question about Saanens

[Ellie Mae]

I have looked in our area for Saanen doe's and am having a difficult time finding any available in our area. A buddy has two doe's that he was told are full Saanen's and are around 6-7 months old.
He bought them from an elderly man who had bought them at an auction...
They appear to need copper (badly), and one has a patchy area that was from the sticky tag at auction.
I understand folks feelings towards sale barn goats, but unless someone has a doe or yearling available or a Nubian/ snubian in milk, I may go ahead and get them.
Our buddy has had them penned off to themselves for a couple of weeks and they have shown no health issues other than being on the thin side.

I don't know how to post pics here, but if anyone has Saanens that would allow me to send the pics to them for an opinion, I would appreciate it.

thanks!

[Hollowdweller]

There's quite a few saanen breeders in TN if you are in north ms that's not so far right??

http://foxtrotfarm.homestead.com/

http://glastonburyfarm.blogspot.com/

[Ellie Mae]

thanks HD,

I had checked out the website of Foxtrot, but $400-600 for a goat is out of my budget...
guess I should have qualified it when I posted I was having a hard time finding them...in my price range, lol

am looking for a decent family milk doe, doesn't have to be from show lines or top of the line producers with the high dollar prices...
just a good doe who will provide us with milk and a few babies to breed while we provide a safe and loving home for her.

average price for a doe in milk in this area is around $250.
I had one Nubian in milk lined up to buy,(I thought!!) but he sold her yesterday to a lady who showed up, around the same time I sold one of my milkers.
I am down to only two does in milk now until January when five will freshen again, but am/was in major cheese making mode at the moment.

[LoneStrChic23]

Considering time, effort & feed cost, $250 for a healthy doe in milk is pretty darn fair.

I personally would rather wait & save up than buy a cheap goat with unknown issues.....and no way on earth would I bring home a sale barn goat, but that's just me. They could have who knows what, even if they appear healthy on the outside. My "cheap" fixer upper doe has by far been my most expensive goat in all the deworming, multiple fecal test, feed, boluses, Bo-Se & months of hoof correction work I put into her. I do adore her, but in the end my bank account hated it.....

[chewie]

this is tough without seeing them. sometimes you can get a good goat in ways like this--I never wanted saanens. but, when I talked to a friend cuz i needed another doe, she gave me this fella's number who raises them. ok, maybe one wont' hurt, we'll see what he has. I wound up getting 2 and the one is really good. come from super lines but I paid $150 each for them bred, they kidded a few weeks later.

last month I sold a really good snubian AND a ober/saanen doeling for $200. I gave em away almost but I was getting overwhelmed with chores and feedbills. and they went to a good home, so eh.

if they look healthy they could still have something. test em where they're at before putting them into your permanate pens.

[wintrrwolf]

Had a Saanen she was a good ole goat. You should post a pic, in fact when you talk goat pics are required hmmmm

[saanengirl]

There is a commercial dairy in South Georgia that is going out of business and selling their commercial herd. Does are $250 each. They have a lot of goats, including Saanens. They don't have papers on them, and you would have to test them at your cost, but this might be the opportunity to get good milkers relatively inexpensively.

[Creamers]

Please consider - you will be FAR HAPPIER - just saving until you can purchased a few nice does or doelings -

[Ellie Mae]

thanks for the replies and I have listened, lol

We are going to pick up two doe's in milk today, Nubian/Boer crosses.

http://memphis.craigslist.org/grd/2590648569.html

the Nubian doe's are show goats, at the link you can see the dam's, Amberglow and Lacey
http://www.freewebs.com/bestnubians/andmoredoes.htm

they were bred to Boer's (don't know anything about them yet) to get some meaty offspring for the freezer, they sure look good to me compared to what we have been seeing available.

I understand about saving up and normally would, but I recently sold 3 of our doe's in milk and want more milk...now!
my impatience gets the best of me at times.

So, what do you all think of the one's I am going for now?
I am not familar with Nubians or Boers, but have read here that many folks like them alot...going to give it a whirl and see if we do too.

[andabigmac]

I have a Nubian/Boer cross. Her milk is like 1/2 & 1/2. It tastes great too. But on that note she also has extremely short lactations and short teats. She seemed to pick up the Boer traits rather than Nubian in the milking department. She's also a pain to try and milk because she has no patience.
On a good note, she can raise 2 70lb babies in 3 1/2 months on alfalfa and very little grain without losing condition. Her daughter, Pickles, is one of my best milkers. She did not pass on the short teats or short lactations to her.

The girls you're looking at look good to me. They don't look like they have Boer in them. They have cute faces. I would get them and quarantine until you can test.

[Creamers]

As long as they test clean - looks like a good deal. . .they don't look very Boer at all.

[mary,tx]

I bred a couple of my Nubians to Boer one year and was very disappointed with the offspring. They were sweet, mind you, but had very small, hard to milk teats, and they were tree climbers to boot.

I'd recommend you have a good look at the teats before you bring them home.

[mary,tx]

I didn't look at the pics before I replied. They look very nice.

[Creamers]

Teat size can be a big issue, but these girls do look to have teats that are at least of milkable size -

[Hollowdweller]

Like was said you are often better off even if you have to save up for a year or two and get the best you can afford.

It's also important to understand what makes something best and it is not always the price tag.

[Ellie Mae]

Well, we brought the two lovely girls home, they are quite tame although haven't been milked yet and were on the verge of drying up..

until this morning when I milked them..
they pranced and danced alot less than our other girls when first introduced to the concept of getting milked,
Dh didn't even have to hold them down! lol

I got a little over a pint from one and not much of anything from the other, but they are just coming out of their heat cycle and weren't bred back.

Am hoping with a bit of grain and dairy goat feed the one doe will come back into milking well, but am not going to worry alot as they are both FF's and ready to be bred..

both of them have much better teats than my itty bitty Nigie although I had to adjust my milking style for the larger teats. it's amazing what a bit of experience shows us about teats...Our Alpine has large teats, great udder, but her orifices are tight and it takes awhile to milk her out, the new girls on the block have nice size teats and the one milked out really easy compared to our Alpine doe.

Sooo,
any suggestions or cautions on trying to bring them back into full milk mode?
they have mainly been on pasture and browse, but I want to fatten them up also, and know to start slow..

[Hollowdweller]

Milk 3x a day will help.

Also you could try a shot of oxytocin

[Ellie Mae]

I have milked her twice so far today and will do again this evening, hardly any milk at noon. I will pass on the oxy, I hate giving them shots unless absolutely needed and this isn't...
it's a want not a need, but good to know, thanks!