Is it better to raise milking goats from babies?

perplexed · #1 04/12/08, 12:10 PM

My friend has a milk goat that she got when she was about a year old. She also got 3 kids. She says the kids have much better personalities and that the "mama" is always causing problems.

What has your experience been?

BTW, I'm new here.

XCricketX · #2 04/12/08, 12:37 PM

Hi! Welcome!!! ^_^

I think that if you buy a goat that you know was handled well or "bottle fed" as a baby, you shouldn't have a problem with them as an adult. Just ask about that as you are looking to buy. Those kinds of goats are generally nice and good natured to everyone from what I've seen, and I haven't had a problem with anything that I've gotten from a good breeder! They are all sweethearts!

Good luck in finding your goats!

Cricket

CountryHaven · #3 04/12/08, 12:57 PM

Ditto what Cricket said. If you go to a place to buy a goat and they're running away from everyone and hard to catch, that's what you'll get. But if they are generally friendly, not necessarly that they might be shy with strangers, but you'll be able to tell if they are warm with their owners, then you'll not likely have a problem. For the very most part, all dairy animals are well used to being handled. More or less often meat breeds have a tendancy to be more 'wild' in general because they're not handled as much, but even then some of the smaller breeders like myself handle them all the time, eventually they come around. If your desire is not to worry about that, just be sure when you go to buy one it is used to being handled and friendly. You shouldn't have that much problem

As far as your friend's older goat is concerned, depending on how she was when the friend got her, it might be that she hadn't been hanlded enough, or, well, and this kind of seems to contradict what I said above, lol, but not really if you think about it... all goats are individuals. What 'problems' she has could depend on what type they are, if they are just 'personality' driven type of problems like fence jumping, or obsinant behavior, or if they're 'handling' generated problems like she refuses to be caught, etc...

CountryHaven · #4 04/12/08, 12:58 PM

OH, and by the way... WELCOME.

No matter what you decide as far as your new goat is concerned, know that you WILL be hooked. No matter what they do, they have a very endearing way of worming their way into your hearts, and it will NEVER be dull.

perplexed · #5 04/12/08, 02:31 PM

Thanks all. Country Haven, that's what I'm afraid of, GETTING HOOKED!
Have you all ever heard of John Stiles? He walked around the country with his donkeys, goats, chickens, and wagon for years. Well, he has settled nearby and always has milkers and kids each year. He leaves the horns on, let's them roam an his 20 acres, and is a very good goat guy. He has alpines which seems like a good breed for around here (8,100 feet). I've looked into NDG, mini-La Manchas, Nubians and they don't seem like the best breeds for up here in the mountains.

I am sure I will be here a lot in the future if all goes well, meaning if we get them.
We're building a shelter out of free pallets and mill ends and got the fencing in trade. We may need a bit of electric though because this is bear country although the people up the mountain from us have more of a problem than we do.

Alice In TX/MO · #6 04/12/08, 02:47 PM

Our LaMancha is dam raising her twins. One is stand-offish. The other crawls in your lap every time you sit down in the goat yard.

I think it's an individual thing.

Chinook · #7 04/12/08, 03:28 PM

My doe was perfectly fine when we bought her and she was 2 years old. We bought both her and her nursing baby. The first night we hadn't finished building our milk stand yet so we had to milk her sitting on the ground. She was a perfect angel. She's so sweet. I agree that it depends on the goat's personality and how they were handled previously.

Tsadiyq · #8 05/12/08, 03:30 PM

Perplexed, John Stiles let his goats roam around on his 20 acres - is it fenced? I'm just curious. I am hearing that fences is a MUST if we want goats so just seeing if it is true.

Alice In TX/MO · #9 05/12/08, 05:53 PM

The traveling goat man that most of us know about has a different name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ches_McCartney

gerald77 · #10 05/12/08, 05:59 PM

my first milker is 5 and tested me something fierce when i brought her home. i visited her in her home environment before i brought her home and and she was fine for them. she's been here a few weeks and is now much friendlier. i also think it depends on the goat. ginger is a very nice girl, once she settled in.

**mygoat** · #11 05/12/08, 08:46 PM

Welcome!

Personally, I'll never own a dairy doe not raised on cae prevention - IE, bottle raised. They're friendlier and disease free. Easier to train to be your friend, to trust you, to allow you to milk them.

Mainly, I've found that playing with and 'pretending' to milk the udder starting 2 weeks before kidding while the does eat their daily ration helps them get used to the entire procedure. My does get grain starting 2 weeks before their duedate and on through lactation. My FF are getting their grain now and are doing just fine with me handling, brushing, shaving, and messing with their belly/udders, as well as pretending to milk. By the time the first milking rolls around, they should be pros.

Right now they're still working out the 'ways of the mikroom', like come to your name, come in the milkroom, jump on the stand, eat your food while I pretend to milk, get down (that's a tuffy, believe it or not! lol) go out the door, next in line!

cathleenc · #12 05/12/08, 09:29 PM

I bought older milking does - and selected them because they had been milked by human kids. Turns out that the human kids were rather rough on the goats and the goats were not so keen on humans for awhile. Took the younger doe a full 6 months to turn around - and even now, she is extremely reluctant to accept affection. But she is starting to look for it and give it, a huge change from the beginning. The older doe started being a love within 2 weeks.

so - imo - it all depends.

Goat Servant · #13 05/13/08, 12:01 AM

My first dairy goat was a real pain to milk..she had to be hobbled and screamed like she was tortured.
I now have one Xbottle baby Nubian who usually behaves on the milk stand.
The Boers were a little wild at first....one took almost a yr before she would come to me on her own for neck skritches. All their babies are pretty friendly and dam raised.
Just this yr one Momma while holding her babies kept sniffing my face & rubbing it, she still does it and her babes are 2 months old.
I do spend quite a bit of time out there...when I need a break I stop and play with the babies and talk & pet the moms.