Hopefully getting goats agian.

[tailwagging]

Sometime back I placed my little bottle baby and the adult goat. I never want another bottle baby! That kid wouldn't stop calling for me to be right there right NOW! Starting at 4:30 AM and all day! After 6 months I am sure the neighbors would have LOVED to try goat stew! lol

We just sold the bigger bull we got to bred our cow (now dry after 9 months of milking) yesterday. SOOOOO glad we did!!!! DH never understood how dangerous he could be. no matter how many times I would tell him. (hubby is more reactive then a preventive type of person) until when trying to load him up he jumped the cattle panel back in to the main lot. Showing my hubby that he could have been out running the neighborhood if he had wanted too.
I don't need that!!!!!
My little 32 inch bull can't come over the pails but hasn't been able to breed my 42 inch cow (not sure if it is size dif or if he is just too young) at any rate. I am thinking about getting out of my beloved cattle and back into goats. I love goats, just love cattle a tiny bit more but only a tiny bit. I can happily live with goats only =)

We only got 2 quarts of milk from my cow at her highest and more often only about 1 1/4 quart and that was fine. She was also raising her calf.

So now we are going back and forth about what breed of goat to get.

I love NDs, their size makes them easier to move and they can ride to the vet,to met a buck or shows in the car if the truck goes down. but I think I would have to redo our lots (they are cattle panel. 1 lot combo the other reg) and I am afraid that I might get hooked on goat showing.(like I NEED to show more types of animals) we also like goat meat.

I like the look of Toggs and we are very close to the Sandburg house so could get a buckling maybe a doeling at their next action..... but I am worried about the taste of their milk.
There are 3 goat dairies close as well, I might be able to get a cull from one of them. Since I don't need much milk.

I like nubians spots but I really don't care for the look of show nubians faces. If there was a market for Kinder I might try breeding some but there doesn't seem like there is around here.

A good friend may be getting out of goats and has some Nubian boar cross I am considering. They would be close to free for me and I know who and how they were cared for and come with their own LGD. Does anyone have knowledge on weather they milk ok (I need only a quart or so a day) also is anyone trying to develope a dual breed with this cross? (ummmm maybe I'll start one) I couldn't show them but that might be a good thing! and could eat them. yyuummm.

What do you think??????

[delphinium]

Nigerians does are quiet and easy to take care of. But, they have tiny little teats; something you should consider for milking.

[thaiblue12]

LOL I just recently sold my 2 bottle baby brothers, they were cute and sweet but every morning at around 7 am they would come screaming around the corner looking for their bottles and again at 3:30 pm. I do not miss that at all.
I have a Boer Nubian and she has large teats and has a good quanity of milk. It sounds like a very good deal since you know her and that she raised her goats healthy and a bonus protector is good too
They only thing I would be curious about is their age, if they are getting up in their in age it might not be worth it. Does a buck come with the package or must you find one?
I use cattle panels and they work great on the goats. Only they tiny ND babies I have can get out. You can use chicken wire on the outside of the panels to keep any tiny kids in. If you use it on the inside they will smash it down and make it useless, ask me how I know lol.

[tailwagging]

THANK YOU both!

delphinium
I have seen ND teats and yes that is an concern, thanks for bring it up!

thaiblue12
I am not sure how old the oldest does are. No, no buck. Kinda of a good yet bad thing LOL. Thank you for the info on putting up chicken wire!!!!!! I HATE to do things wrong and finding out the hard and expensive way!!! How high must the chicken wire be??
I might be getting the LGD either way.

[thaiblue12]

Well if it is just to keep babies in then 2 feet high, pulled tight. They squeeze out from the bottom area, they do not go up and out.
If it is to keep horned goats from getting their heads stuck in they you want to go higher or put tennis balls on their horns. Cattle panels are great since they cannot climb it or squish it down. They can keep in the most determined buck.
Now if you do get a goat head stuck in them, I have had one horned and one non-horned get stuck, a good pair of bolt cutters does the job. I cut one end pulled up got them out and then pushed it back into place. It does not ruin the entire panel.

[fellini123]

Just to remind you, afghans dont make very good LGDs!!! LOL

Ok ok Just kidding........well not kidding but you get the idea. Want some pygmies??

Alice in Virginia

[tailwagging]

Originally Posted by fellini123

Just to remind you, afghans dont make very good LGDs!!! LOL

Ok ok Just kidding........well not kidding but you get the idea. Want some pygmies??

Alice in Virginia

Unfortunately I will not be able to take on the high pray drive of the Afghan It was a VERY hard decision believe me! I just have to put my little ones first. (if only I lived in a perfect world!!!!!!!!!!!!)


I have done pygmies before and like them but............ thanks anyways
Then again if I make Kinders I'll need a pygmy buck hummmmmm. how much milk would a good pygmy give? Anyone eat pygmies?

My friend backed out on getting out of her goats so back to square one.

[Freeholder]

If you were going to make your own Kinders, you would only need a pygmy buck, to go with Nubian does. But get the best ones you can find, because your Kinders will only be as good as their parents. Pygmies ARE a meat goat, although mostly kept for pets in this country; Kinders are an excellent small meat goat.

If I was you, I'd talk to your friend about getting a couple of kids from her in the spring plus maybe an adult doe to milk if she can spare one. If you want meat, don't need huge amounts of milk, and want really good milk, those Boer crosses will probably do the trick. An advantage is that from what I've seen, Boer crosses are pretty placid and quiet (although mine are crossed with Oberhasli, not Nubian -- Oberhasli's are quieter than Nubians). The 3/8 Boer doe that I started with gave milk that was as rich as the milk from the Kinders that I was milking when i got her. This was not a good thing in our case, because I was hoping for less-rich milk for my grandmother, but it was a good thing to know that Boers and their crosses have very high-butterfat milk.

Just look for does with decent teats for hand-milking, or kids from such does.

Kathleen

[tailwagging]

I agree the best I can afford to get.
Would the best way to get it going be get two reg nub does and try and get buck service. keep the kids and breed 1/2 sibling to 1/2. or buy two reg bucks (thou a bit pricey I would think)
Try and lease the bucks?
Is it hard to get a goat breeder to let you cross breed? Do they look down on mixing the goat breeds?
I can get non-reg all day long but to get good reg goats to cross may be a bit harder.

[LittleRedHen]

a lady told me of a friend who had a Nubian buck.. When his girls were in heat he totally bent up a horse panel trying to get out. If it was me, i'd just use a stud buck and not own one of them LOL. I have a full sized Nubian doe and she is nearly too much for me to handle at times. I have a mini alpine buck for my girls and i find mini goats to be so much easier. In fact, im switching over to producing mini nubians so i will have a dwarf buck. Those little guys wont do the damage the big nubians do :P