Air shipping goats?

emanuelcs34 · #1 03/16/12, 04:14 PM

Can anyone tell me about shipping baby goats? Can you send bottle babies? I have someone in PA that wants a couple of my bottle babies and I am wondering the best way to get them to her.

chamoisee · #2 03/16/12, 04:27 PM

Call your nearest airport and ask them about the regs, or look online. I think you need to get a certificate of health from your vet, plus the buyer will need to buy a shipping crate, or you buy one and they reimburse you. The rules may have changed since I was last into this sort of thing.

lasergrl · #3 03/16/12, 04:52 PM

Uship may be the way to go. If you can find someone willing to bottle them on the way. I think airlines require 8 weeks old but not 100% sure.

R.Adams · #4 03/16/12, 09:28 PM

The airlines will say 8 weeks but if you wait 8 weeks they'll in most cases be to large to ship. Just tell them their 8 weeks even if their just 2weeks old. You need to put in absorbant padding of some type in their kennel and a little food even if their not eating.

You also want to make sure you ship in the cooler parts of the year as when it gets to warm they will not ship them. Only one airline will take animals in the heat with airconditioned cargo holds and those airplanes only go to certain airports.

You will need a health certificate from a vet less than 30 days old for shipping. They'll weight the kennel and the kids in it. Some airlines will let u put 2 kids in a crate if its large enough which is a good deal if you can do it. Crate has to be large enough for goat to stand up without touching the top. So usually the sooner you can get them shipped in age the cheaper it is as they ship by weight.

LoneStrChic23 · #5 03/16/12, 09:32 PM

I'm looking into flying in kids too..... Must be 8 weeks old, needs a health certificate from a vet to fly. The airline we were looking at (Delta) won't allow shavings/straw in crates, gotta use towels & were looking at only using direct flights so the kid will only be in transit a few hours since the airline employees won't/can't bottle feed them. Crate has to be airline approved.

emanuelcs34 · #6 03/16/12, 09:44 PM

Do you contact the airlines directly? I am not even sure how to go about this.

chamoisee · #7 03/16/12, 09:54 PM

Yes, look at their website or call them.

LoneStrChic23 · #8 03/16/12, 09:55 PM

Yep

Just call, let them know what you're trying to do, and they'll transfer you to the right area.... Just be ready to wait on the phone for a while.

emanuelcs34 · #9 03/16/12, 10:04 PM

Thanks that helps alot. Been trying to figure stuff out all afternoon. Can't find much online or I am looking wrong. will have to start making phone calls.

saanengirl · #10 03/16/12, 10:21 PM

I recommend United/Continental. Delta is much more expensive, and a pain to deal with for shipping goats.

LoneStrChic23 · #11 03/17/12, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saanengirl

I recommend United/Continental. Delta is much more expensive, and a pain to deal with for shipping goats.

No kidding!!! Sadly, if we go with United, we can't get a direct flight to my airport & the kid may have to over night at the airport, so if I make this leap, I have to use Delta

But the price on shipping Delta express with a larger crate was a bit cheaper than normal shipping, which was weird.....

SpiderLegs · #12 03/17/12, 10:36 PM

Watch for the "added" charges for pet category. I was quoted a price and then it doubled. Seems first price was just weight (package), found out they also charge a pet fee and a fee for not flying with said "pet"

dbarjacres · #13 03/19/12, 06:59 PM

I just got two kids from Houston TX to me in WI on 3/8 via American. Very good experience. If they are bottle babies, tell the vet and the airline they are 8 + weeks and ship them younger. Mine were 4 & 5 weeks and in one crate, they totaled 36 lbs. They were sent in a #200 crate and the cost was $206.

Feel free to PM me if you want any info.

JBarGFarmKeeper · #14 03/19/12, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbarjacres

I just got two kids from Houston TX to me in WI on 3/8 via American. Very good experience. If they are bottle babies, tell the vet and the airline they are 8 + weeks and ship them younger. Mine were 4 & 5 weeks and in one crate, they totaled 36 lbs. They were sent in a #200 crate and the cost was $206.

Feel free to PM me if you want any info.

A Lamancha breeder close to us also has nothing BUT good things to say about American. I am having mini-Manchas shipped from the east coast in a month or so and would like all the info I can get...

dbarjacres · #15 03/19/12, 07:25 PM

Here's a PM I just answered with a bit more info....

I shipped two to "divide" the shipping costs (it was another $48 for the crate, $6 for the rug they bought, $30 for health cert and unexpected was needing to have them permanently ID'd and as they were mini manchas and too small for tail tattoos, they got microchipped @$25 each - their vet gave them a discount luckily).

Lots of people ship one at a time. I did that about 4 yrs ago with a just weaned mini mancha - the people wouldn't bottle feed him so he didn't ship till 9 wks old and thus was over the 20 lbs each max to ship two in one crate. He went from NV to WI in winter and did great.

I called the airline a few times as did the seller but there isn't booking ahead with American so they had to take the kids to the airport 2 hrs ahead, then found out the cargo people on the phone were wrong and you do NOT go to the ticket desk like they told us each time we called, but to cargo and by the time cargo desk opened and they got the kids booked they ended up holding the plane 20 minutes to get the kids on. I give them credit for doing that but it shouldn't have happened.

Quote:
Originally Posted by emanuelcs34
Was wondering what you thought of just sending one kid at a time. I have been told not to send only one kid on the plane because they would get too stressed out. and did you make the arrangement to have them fly out or did the seller. I keep getting conflicting info.

.....I checked at my airport when I picked the kids up on possibly shipping one kid back down to the sellers from my stock and found out I can ship in on the 3 airlines they have come in - Delta, American and United, but can only ship out on Delta. So I had them quote me a price on one buckling at approx. 21 lbs in the same crate back down to Houston and was quoted $70 more for less weight.

I have no desire to use United/Continental. I tried shipping in something from the East coast last fall and that's the airline I had to use and OMG, what a freaking nightmare. Every time they call they give you different info. Yes to that airport, no to that same airport, $250, $450, I just said forget it and passed on the goat.

Wolf Flower · #16 03/19/12, 11:29 PM

How long can a bottle kid go without being fed? I imagine that when they are shipped, they are still too young to get by just with hay or grain. Otherwise, it would be pretty easy if the kid was already weaned...just use edible bedding in the crate.

emanuelcs34 · #17 03/20/12, 07:35 AM

Thanks for all your help, it doesn't seem as hard as I was making it now. I did find out I will have to pay 35 for an office visit and 37 for the health certificate, plus the crate. so things are adding up but we should be able to send this baby out in a few weeks.
You guys are wonderful. Thank you

dbarjacres · #18 03/20/12, 01:05 PM

WolfFlower, can't bed the crates, gotta use a rug or towel taped down to the bottom. No loose feed is allowed in the crate.

My kids were at the airport at 4:30 a.m. and I got them at 2:30 p.m. They were used to eating bottles 3x a day, they didn't want the bottle I brought for them so ate finally about 4:00 at home. They did wonderful. That flight had a long delay in Chicago, the later flight that day left TX at 4ish and got into WI at 8ish but that didn't work out for our schedule, so if you have more freedom on when you can take/pick up the goaties you may not have a long trip time at all.