Need help rationalizing to husband

mahnah · #1 12/06/12, 09:19 PM

Went to check out the Nubians 2 3 year old does and 4 1 year old wethers. We were looking to get 2. The owner really want them to go together they are tested wormed and very sweet. Husband says why would we want 6 pets need good reasons to take them all.

harvestmoonfarm · #2 12/06/12, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mahnah

Went to check out the Nubians 2 3 year old does and 4 1 year old wethers. We were looking to get 2. The owner really want them to go together they are tested wormed and very sweet. Husband says why would we want 6 pets need good reasons to take them all.

Does for milk, wethers for the freezer

Frosted Mini's · #3 12/06/12, 09:40 PM

Agree with above or take the wethers to the sale or sell them privately.

**mygoat** · #4 12/06/12, 09:40 PM

4 wethers are pretty much good for meat. They would be taking up the space, feed, time, and MONEY that you could be better spending elsewhere - like on productive bucks/does. Keep numbers of wethers to an absolute MINIMUM - you don't really need 4 of them.

I *ALWAYS* suggest having 1-2 wethers, though, because while they're not productive, they are invalueable when it comes to buck companions, companions to new animals, or to isolate with sick animals. They are expendible - if you have a purchased animal in isolation, put a wether with it for company. Then if the animal in isolation (all incoming stock should always be isolated for at LEAST a month - I do 3 months) comes back positive for disease or gets sick, you've only exposed an expendable wether, not your entire doe herd or other valueable animal. If you have a doe get sick, put an expendable wether in with her in isolation - if she ends up having some sort of communicable disease, hopefully the only exposure is to an expendable wether.

I think pygmies make the best wethers. They're extremely easy keepers, require less space/feed than full size wethers, and make great pets.

That being said, I have a 240+ lb alpine wether who is almost completely worthless.

thaiblue12 · #5 12/06/12, 09:57 PM

Oh this is easy, I have done it lots of times

But I have to have 3 in case something happens to one. If I only have two and something happens then I am going to have to run out and buy a new goat and the lonely will scream till I do and you won't get any sleep.

No I have always had 9 goats.

No that is not a new goat, she had frost bite and her ears fell off, I have always had that goat. ( in reality I got a La Mancha lol)

But we have lots of tall weeds and 9 goats are just not keeping up, so yes I have to have that herd of 12 Nigerians. Do you want me to have yet another accident with the field and trimmer mower???

But they are a herd you can't separate them.

We can get the set of them now and decide who we will and won't keep later on. Then we can sell two of the boys and get some of our money back.

Dusky Beauty · #6 12/06/12, 10:19 PM

Thaiblue..your post is HILARIOUS when you add your sig into it! HAHAHAHAH!

... well maybe I'm just weird!!

notbutanapron · #7 12/06/12, 10:35 PM

Do what I do. Don't even ask the husband, just come home with new goats.

mahnah · #8 12/07/12, 05:29 AM

Love these. I was thinking we needed one for when we get a buck he needs a friend, and need one for isolation needs was having a hard time with the other two. Think I will tell him we can sort out meat later. The owner was adamant she didnt want them slaughtered.She wants them to go to a good home.

Backfourty,MI. · #9 12/07/12, 05:42 AM

Take all of them, decide which 2 wethers you like the best & are most friendly to you & hubby after a few weeks & then butcher the other 2 or find them a good home & sell them as a pair.

You could always wait until spring if you have babies coming & sell a wether along with a doeling for companion for those folks not wanting to get 2 does'.
2 more wethers aren't going to eat that much more, not enough to really notice & they'll be more to snuggle together to stay warm through the winter.

mahnah · #10 12/07/12, 05:45 AM

the girls arent pregnant

so no babies or milk in the spring. I have to figure out how to get them bred thinking it is a bit late now and I dont have a buck lined up at this point.

Backfourty,MI. · #11 12/07/12, 05:47 AM

Not too late to breed them if you can find a quality buck or know someone that has one.

mahnah · #12 12/07/12, 05:48 AM

I dont know anyone and dont have one yet. Will need to find one.

Alice In TX/MO · #13 12/07/12, 08:18 AM

After they are purchased, the sellerhas no say about whether the weathers go to freezer camp. In this economic environment, excess goats are a liability.

AuntKitty · #14 12/07/12, 08:28 AM

I keep 6 Nubians as my core herd: 1 buck, 3 does and 2 BIG wethers. One of the wethers is horned and he is the herd protector. The other wether is a love bug. He is kept to be a heater in winter, kid babysitter, herd defender (he is big enough to be very intimidating to someone who doesn't know he is really a marshmallow) and if necessary coyote bait. I have seen the buck and 2 wethers put themselves between the does/kids and my neighbor's dog so I know they can at least buy some time if there is ever a dog/coyote attack or the Florida panther who passes through here every 18 months or so decides he has a taste for some goat instead of venison. When my buck gets too "rutty" and is chasing the does too much, the wethers will pin him against the outside barn wall and hold him there until he calms down - just like an intervention. Some day I will get that on video and be famous

So, you can never have too many wethers in my opinion even though mine have the biggest appetites in this small herd.

Kitty

andabigmac · #15 12/07/12, 08:39 AM

Do you garden? Think of all of the lovely compost 4 wethers would provide! At least until spring that is. Then you can sell them or eat them or whatever.

Shayanna · #16 12/07/12, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notbutanapron

Do what I do. Don't even ask the husband, just come home with new goats.

Text messaging. You can always ignore the message back. "Picking up goats. Be home soon. Love ya."
By the time you get home, its not worth the gas to bring them back.

mahnah · #17 12/07/12, 09:34 AM

I am loving the reasons here

He has resigned himself to the fact that we will take them all

Putting up larger structure and increasing fencing tomorrow letting them know Sun night that we will take them all so hopefully sometime next week they will be home and I will post pictures

KrisD · #18 12/07/12, 09:36 AM

Here is how it happened at my house:

(Me) Honey I think I want to get a goat again. I miss having them a lot. There is this adorable Oberhasli baby about an hour away I'm going to check out.
(Greg) ok I guess 1 goat won't be too bad.
I came home with 2.
(Greg) I thought you were getting just one?
(Me) well I didn't want her to be sad and lonely so I bought a Saanen to go with her. And think about all the milk I will get with a Saanen here

6 months later he comes home from work and there is another Oberhasli doe here.
(Me) well I just went to look but she was in pretty sad conditions and I just couldn't leave her. Besides if anything happens to either of the the other two the other won't be lonely.

6 months ago he comes home from deployment on leave looks in the back yard and looks at Macy my Nigerian.
(Greg) weird that that little black and white goat came out of these guys. (Um Macy is a black and white NIGERIAN!) after a few days he realizes that something is wrong, I am milking the Nigerian and my other does kids are only 5 months old...

(Me) well with my health issues I felt the smaller breeds would be better for me to handle.
(Greg) well then why do we still have the other ones?
(Me) because their my babies I can't just get rid of them.

He is happy now that the boys went to freezer camp and we "only" have 4 now. I haven't told him yet that I plan on getting another Nigerian from Wags

he'll think it's Macy's baby anyway.
After 8 years you would think he would just stop asking wouldn't you? It wasn't as bad as when he came home from work to find a calf in our yard. He drives up to find me laying in the field snuggling with a my little Jersey calf. I said "I'm raising him to put him in the freezer". My husband laughs and says "I think you now have a 2000# pet". I used to take "Stewie" for a walk everyday like he was my dog. He loved me and I loved him. When he finally was big enough to butcher I looked at my husband and said "well I can't eat him now, all that walking and hiking we did together would make him as tough as shoe leather".
Stewie went to live with a friend as a buddy for her goats when we moved. My husband said he wasn't paying to move Stewie across the state when we moved. He said if I could ride him across the state I could keep him. If I didn't have an infant at the time I probably would have tried.
BTW my dog brings home other dogs as well. Several times we've come home to find another dog in our house that Roxy has brought through the dog door. My husband just shakes his head and laughs.

I do butcher or sell all my extra wethers though. I don't want to feed anything that can't offset their food bill some way.
BTW Nubians are year round breeders so it's. not too late to breed the does. I know I'm an enabler...

thaiblue12 · #19 12/07/12, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notbutanapron

Do what I do. Don't even ask the husband, just come home with new goats.

That is what eventually happened here. He gave up coming home and seeing new goats and asking about them. I do all the care anyway and I pay for them out of my own money so

on asking. He was very surprised to find two alpacas one day when he walked out to visit the goats, lol.

Yay for getting them all and having a reasonable hubby

You really can sell two boys later on, or eat them. I would like my boys to always go to a good home, and I have an don't ask don't tell policy about eating them. I sell them to you they are yours to keep, eat or sell. So if eating is eventually your plan, do not tell her. Take good care of them, give them a good life and dispatch them quick when the time comes.

yarrow · #20 12/07/12, 11:30 AM

what do I tell my husband??? most of the time it's usually ME telling Him.. "NO.. we are NOT keeping them all !!! ... Yes, that's a nice looking doe, but I don't NEED another doe... NO.. Eddie, I have no desire for a new herd sire"... (He's a trucker and I think, the herd has become his way of handling the *gone too much guilts*... He thinks I need twice as many as I have, that I should NEVER sell ANY kid.. that I MIGHT wish I would have kept later...any birthday, christmas, halloween, flag day... in his eyes are a good day to give me money for a new goat or goat related gift... LOL... We've been married 20 years, I'm twice as fat as I was when we met.. and he loves me twice as much.. I know I'm very blessed...
(((HOWEVER>.. I know my & my land's limits and stay within those limits)))

susie, mo ozarks