selling bucks?

[shepherdess1]

Got a question, I'm new at the whole goat thing. I have dairy does, Alpines. They all had bucklings. Is it hard to sell them? Do you wait until they are bigger. Next year should I breed to a boer buck to get more meat on the babies, will they sell better then, or does it not make much difference?

[devdragon33]

Bucks are not hard to sell if you dont care what you get out of them. There is a meat market for them, and if you breed to a boer you tend to get more.

[lyceum]

It depends on if they are registered or not. Also depends on the meat market in your area. We are in a huge Boer area, so dairy bucks do not go for a lot unless people are buying them as pets. We got $35 for a 3 week old buck kid at the salebarn, and that was on a night where the most anything sold for was $50 for a Boer kid. We live near Purdue University which has a large foreign population. We could sell any buck kid born here for meat if word got out. Problem is we would have to raise them out to 75-100 pound first.

Carisa

[bob clark]

around here the goat dairys sell buck kids for $5.00. few want to mess with taking them to a market weight

[Sher]

just got an email from a gal that does a route this time of year..bucks or does that are 35-60 lb. are going for between 1.25 and 2.00..this is in regard to the big sales for the upcoming Easter market. This is for milk raised .. no grain babies.

[animalfarmer]

Hi shepherdess1,I sent you a P.M.,It may be of intrest.Best of luck.

[CountryHaven]

I have a question, Sher. Not that I plan on it, but how do the buyers know if you grain fed or not?

[vallyfarm]

I have people come to the farm. Never advertised, just had them in the field, and they stop. I have a fairly large ethnic population near me (20 to 50 mi away...2 different cities) and on weekends they will just go for a "sunday drive" to find different farms. I raise mine to around 35 lbs and sell them for $75. The price holds up to around 50 lbs. After that weight the prices start to go up. Very rairly do I ever have any go over 50 lbs unless I am holding special for a weding or so. First generation ethnic folks tend to be very honest and trustworthy in my view. Rairly got left "holding the bag", and when I did, I learned not to wait on them, and just sold the critter for a few extra dollars to the next person. Mike

[AnnaS]

My bucklings are dam raised and go to the meat auction at 3 months/50-65 lbs. They are starting to be "interested" in does- including Mama- at that age so no one is sorry to see them go. I have always gotten 85-90 cents/lb. Call ahead to make sure a sheep/goat buyer is there.

From the auctions I've been to, Boer vs dairy is a matter of a few cents/lb. A purebred Boer buck will cost more than the very best dairy bucks. Breeding fees are also much higher here for Boer than dairy. An unregistered or percentage Boer will make nice terminal cross kids without the cost of a registered if you just want to sell meat kids.

This is the info I've gotten here in MN from meat/ethnic buyers. Your mileage may vary

Most "ethnic" buyers want a kid that is under 75 lbs, with a preference for around 50lbs. Larger goats- even young ones- are considered "old and tough". A finished 8 month old Boer looks like an big aged buck to an African buyer. Most of those folks are familiar with tall, lean, leggy Nubian types, so the dairy breeds are preferable. Slaughter buyers at auction like to see a Boer and in my area, the Hispanics like a Boer too.

I have talked to buyers who want an intact, horned, unvaccinated animal and ones who don't care at all. Doesn't seem to be much of an ethnicity difference there. The auction buyers don't care either.

If you think you might be too far from a market, check at the hospitals in your area. Many of the MDs and RNs are African, East Indian, Pakistani, Asian etc etc- and they all would love goat meat! BTW, most of them also want to buy free range chickens too.

[Sher]

Originally Posted by CountryHaven

I have a question, Sher. Not that I plan on it, but how do the buyers know if you grain fed or not?

I am guessing once butchered..the truth is revealed. Ya might lie or deceive them the first time..but I bet you won't a second.

I've never butchered a goat..never eaten one. But in cattle..the marbling and color of the meat is a good sign of how the animal has been fed.

[CountryHaven]

Originally Posted by Sher

I am guessing once butchered..the truth is revealed. Ya might lie or deceive them the first time..but I bet you won't a second.

I've never butchered a goat..never eaten one. But in cattle..the marbling and color of the meat is a good sign of how the animal has been fed.

Thanks Sherry, you know I'm not trying to be argumentative. I am just trying to soak all this up and know the whys and hows.

All great info in this thread.

Anna, and Mike, some great info facts.

I bet in my area (plenty of Hispanic, and some Indian and Pakistanian too, and not 'too' far north lots of ALL ethinic groups) all I'd have to do is put them in the front pasture next to the state highway that runs right by our farm and maybe put a sign up that says 'cabrito' lol.

Fantastic. Boy can't wait for that first kid crop!

[shepherdess1]

Thanks for all the great info! I think I'll get a Boer buck and cross breed my dairy does. Then I'll have milk and the babies will be meatier.

[fishhead]

Originally Posted by shepherdess1

Thanks for all the great info! I think I'll get a Boer buck and cross breed my dairy does. Then I'll have milk and the babies will be meatier.

Some posters have mentioned a problem with breeding a much larger buck with a smaller doe because it can cause birthing problems from having kids too big to deliver easily.

[vallyfarm]

Restricting grain (protein) in the last month of gestation will help keep the birthing problems down. Restrict, not stop. I feed around 2/3 lb of grain per doe and have had very good luck with easy birthing. The babies will make up size quickly when they hit the ground. Mike

[Laura Workman]

I just wanted to mention - I crossed a high-percentage Boer buck on three Oberhasli does. Each doe had triplets, mostly doelings. Those kids were the eatin-est kids I've ever seen! They were horribly aggressive and wound up damaging the does' teats fighting over them. I weaned them at one month old. They wouldn't take a bottle, and I decided I'd rather have dead babies than ruined does. The kids all grew large. I'll never do that again, though. My dairy does just didn't have tough enough udders to put up with that kind of abuse.

[Jillis]

In my area, unless a buckling is from good, registered stock, or is a Nigerian Dwarf, you won't get very much for them unless it is selling them for meat by the pound. Not a huge ethnic presence in northern VT either, although there is a guy who will buy week-old bucklings for $10.00 and he raises them well, and slaughters humanely.

Still, I am happy to give my 2 bucklings away, knowing that they are going to good homes.

One of them, I wouldn't have minded as much, he is a big aggresive boy, but the other is such a sweet little love (at least at this age) that it would have bugged me a lot more.

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by fishhead

Some posters have mentioned a problem with breeding a much larger buck with a smaller doe because it can cause birthing problems from having kids too big to deliver easily.

I have never had a problem breeding a Boer buck to any full-size dairy does. Even first-freshening yearlings.

[CountryHaven]

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

I have never had a problem breeding a Boer buck to any full-size dairy does. Even first-freshening yearlings.

When you breed your spring kids in the fall to the boer buck what weight are they at about? I figured on shooting for 80 lbs on the doelings. Is that about where yours are at in their first fall?

[ozark_jewels]

Originally Posted by CountryHaven

When you breed your spring kids in the fall to the boer buck what weight are they at about? I figured on shooting for 80 lbs on the doelings. Is that about where yours are at in their first fall?

Yeah, about 75-80 lbs is the weight I shoot for. They hit that generally by October-November. Now, my girls tend to be pretty large framed and not delicate. If yours run more to the delicate side, you might rethink this.

[CountryHaven]

My 2 50% boer crosses I think will be no problem. My two Nubians though while good sized I'll have to make that judgement call. They're not small though so I think they'll be okay. If nothing else I'll just have to wait til spring for them. Not a horrible thing either way since then I'd have a few fall kids to sell. My 3/4 boer kids coming I'm sure will be fine by fall, and my 2 year old Alpine will be fine too. I was mostly concerned with the Nubie kids.