Just wondering

[brierpatch1974]

I was just wondering how many goats everyone keeps? I now have 3 Sanaan does, a boer buck and a boer/Sanaan wether. I am considering keeping the future sanaan/boer does and breeding back to the buck to develope more meat but also keeping at elast one Sanaan doe for family milk.
So at peak performance for my land I will have 5 sanaan/boer does, a boer buck and a wether to keep him company. all offspring will be sold and I will maintain this number year round. lol I need more land. the does are now on 5 acres after doing more fencing. The buck and wether have 1 1/2 acres.
So how many goats does everyone keep and how many?

Bp

[mpillow]

3 dairy does in milk(2 are 3yo one is 7yo), 2open yearlings, one little doeling2m and a lovely registered buckling3m and this is the most I'd want to keep.

Next Spring I may cut back to 4 does and buck....choosing who to keep is hard but Hay isnt getting any cheaper

[goatmarm]

I am sure your question is an innocent one, but just want to warn folks about how much info. they reveal online about the number of livestock animals we keep. The reason for this is the sneaky way that NAIS is going about gathering statistics and registering folks for their program. Don't leave your real name+address along with your info. on animals unless you want to end up on a database against your will. Take care.

[brierpatch1974]

OUCH I didnt even think about that one. I guess I am more interested in breeds people keep and whats a good number per acre so I dont overcrowd. I don't want info going out for the NAIS I just want to make sure my animals are healthy and not over crowded.

BP

[dosthouhavemilk]

We currently have 80 head of goats on our farm. One of our bucks is keeping a wether company on another farm. Seven of the does here are not ours (yet). They and the wether may join our herd though. We will likely be breeding 42 does this coming Summer/Fall/Winter. If Kait has a doe, we may breed it too this coming Winter depending on its size. It may be more or less depending on test results and what we decide.
We have a Boer/Saanen buck (3 years old), a Boer buck (2 years old), and a Nubian buck (Yearling). I am hoping to get another Nubian buckling to raise for Winter breeding or next Fall's breeding (from great quality stock-ForMyACDs). We are also going to keep a Nubian/Boer buck kid intact to breed to our Boer's daughters (Boer/Saanen's granddaughters) this year since we haven't found the right Boer buck yet.
Two more does to kid this year. We have a 120 acre small Grade A cow dairy farm (so the officials are going to find out anyways if NAIS goes through), so lots of acreage and lots of browse for some happy goats.
Dad was looking at maybe 100-150 breeding head in the future. Depends on what happens to the cattle.
We have meat, dairy and crosses of the two.

[Dee]

I have Boers and am happy with 6 does producing on my 6 wooden acres. This year I had 8 producing does and felt it was just two too many. I have sold one doe and will have to decide on another to go, possible 2 more since I am keeping two doelings from this year. Well, you can't keep just one...

I do not keep a buck, but buy a new buckling each year and sell it after it's done. Tried keeping two different bucks in the past with bad results so this is what works for me.

[Freeholder]

I have way too many goats (at the moment) for our one acre -- four does in milk (three Kinders and one Oberhasli X Boer who is an excellent milker -- so you should try milking those Boer X Saanens you were talking about, Brierpatch), two bucks (one Kinder and one Oberhasli), and twelve kids (nine Kinders and three 3/4 Oberhasli X 1/4 Boer).

The Kinders are all for sale, exceedingly reluctantly, because I've got to cut back to the four goats we are allowed to keep on one acre, and I want the larger goats for packing.

Kathleen

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by BlueJuniperFarm

so you should try milking those Boer X Saanens you were talking about, Brierpatch

Yep, why not. I'm going to start milking my LaBoers as soon as their kids go in the freezer. Nice udders on those does.

[nduetime]

I live in Wisconsin so the NAIS has me already anyway. I currently have one reg. nubian in milk, 1 alpine/nubian in milk, 1 lamancha yearling open, 1 nubian/alpine and 1/2 pygmy doeling about 2 weeks old, 3 reg nubian spotted bucklings 1 month old that are all sold, and 1 - 5 year old alpine wether that started the whole thing, had another wether but gave it to a friend to keep her wether company. I am keeping all mine on slope and hilly area that is about 1 acre, they get supplemental feed and hay and share the space with a turkey and hen, they currently sleep in the barn at night until I get their house moved to the hill (no small task) I actually have to put a horse up there once in a while to eat down some of the grass or it gets too long.

[Rowdy]

Right now I just have my two does on an acre. Since they are not pregnant, they receive nothing but the browse and free choice minerals.

As I get more fence up, I am going to add more animals. The two boers I have right now cannot even make a dent in the brush in their pasture. I have six acres of brush, and once I get all my fencing and cross fencing complete I hope to work up to about 15-20 goats, but that is a long way down the road. I have to see exactly how many goats my land with safely support, and what my market will bear. I already have customers lined up for next year's culls, but I don't really know just how far I can expand that.

I swung by the monthly goat auction this morning, just to see what everyone else was doing. Saw alot of really good looking animals today. I am really glad I took the car and not the truck, or else I would have ended up buying some today. I do not plan on buying from the sale barn for cl and cae reasons, but it is fun to go and look at the animals.