all right, gonna poll the masses, what do you think...

[Suzyq2u]

These are the girls we're looking at..
ad reads:
We have 3 bred milk goats. All the goats are Nubians. One of the white does had single babies on two occasions. The other two goats each had one set of twins. The does are all approximately 3 years old. The babies were recently weaned. The does have been exposed to our registered ABGA 100% Boer Buck for 3 months. They are all probably bred; he got the job done last time. The last set of babies was out of him and turned out great. We are selling of these does because we are making room.






I spoke to the owner, they've never been tested... *sigh*
When we test, if they test + we wouldn't be out much and don't have a herd at the moment to worry about contaminating.

Thoughts?

[nehimama]

"They don't test." And they're smack upside Boers, which have a higher incidence of CAE. I'd pass.

[mygoat]

Not just CAE - CL, Johne's also runs rampant through boer herds, most meat herds 'don't care' because they are terminal - not that I agree with that mentality.

Those does are not pure nubians. The ones with colored heads are boer crosses for sure. The white one(s) are not likely purebred, or at least have very poor breed character/dairy character. Those ears are almost airplane, and both nubians and boers have long pendulous ears that should extend at least 1" past the nose. I would bet nubian/boer/saanen. Saanen because of the color and ears - you rarely see SOLID white nubians, though I know it is possible. If you're going dairy, I'd try to avoid the boer crosses because of length of lactation and also poor udder/teat structure, at least compared to dairies.

If you test, test before you bring them home as a pre-lim. I'd also still isolate them from where you plan on keeping your goats if you DO bring them home, keep iso'ed for 3 months at least, and retest. Sometimes all it takes is a stressed goat to convert from negative to positive, due to it's immune system being weakened.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I'd pass on those ...... quickly.

[Suzyq2u]

well darn : / That's what I was afraid I'd hear...I'll talk it over with DH again.

[coso]

Pass !!!

[LoneStrChic23]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

I'd pass on those ...... quickly.

Agree!

[Suzyq2u]

Yup, looks like we're going to pass. Will have to be more patient for the 'right' ones....

[madness]

Good for you for not jumping on the first ones. We almost did that with goats and fortunately held out for the right ones. We DID jump on the first sheep. And paid the price with unhealthy animals. Lesson learned!

[TroutRiver]

Originally Posted by madness

Good for you for not jumping on the first ones. We almost did that with goats and fortunately held out for the right ones. We DID jump on the first sheep. And paid the price with unhealthy animals. Lesson learned!

Agree! I jumped on the first dairy goats for sale in my town that I found from a really nice lady who was a friend of a friend. I didn't ask very many questions, just trusted that she was a good person. We bought 2 nubian does from her - one was dead within a week and the other is still having chronic health problems a year later. It pays to take your time and look at a few different farms/sellers before you make a decision!!

[Suzyq2u]

Yeah, it's just so frustrating. I don't want to pay out the rear for them (just for a family milker or 3) but am having trouble finding a nice medium ground here. Either they're inexpensive...likely for a reason... or $600 per doe. I know I have to put some money in to get a good starting stock, but just seems at this rate we'll never get going! WAH!

I will be patient, I will be patient...

[southerngurl]

Yea, I would pass unless you are prepared to have a quarantine area to watch for CL, because if they have CL it should pop up from the stress of the move. If they were clean they wouldd probalby be good. Look like they have saanen in them so would probably milk well.

It does take a LOT of work, and LOT of time and a LOT of money to raise nice, healthy goats, so yea, they can be pricey. Look at the price of cattle now!

I am SO SO SO glad I didn't buy the first goats we looked at. The herd had CAE and CL. They were bred, registered does for $100 each. No wonder! I didn't know much at all about them, and it was hard for me to turn them down but it was a good thing!

[Lizza]

Originally Posted by Suzyq2u

Yeah, it's just so frustrating. I don't want to pay out the rear for them (just for a family milker or 3) but am having trouble finding a nice medium ground here. Either they're inexpensive...likely for a reason... or $600 per doe. I know I have to put some money in to get a good starting stock, but just seems at this rate we'll never get going! WAH!

I will be patient, I will be patient...

Do you have anyone to ask to help you find good goats? We get contacted throughout the year from referrals and pretty much always have a waiting list (for kids). I call from our waiting list when we sell. Maybe someone you know has had good experiences from a breeder?

If you are looking for a family milker don't worry about champion lines ($600 per doe ones), ask about ease of milking. I love our champions but personally, I like our family milkers better (my oldest raises the show herd mostly).

Don't worry you'll find some good ones out there! You are asking really great questions and thank goodness you passed on those!

[freedomfrom4]

And if you want a goat to milk, get one that has been milked. I have had one that was a breeze that was never milked before, but most of the time I want to butcher the FF's. The size of the teats is important and the size of the hole the milk comes out.

[ne prairiemama]

I'm glad you are passing. They don't look all nubian to me at all and without testing I woulnd't do it.

If you ever get up here around Southern Nebraska we have a small herd of nubian dairy goats that are registered and all are from Nubilop Acres, from a tested adn very safe clean herd. Nice goats. We have 2 does that will be kidding late July/early August. They are registered ( Nubilop Acres Little lady and Razberry Blossom) Raz is show quality and LLady is a milker but still a very nice doe. They were both bread to Remuda RWO Apache warrior. All that to say, maybe we'd be able to help you get started with a nice goat for a reasonable price in the future.

ETA: We also have 2 other milkers, All that Jazz and Piper Roze that will be bred this fall for spring kids.

[CaliannG]

SuzyQ, are you trying to find does in milk, bred does that will be in milk in a few months, or what? ~smiles~ Texas is not far from Oklahoma, and if I know what you actually want... well, if all of us knew what you actually wanted, we could be on the lookout for you.

Are your goaty facilities ready to take goats at the drop of a hat? What breed(s) are you the most interested in? What IS your actual budget?

I mean, we will HAPPILY be enablers if we have more information.

[julieq]

I'd pass too. You will have to pay more, but purchase from a tested, clean herd and you'll never be sorry. We had to go all the way to Texas for both standard and ND breeding stock with the bloodlines we wanted, that was tested and clean. We've never been sorry.

[Suzyq2u]

I'm glad we did.
Honestly we would probably be better waiting a few months...
We have the shed for them but its in a nice neat stack in the driveway, where the lumber company dropped it off, lol. It could be up in a day though if we wanted it to quickly enough. Goat area fence is about 50% done; have all the supplies - just lack motivation in the heat, but have a 1700 sqft fenced area where the chickens are if something was 'dropped in our lap' while we put a rush order on finishing the other.

We're looking at ND's and nubians. Goals? Milk and other dairy products for our family, meat would be okay too.
Way off in left field goals? To one day, perhaps; be able to breed mini nubians.
We have a lot of reading/learning to do in that dept yet, want to keep 'em alive first

Interestingly enough, yesterday I came across someone almost in my backyard who seems to responsibly breed nubians. I'm interested to go look at her stock. I think she'll be a great wealth of information.
We've only been in the house for 6mo, but we've been working on our 'dream' for so long in our head, I guess it just seems like it's been so much longer. We were overseas the last 3 yrs so we feel like all we've done is wait, lol. Really, it's not been very long at all, and up until yesterday I didn't 'know' anyone here with similar interests. There's my sob story, lol. So, yes, we'll be more patient. Thanks everyone

[CaliannG]

Well, Nubians are rather common down here, as are Nigerians. Lessee, known, quality herds I have seen first hand within a state from you:

thaiblue is in Colorado and breeds LOVELY Nigerians. You might consider PMing her and seeing what she has. She is reasonably priced, has a great herd, and might actually HAVE some 1st or 2nd Gen Mini Nubians (Or maybe not, I think she is going to Mini Lamanchas) Her NDs are gorgeous with good udders.

For Nubians, you will never go wrong with Vicki McGaugh at Lonesome Doe Nubians. You will spend $400 for one of her doelings, but you will get excellent bloodlines, excellent udders and a squeaky clean bill of health. Even if she doesn't have anything available, you should call her, because she will know who DOES have goats available, and their herd health status.

Susie is not far from you, at Ages Ago Acres, and she has some lovely stock.

~grinz~ You really need to network. Even if folks don't have stuff for sale RIGHT NOW, they might know someone who does. As in "Well, right now, I don't have anything. But the lady that I carpool with is getting out of goats because her kids went off to college. She has some great bloodlines and tested religiously. I know, as I have been over there three times a year to trim hooves for her. Want her contact info?"

If you can do a road trip, Jobi Dairy might have some NDs she is willing to part with.

[ozark_jewels]

While I would soooo pass on those does if you are wanting Nubians(those does are Boer crosses, all), I wouldn't write them off as being diseased just because they don't test. When I bought my Boer does years ago, none of the herds tested. Yet when I tested them, they were all negative for CAE, and no one had CL.
CAE is not in Boers more than dairy goats. One big reason is that each doe raises her own kids and no milk pooling and bottling is ever done. If there was a positive doe in a negative Boer herd, she would only ever infect her own offspring.
As opposed to many dairy goat owners that do not test, yet want the milk for themselves, so they pull the kids, milk the does, pool the raw milk and feed it to all the kids. In this situation one doe can effect every kid on the place.