11/15/07, 12:12 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 5,662
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I think that you'll find that most breeders who care about their animals won't sell dairy goats for pets. Too many people see them, the 'aww' factor kicks in, and they buy without knowing how to take care of them. Then later the breeder finds out that the animal was neglected or died because of the ignorance of the new owner.
If you want to keep goats, learn something about them first -- this forum is a good starting point, but you'd do well to get a couple of books on goats and read them through a few times. Then you'll have a better idea of what to ask when you do come on here! It sounds like you would like to have milk from your goats, so that makes you higher on the scale of potential owners (at least in my book) than someone who is just looking for a pet. People who expect to get some work (milk production is considered work) from their animals are more likely to take good care of them.
As far as 'small' goats for milk, what you saw may have been Nigerian Dwarfs, and people do milk them (Pygmies are primarily a meat goat and would be difficult, though not impossible, to milk, because of the size of their teats). They are often pretty low to the ground, though. If you are serious about getting a supply of milk but want a smaller animal I'd suggest either a mini (cross of a Nigerian Dwarf with one of the larger dairy breeds) or a Kinder (cross of a Pygmy with a Nubian). They are usually going to be easier to get a milk pail under than a Nigerian, but are a little smaller and easier to handle than the large breeds. The large breeds really aren't that big, though, so you should visit some breeders and see their animals before you decide on what you want. Or go to a large 4-H fair -- I like to watch the judging at a 4-H show, because the judges don't just hand out ribbons, they tell you what was good and bad about each animal. You can learn a lot about goat conformation by watching.
Kathleen
ETA: just re-read your original post, and noted the comment about the goat not being tame. She was probably dam-raised, that is, nursed by her mother, and not handled much. Though I have had a couple of dam-raised kids that WERE handled a lot and were still wilder than march hares. (The doe kid eventually settled down when I started milking her.) That was a skittish line, though. Anyway, dairy kids are usually bottle-raised, and bottle-raised kids are very friendly. Dam-raised kids can sometimes, depending on the genetics of the parents, be made friendly by lots of handling, but if you start with skittish parents the kids will likely stay skittish.
Last edited by Freeholder; 11/15/07 at 12:24 PM.
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