What breeds do well in northeat Texas?

[writer_gardener]

What goat breeds do well in northeat Texas? I'm told by the TX A&M goat specialist some goats are more prone to parasites because of the humidity.

Are there goats, both meat and milk, that do well in humid condition, particularly NE Texas?

Thanks.

[Alice In TX/MO]

They all will prosper with good management.

[writer_gardener]

Thanks for your comment. However, it's kind of broad. Do you consider monthly vaccines good management? every three months, none? What about forage mgt., are you a Holistic grass grower and all goats are range-fed?

Any details are much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Alice In TX/MO]

NOBODY does monthly vaccines. There are no diseases that call for monthly vaccines.

I highly recommend that you spend some time reading about goats.... meat goats, dairy goats, brush goats.

Here's a website with info on meat goat husbandry:
http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/ar...iclesMain.html

This website is the index on info on dairy goats:
http://fiascofarm.com/goats/getting-your-goat.htm

In east Texas, if you have forest, forage management consists of fencing the forest and turning your goats into the fenced area. (Be sure to provide water and shelter) Cross fencing so that browse areas can be rotated is excellent management.

[ani's ark]

Originally Posted by writer_gardener

Do you consider monthly vaccines good management? every three months, none?

Did you mean de-worming? All goats need worm treatment, but it's best to get fecal egg counts done by vets/labs to get the right wormer and dosage. I aim for 'pseudo organic' in everything on my homestead, but every animal here gets chemical de-wormers because I care for them and heavy worm burdens can cause unthrifty or dead animals. Goats are especially susceptible, and worms make them weaker and more likely to die from other causes as well. And if you yourself have ever had roundworms or hookworm you wont want to repeat the experience!

I live in Far North of NZ and it gets very humid here, my Saanens (Swiss mountain breed) do just fine. If you get healthy goats from a reputable breeder then provide good forage, hay, grain, baking soda and minerals as needed, regular de-worming and hoof trims you should have no problems. There are some great resources out there - books and websites like this.

Do you have goats? What type? Pics please!

[LoneStrChic23]

Parasite hardiness starts with kids. Raise them on coccidia prevention and proper deworming, do not allow them to be stunted or burdened with parasite loads...... Do not let coccidia ravage them and scar up their intestines.....Every 3 weeks my kids get a round of coccidia prevention. Every month they are dewormed. I provide high quality minerals, I feed well and I do not wean early.

When I deworm, I use the proper meds for parasites common to my area.... Typically Valbazen as my "white" wormer (for intestinal buggies like tapes) & Moxidectin as my "clear" dewormer for blood suckers like HC (comes as Cydectin & Quest horse gel). I weigh my kids and dose properly.

I keep my pens clean and I never feed them on the ground where feed can be contaminated by feces. All feeders are UP, all hay is in feeders so they are not able to poop in it..

As a result of this intense management of my kids, I have very hardy adults who I don't deworm very often at all. My kids are breeding weight by 8 months old if not sooner and I usually deworm adults twice a year (typically prebreeding, and for does, I deworm the day they kid). As for vaccines, I typically give a CDT booster to grown animals once a year.

Before buying goats, find out how they are managed. I've been to farms with scrawny goats and they are deworming the herd every month... Don't buy a problem and then have those animals shed those resistant parasites on to your property.... Buy healthy animals. All new animals should go in a quarantine pen to be dewormed and tested for diseases before being turned loose on your land.

I'm in west Texas as have Alpines, Lamanchas & Nubians. The only difference in the 3 in regards to my location is the Lamanchas & Nubians tolerate the heat much better.

[CaliannG]

~smiles~ Remember that it was once thought that the fiber breeds of goats (long haired angoras and fuzzy cashmeres) were once thought to be too delicate to do well in any areas of the U.S. except south and west Texas.

I have Alpines and Mini-Nubians, and they do well here. Ditto what Lonestarchic said about raising healthy babies to be healthy adults... if babies are raised with proper coccidia prevention and proper worming, they don't have a lifetime of having to battle stuff with messed up intestines and stomaches. As adults, goats have some resistance to parasites....but in babies, their tender innards can be irreparably damaged by parasite loads.

My advise is to buy goats from healthy herds that are one growing zone south of you, as these animals will be acclimatized to slightly harsher summer conditions than your area. (When people live in the north, I advise them to buy from healthy herds that are one zone lower than them, as those goats will be acclimatized to slightly harsher winters).

Bper and Spanish goats have done well all over Texas. With meat goats, you will have a problem that most people do NOT test their herds for diseases such as CL, CAE, and Johne's. Believe me, if you buy meat goats from an untested herd, you WANT to quarantine them until they are at least 6 months old, and have them tested, at least twice, for these incurable diseases. These diseases are heartbreakers and bank-breakers, and once they are loose in your herd, it is difficult to get them eradicated. And besides, it is dang hard to explain to your kids or grandkids that dear Dolly, whome they have been playing with for two years now, has to be killed because she has an incurable disease that she can pass to the rest of your herd....or worse, that dear Dolly is dying because of an incurable disease that has infected your herd, and dear Molly and Daisy are getting sick too.

In Dairy goats, it is a bit easier, because more herds test for disease and practice proper management. Disease and parasites, after all, deeply effect milk production, so dairy people have more of a stake in keeping them out of their herds.

The humidity here in Texas DOES favor parasites...it is not that the goats are less hardy, just that there are more parasites. Learning how to do your own fecals to check for worm load is nearly a requirement. Even so, I only worm about 2-3 times per year, so they aren't THAT bad.

Who did you talk to at TAMU? Dr. Ramsey is very good, but you might also talk to Dr. Horner at Prairie View.

~smiles~ Within 100 miles of me, there are commercial dairies that have Saanens, Alpines, Toggenburgs, Lamanchas, Nubians, and Nigerians, as well as crossbreeds of every kind, as well as meat herds of Boers, Kikos, Pygmies, and Spanish goats. I know people that keep Angora and Cashmere goats as well. This shows that it is possible to keep healthy herds of ANY breed of goat available in the U.S. with proper management.

Learn about goats, research them. Learn about the breeds that most appeal to you, then learn how those breeds are managed in Texas.

[writer_gardener]

The PhD I talked to at TAMU was the goat specialist out of San Angelo - very nice gentleman who was generous with his time. He advised I reconsider goats in NE TX - at that point I was considering different areas of TX. Then I read somewhere about there being lots of goats in the deep south US where the humidity is greater than NE TX so I thought maybe it was the breeds and maybe there were some breeds that did better than others in humid conditions.

Making a fool of myself in the question is what I get for doubting the experts. :-)

[CaliannG]

~laughs~ You realize that the next time I am at TAMU, I am going to find out which one of the Drs. in the Small Ruminant Dept. are out of San Angelo, and I am going to give that guy heck and tell him that he is an idiot, right?

The International Dairy Goat Research Center, at Prairie View A&M University (which is a part of the TAMU system) has over 1,000 goats of ALL breeds (meat and fiber also) that they have been raising successfully in Prairie View, Texas, for over 30 years. Dr. Scott Horner (PhD) basically runs the dairy side of it, and was one of the people involved in the research at Washington State when they isolated the cause of CAE in goats in the 80's.

~smiles~ Since Prairie View is actually south of me, and much more humid than where you are, and they have been successfully raising goats for 30 years now, I think you will be okay. Two of my Alpines came from their facility, and I have been very happy with both of them.

Some of the best Alpines in the country come from a small dairy in Brenham. I know of an EXCELLENT Saanen breeder in Dallas that has been doing it for Lord-knows-how-long.

~smiles~ In the U.S., the available breeds don't change with the climate, but the *management* of all goat breeds does. Sometimes things that you don't catch right off. In, say, Indiana, you would want to face the entrances and openings of your goat shed or barn to the south or east. Down here, you want to face them to the north or north east.

In south-east, coastal areas of the south, and central Texas, you want to stay on top of fecals and worming pretty consistently. This is not as much of a deal in north Texas, where the winters are cold enough to kill off parasites, or in West Texas and interior areas of south Texas, where it is too dry for parasites to get a good stronghold in the soil.

~grinz~ Check out the University of Florida Extension office on raising goats. Cuz/ they are doing it down there too.