like I have a real herd.

yarrow · #24 07/05/14, 01:58 PM

haven't counted does in a LONGGGG time.. if I had to guess.. and I include this year's bottle doelings I kept/bought.. I'd guess between the upper 30's (38? 39?) but it may well be lower 40's.. they get out and browse and walk about.. makes them hard to count... bucks are easier..ALWAYS penned up in the same pen/groups.. 10 boys at the moment.. one of those for sale..

susie

Clovers_Clan · #25 07/05/14, 03:28 PM

I can now count them on one hand; 5. Down to just my favorites.

coso · #26 07/05/14, 04:41 PM

Milking seven, two dry old goats, eight juniors, four bucks, for a total of twenty one. I will need to sell a few milkers after we freshen next spring !!

GoldenWood Farm · #27 07/05/14, 06:15 PM

I have...14?

2 bucks
7 milking does
5 2014 doe kids

The most I had at one time I believe was over 40 goats (I was young and stupid) and generally I would have around 20-24 goats. Just this past year I REALLY cut back and I lost just last year three of my oldest goats (put them down due to age and other things). So right now I am sitting pretty at just my 14 goats. Next year though I am adding at least 2-3 new bucks and a few does so my numbers will go back up.

Justine

RovingAcres · #28 07/05/14, 06:25 PM

Goats are easy, I have 14.

2 bucks
4 of this year's doelings
3 yearling does from last year
5 adult does

Now if I tried to figure out how many sheep I'm up to it would take a while.

mammabooh · #29 07/05/14, 07:13 PM

I have 8.
Three milkers
One dry yearling
One 3-year-old wether
Two 4-month-old wethers to be butchered this fall
One 3-month old buckling

So, after this fall, I will have 6. If I end up keeping a doeling next year, one of the milkers will go. I like to keep the numbers down.

Awnry Abe · #30 07/05/14, 10:38 PM

No, I couldn't give you a precise count. It isn't a huge amount. <30? I have a list on computer that I use for management tasks. The list lies occasionally. For instance, it isn't aware of what was for dinner yesterday. DW updates it when we get ready to go out and do something major.

southerngurl · #31 07/05/14, 11:38 PM

This time of year my answer is usually TOO MANY!

Let's see, 12 adult does, 2 keeper doelings, 9 other kids including my jr herd sire and 4 bucks.

27? Goal is 12 does and 2-4 bucks. Man, now that I've put a number on it, I know why I'm so overwhelmed!

copperkid3 · #32 07/06/14, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoatGirl123

One nursing doe, one drying off doe, one never-going-to-be-bred doe, one might-be-bred-at-some-point doe, one pregnant doe, one doeling, one fiber doe, one sheep (if she counts), and three bucks. That would equal . . . eleven! Unless the sheep doesn't count. So ten.

+ + + + +
That's why they can never

get to sleep!

marusempai · #33 07/06/14, 06:48 AM

Y'know, I get how everybody ends up with so many goats now. When I had no goats, two sounded like plenty. Now that I have three (one came with a baby! how could I say no!) six sounds like a nice herd. But if you have six you may as well have your own buck, and if you have your own buck you might as well have two (he needs a friend!), and now I have fallen down the rabbit hole. XD

SnowGoats · #34 07/06/14, 08:24 AM

Let's see.
2 bucks
1 wether
3 does in milk
3 2014 doelings
2 bred does due in August
2 open does

That adds up to...uh....not enough to satisfy my goat addiction. Or 13. 13? I seriously need to either sell 1 or buy more. Can't have 13. It's bad luck right?

poppypatchFarm · #35 07/06/14, 10:35 AM

People ask how many we have all the time and I tell them I have no idea. They look at me like I'm crazy…

Cyngbaeld · #36 07/06/14, 10:51 AM

Glennis, age 9 and herd queen.
Meggie age 7, naughty about jumping on the milkstand. Learned not to kick though.
Mocha age 4. Small teats, but gorgeous udder, heavy milker, calm and well behaved. (half alpine.)
Peach age 3. Beautiful udder and nice large teats. A real sweet heart.
The Vs are all yearlings. All does and will be bred this fall for the first time.
Virginia, Violet, Veronica, Vanita, Vanessa, Vashti, Valera, Victoria
The G's were all born this past Jan.
Georgette, Geraldine, Gloria, Genevieve, Gertrude and their brother, the wether Flash Gordon. The V's and G's all have the same Sire, Buckwheat, who we lost suddenly this past winter.
Bought a new herd sire, born in Jan '14, Rudolf Valentino.

All LaManchas. 19 in all. Only milking 2 right now. Sold two of my best milkers, with a sad heart, because both have scurs bad enough to damage their herd mates on the trip north. I have daughters from both though and expect good things from them. Will probably not breed the doelings from this spring until as late as possible next year. That will give me 12 freshening around January '15.

Frosted Mini's · #37 07/06/14, 02:48 PM

Too many!!

I have to use my website to figure it out.

31 dairy goats including the for sale ones and the kids.

6 boer kids destined for freezer or salebarn.

1 dairy buckling same.

2 sheep same.

That's 38 goats and 2 sheep.

southerngurl · #38 07/06/14, 06:15 PM

I'm glad I'm not the only one who never knows how many goats they have

creeklady2000 · #39 07/07/14, 06:03 AM

Let's see i have 22 some of them are milkers some are young does and some are wethers for freezer camp , and one alpine buck , a young togg buckling and a young alpine buckling,, I think i need afew more lol,,

dozedotz · #40 07/07/14, 10:06 AM

We currently have: One FF SOLD after this fall breeding
Two bucks a rutting
Three girls a milking, and
a magnificent girl who flat out refuses to be bred...
Needless to say, we have reduced the herd and plan to keep it that way...unless our "girl who will not be bred" decided to finally give us kids (we may keep them ALL!).