Need input..advice..help..lol.

Sherry in Iowa · #1 10/16/12, 11:54 AM

The 2 Alpine girls will be coming soon..

BUT..the guy also offered me Lucille's son. Think we will breed Peaches to him. BUT..he doesn't think we should breed Lucille to him.

When they come..Lucille will still be being milked. So I don't need her bred right away.

Here's my thinking/dilemma..I just want 2 milk goats..need them bred..

I don't know about Alpine genetics..but some on here have given me reason to believe that these 2 girls aren't bad.

I would HATE to breed them with something that is not going to compliment their genetics. I don't just want to pull out the Boer buck so I can have them bred..know what I mean?

I am tempted to take the Alpine buck..breed Peaches and then sell him. OR trade for an Alpine buck that can breed Lucille when the time comes.

I do not want to raise milk goats..I just want to milk my Peaches and Lucille. But, if someone wants/needs alpine goats..good genetics..then help me figure out what I'm doin'..please

I don't think I want the kids either.

I am so open to thoughts on this.

Thanks!

Alice In TX/MO · #2 10/16/12, 12:00 PM

You will have to breed and raise goats eventually, actually pretty soon. Unless you have a spectacular milker, she will need to be bred this fall, dry off in the cold part of the winter, and kid again in the spring to come back to milk production.

There are SOME milkers that produce longer than ten months after kidding, but they are somewhat rare.

Sherry in Iowa · #3 10/16/12, 12:03 PM

Hi Alice. I guess I need to find an outlet for kids then. I really don't want/need more than 2 milk goats. If these girls are the milkers that they have been told to be..then I hate just breeding them with the Boer buck and selling all the kids as meat kids like we do the Boer goats.

LoneStrChic23 · #4 10/16/12, 12:24 PM

I'd breed both girls to him & sell the kids.

Your girls have awesome genetics with great LA scores & SG behind them. I'd bawl my eyes out to see them bred to a boer, lol

Nothing wrong with breeding a buck to his dam...... Some really nice animals have been produced by line breeding like that. If it works, it's line breeding, if it doesn't, it's inbreeding

Take the buck, use him on both girls, then send all the kids down here to Texas

Sherry in Iowa · #5 10/16/12, 12:28 PM

Hey Lonestar!

He said that the best would be doubled and so would the worst. I sure understand that. But I think he's afraid that the height will be affected. Lucille is on the shorter side he said.

Seriously..I need to know I can get rid of the kids. Yeah, it makes me wince to put anything but an Alpine to her.

Dreamgoat Annie · #6 10/16/12, 01:07 PM

This is just my belief but...

Almost all of my sheep are line- or inbred. It's how you fix type, which is my intention with this breed (Classic Cheviots). They have two common ancestors, both of which were stellar examples of their breed and that apparently didn't carry nasty recessives because I've never had a defective lamb.

I'd do the same if I had a truly outstanding goat. And I do have two inbred goats because Martok jumped over the fence (pre-hot wire along the top) and impregnated his daughter, Jadzia. They're wethers and very, very nice.

If your doe has no glaring flaults, especially any that might be recessives, I wouldn't hesitate to breed her to her son.

**mygoat** · #7 10/16/12, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherry in Iowa

Seriously..I need to know I can get rid of the kids. Yeah, it makes me wince to put anything but an Alpine to her.

... sell them? I don't understand the problem. Post ads here, on craigslist, on hoobly classifieds, local classified ads etc. Registered dairy kids are usually not that hard to get rid of, especially if they're nice. Pull the kids from the dams when born and you can get rid of them at 2 weeks old or less. I sell wethers and unregistered bucklings for 25.00, get 'em asap. Bucks I START at 250.00, same with doelings. I strongly suggest disbudding/tattooing them because they will be easier to sell, and you will be able to ask better prices for the kids.

As for linebreeding - not necessarily everything good or bad 'doubles'. It's still somewhat of a toss-up. I highly doubt anything super bad will come of breeding son-mother. Happens all the time. I'm breeding father-daughter this year.

As for breeding them to a boer - if your buck is registered, the wethers would go to sale and the doelings would be saleable as 50% registered boer crosses. Still marketable IMO.

CaliannG · #8 10/16/12, 01:30 PM

I also see no problem breeding her to her son. Then send the kids to Texas and Crystal and I will arm wrestle over who gets which.

Sherry in Iowa · #9 10/16/12, 01:46 PM

Hi mygoat..see I don't want to tattoo, disbud, etc. I just want 2 milk goats. If there is a market for the babes as soon as they come out..,great. But I have to be practical for me. No tattoos and disbudding for this ole woman. I don't want a ton of money for the kids and yeah..I could throw the kids into the sale barn with the boer kids..but, they would definitely go to meat market..not back to someone's homestead..Kalona has a big market for meat to fill.

Thanks..I really appreciate your input!

Sherry in Iowa · #10 10/16/12, 01:48 PM

CaliannG and Crystal...do ya ever get close to Iowa? Think you girls need to take a long day trip!

CaliannG · #11 10/16/12, 01:54 PM

Hey Crystal, whaddaya say? Day trip to Sherry's in spring for Alpines? We can time it to get them at a week old, so that you can disbud, and I don't.

Sherry, you provide us with the with the names and dates, etc., and Crystal and I will take care of the tattooing, registration, etc.

You don't actually HAVE to be a member of ADGA to register kids, yanno.

JBarGFarmKeeper · #12 10/16/12, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherry in Iowa

Hi mygoat..see I don't want to tattoo, disbud, etc. I just want 2 milk goats. If there is a market for the babes as soon as they come out..,great. But I have to be practical for me. No tattoos and disbudding for this ole woman. I don't want a ton of money for the kids and yeah..I could throw the kids into the sale barn with the boer kids..but, they would definitely go to meat market..not back to someone's homestead..Kalona has a big market for meat to fill.

Thanks..I really appreciate your input!

Sherry, the lady I know in Muscatine would probably disbud and tattoo your kids for $5 each! That's reasonable! I haven't asked her but I will. She had over 30 kids this year, she knows how to do both.

Sherry in Iowa · #13 10/16/12, 01:59 PM

Hey girls...I am more than willing to give ya whatever ya need!! I'm tellin' ya..you two need these babies!

The fella said that Peaches did raise her 2..it was her first freshening. He said Lucille is six and has never raised kids. So you would be doing Lucille and I BOTH a favor by taking them.

CaliannG · #14 10/16/12, 02:49 PM

Hmmm, I am regularly in Atchison, KS, and I have kin there that Crystal and I could stay with. Where in Iowa are you, Sherry? I am now seriously considering this. I have to make a KS trip to Atchison in Spring anyway. It's not much to drag Crystal along to share the driving.

Generally takes me about 12 hours to get from here to Atchison. If Crystal could meet me in Dallas, we could share driving, spend the night in Atchison, next day to Iowa to pick up Alpine kids, back to Atchison for another night, start bright and early the next morning and drive back to Texas, and fall exhausted into our own beds on night three.

Crystal is going to come on later this evening, I am sure, and tell me what she thinks.

Sherry in Iowa · #15 10/16/12, 03:19 PM

Hey..we're in southeast Iowa. Wapello...on hwy 61

Backfourty,MI. · #16 10/16/12, 04:51 PM

I would take the buckling, breed him to both Peaches & Lucille & sell all the kids. Sounds like you may already have buyers with Crystal & Caliann but if not I'd bet it wouldn't be hard to sell your dairy kids in no time at all.
We just got our 1st registered goats this year but have had goats over 6 years & we've never had a problem selling our kids. Granted you get more for them when they are registered, disbudded & tattooed but we never seemed to have a problem finding good homes for our dairy kids.

You know though when this time of year rolls around again though your going to be in the same spot & need a buck to breed your girls again so you can have milk again.
I would keep the buck, get him a wethered buddy to stay with him & if you had 3 does' to breed you could breed 2 at 1 time of year & breed the 3rd at the other time. That way you could have milk year around & your buck would be working twice a year instead of just at 1 time a year so that kinda justifies having him.

LoneStrChic23 · #17 10/16/12, 05:16 PM

LOL Caliann, I'm game for driving! Would just need to make sure it won't be when I have a doe about to kid as I won't leave them alone

Sherry, what I do with kids I don't want is advertise on CL BEFORE they are born. I get a waiting list of folks who want bottle babies & then when the kids are born (literally right after they are dry) I start calling down the list, first ones here with cash gets them.

I make sure kids get their colostrum, are going to the bathroom properly & I send a bottle, care instructions & registration application so they can pay to register them if they want papers. These are my cheap kids, usually go for $100 each & the cheap price is only good until they are a week old. I do disbud most of them, simply because I have an iron, but some folks have wanted horns, so those I didn't do. You could just let folks know that you don't have an iron & don't want to mess with it, so they need to have it done before 8 days old if they don't want horns.

I never have enough of these "soaking wet bottle babies" to meet demand. They help cover the feed bill, and pay for my meds I need for the year.....

Sherry in Iowa · #18 10/16/12, 05:34 PM

Hey Lonestar..that's a great plan for the second time around..I've never used CL..but there's always a first time for everything..it would be handy just to pick up the phone and say "your kid is ready"!

Hey girls..as an added incentive..I could bake something chocolate for the ride home!

Sherry in Iowa · #19 10/16/12, 05:36 PM

Hey Backforty..hubby and I were talking about keeping him for a year or so. With Lonestar's suggestion..I might just make this work. It's definitely not so simple as to just say "I want a milk goat"..it does entail a male breeding partner and then ..oh my..kids.

Sherry in Iowa · #20 10/16/12, 05:38 PM

Gena..that is great info to know. I just cannot do the disbudding thing..Thanks a heap!