Switching to Meat Goats

Caitedid · #1 01/21/13, 02:26 PM

Looking for advice on switching from dairy/dwarf goats to meat goats. Have had goats with good luck for several years, have butchered wethers for our own use.

I have several customers who are interested in purchasing goat meat, and would really like to be getting something from my goats besides occasionally putting one in the freezer. The dwarves and pygmies were a mercy acquisition from my mom's (poorly fenced) farm, but I'd really like somebody more productive. Slaughter is a lot of work for 25# of meat.

I did not breed any of my current herd this year, although they will be staying on for a plan of attack on some serious multiflora rose issues.

Thanks!

**mygoat** · #2 01/21/13, 02:41 PM

We kinda did this. You'll love meat goats - they're so much easier than just about any other kinda goat.

We have boers and boer crosses. WE do have a couple alpines for milk and a couple pet pygmy/miniature/mutt things that were my first goats.

First, if you're not attached to those pygmies, get rid of them. They are not going to make you money and they're taking up space, food, minerals, time that you could be spending on profitable animals. Now, being that I have 3 in my own pasture, I sure can agree that you can get awful attached to them, in which case you'll just have to resolve to yourself that you have awfully cute hayburners.

If you keep the pygmies, might as well breed them so they're giving SOMETHING back. This will require that you keep some sort of nigerian or pygmy buck to breed them to, as I would NEVER breed them to a full size buck. Your full size buck pens MUST be alkatraz, to keep them from busting into the pasture with the pygmies and breeding them. Personally, we stopped breeding our pygmies because just about EVERY kidding required assistance. We used to pull the doelings at a day or so old and put them on the bottle, selling at a few days old for 50-75 apeice. The bucklings you can leave on the dams and put them in your own freezer or sell them at auction so it's not as much work. Or you can pull all the kids and sell them as cute pets and tame becaues they're on the bottle. Nothing is harder to sell than an untame, unregistered pygmy goat, so I suggest bottle raising them if you want to keep breeding, or just slaughtering them all/sending all to auction.

Next is what you want to do with boers or a meat breed. Honestly, selling breedingstock as well as meat is always the most profitable way to go. I always suggest finding a purebred boer buck and using him on all your does, because if he is registered, his doelings can be registered at LEAST 50% and sold as breeding stock.Bucklings are not registerable unless 'fullbloods', at 97%. Doelings are considered fullbloods at 94% Here's how breedings work:

50% doe bred to PB buck - doelings registerable at 75%.
75% x PB buck - doelings reg at 88%
88% x PB buck - doelings reg at 94% 'fullblood'
94% x PB buck doelings and bucklings reg at 97% 'fullblood'

You can breed your dairy does to a boer buck, dam raise the kids to get meat kids, start pulling them for 12 hrs overnight and milking the does 1x per day if you still want milk, and still sell doelings registered at 50%. Kids will be heftier than normal dairy kids, and grow great on the qty of milk that a dairy produces.

There are other meat breeds like myotonics or kikos, but neither have the grading up system where you could keep your original does and grade up the offspring. Boers are also really easy to sell generally, and demand pretty darn good market prices for good animals. It's hard to find a disease tested herd for any of the meat breeds, but with boers I've found several now, and one Kiko herd and one myotonic herd without much trying, admittedly. Kikos just don't look like the big beefy goats that boers do, either.

trnubian · #3 01/21/13, 02:48 PM

Meat goats seem to be slightly easier to care for. They donmt have as many demands as a dairy animal has. (Growing kids, milking 305 days a year...)

I suggest looking into a boer or commercial boer herd. Look for CL free animals. Look for parasite resistance, high gaining kids, easy kidders, easy keepers.

Or you could just find a boer buck and breed your dairy does to him. Keep the doe kids and breed them to another boer buck. Sell your 50% does and keep the 75% does to breed to a boer buck. That way you will have a commercial herd that has built up certain disease resistance to your farm and you are not out much more than time.

From experience, the 50% boer 25% dairy goats are nice but they don't hold weight or pack the meat on and seem to have more of the "dairy goat" higher nutrional demands. The 75% does do much better and their kids are growthy AND meaty.

Remember to look for good genetics. Just because it is a "boer" dosen't mean it will improve your lines. You have to look at that animalms family history.

Goat Servant · #4 01/21/13, 04:10 PM

A little clarification here; 94% Boer and up is called Purebred American.
Only a Fullblood is 100%.

motdaugrnds · #5 01/21/13, 05:04 PM

I'm heading in that direction myself. At the moment I have full blood Nubians and my herd buck has excellent genetics for that breed. However, he is getting up in years; so when it's time for him to stop breeding, I'm investing in full blood Boer and keeping "dairy" does. My Nubian does will be kept and will probably be looking for both a Saanen and a Toggenburg doe. I will want to keep 3 "dairy" does and the 1 Boer buck. I chose those 3 breeds because they will be able to deal with the kidding of a boer baby.

Alice In TX/MO · #6 01/21/13, 05:07 PM

Just remember that you can't legally sell goat meat unless you have a USDA certified inspector and facility. You *can* sell live animals on the hoof.

**mygoat** · #7 01/21/13, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goat Servant

A little clarification here; 94% Boer and up is called Purebred American.
Only a Fullblood is 100%.

Thank you. I always get purebred/fullblood mixed up. Usually I double check myself and this time I didn't.

YamahaRick · #8 01/21/13, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Just remember that you can't legally sell goat meat unless you have a USDA certified inspector and facility. You *can* sell live animals on the hoof.

Newbie here with an interest in raising goats for meat resale.

What I recently learned at a recent USDA presentation here in Georgia is that you can sell the goat to a buyer, deliver the goat to the processor, but the customer has to pick up the meat.

Caitedid · #9 01/21/13, 10:14 PM

We (thankfully) still have plenty of processors in the area. Thoughts about where I can find good breeding stock in this area (NE Iowa, SW Wisconsin, SE Minnesota). Thanks!

Awnry Abe · #10 01/21/13, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YamahaRick

Newbie here with an interest in raising goats for meat resale.

What I recently learned at a recent USDA presentation here in Georgia is that you can sell the goat to a buyer, deliver the goat to the processor, but the customer has to pick up the meat.

That is the basic mechanics of how to sell a meat goat (or beef cow or pig) on the hoof when the buyer only has a freezer to house the animal. Selling packaged meat, at a farmer's market, is very appealing to me. But our closest USDA inspected processor is 1:15 minutes away and charges .15 cents more than the nearby custom meat processors. When I am able to provide a more predictable product, and have Saturday's free to tend the booth, I will probably make that leap.

francismilker · #11 01/21/13, 11:05 PM

I'm gonna be the odd man out here.................. I have had milk goats for about 10 years off and on. I know very little about goats. I'm not very good at being attentive to them due to work schedule. I just seem to keep them fed, watered, minerals, hay, etc.

Then, the kids started 4-H and FFA showing so we got our first meat goats. They (the meat goats), in my opinion are a lot less hardy and don't have the ability to thrive that my milk goats have. I personally feel that the boer breeders have inbred them so much trying to create the ultimate show goat that they have taken the will to live away from them.

I've noticed my milk does out standing on their hind legs stripping the leaves and bark from trees doing what goats do. (You know, eating everything in sight, especially what you don't want them to eat) The boers on the other hand stand at the feed trough with this look on their face like, "When are you going to dump out some more of that feed that costs $20 a bag?"

At the end of the day, goats are just goats. IMHO, they ought to be able to eat dirt, rocks, tin cans, weeds, and all the other stuff that's laying around. If you're looking for something that does less, get a bunch of boers.

blue gecko · #12 01/21/13, 11:10 PM

We decided to go with meat goats and ended up going with Kiko/Texmaster (Boer-Tn Meat Goat i.e. Myotonic) crosses. We're newbies but feel pretty good about our choice. Our thoughts are that they will be better suited to our area. So far we're thrilled with their temperament and hardiness.

dozedotz · #13 01/22/13, 10:29 AM

Do not overlook Kinders! They are EXTREMELY hardy. Great foragers. Actually give quite a bit of milk, too, if you are interested. The KGBA is a pain, but if you can get past the little ladies who are prone to snits, they are a great meat goat. We have a Kinder breeder here...colemangirly...you should talk to her before you make the final decision. They are cheaper, too. Good size for homesteaders and because it is a relatively new breed (registerable), not available every where. There are always people looking for them in areas where they are hard to get.

CornerstoneAcre · #14 01/22/13, 01:18 PM

Good luck!! I started out raising Boer and Boer/Kiko crosses and I am still doing it and loving it. I will say that you need to choose your stock wisely. Registered doesn't mean a thing IMO (although a lot of mine is), but hardiness, parasite resistance, mothering ability, litter size etc MEANS A TON. We have also added Myotonic into our herd and look forward to the results of that in the future. We have had a couple of does that we moved out due to not meeting our standards of hardiness, but for the most part find ours to be disease free, easy maintenance, great mothering goats.

colemangirly · #15 01/22/13, 05:37 PM

I raise Kinders and yes they are extremely hardy. Mine do not get any grain at all, yes, that's right, no grain. And yes, I do milk them. Okay, they are smaller, but if you look at percentages, they do pretty good. I get about 1.5 quarts twice a day from my little girls, thats 3 quarts a day during most of the first half of milking. So yea, you might not get 2 gallons a day, but they take less feed since they are smaller, have high butterfat, can house 2 to 1 compared to big goats. And the kicker is that they have a high butcher weight. Around 55-60% thats darn about close to boers. Okay, so you don't get 100lbs of meat, but its percentage that matters. Mine get all the browse that they can eat, free feed grass hay in the winter combined with fresh grown fodder. They do not get any grain, except what is in their fodder. They are healthy little buggers and are much smarter than my nubians. I can't help it. My nubians are beautiful, but dumb as door nobs. I will never go back to nubians after I am finished getting the bloodlines that I want.

www.tadpoleacres.webs.com

francismilker · #16 01/22/13, 06:36 PM

I have also heard good things about Kinders. The goats that folks around these parts are calling "spanish" goats are also doing quite well. They seem to have the same will to survive that plain ol' goats had when I was a kid.

Once again, all these "breed up" programs and registration programs have caused lots of purebred, fullblood, 100%, or whatever else we label them to go by the wayside when it comes to hardiness and the ability to thrive on what goats are supposed to.

If you look at the way people in other parts of the world raise goats and then compare them to what we're doing, they're making more sense of it. I'd bet my paycheck people grazing goats in the desert areas of the Middle East aren't going to TSC to get goat blocks, feed, and meds. They're letting goats be goats!

hiddensprings · #17 01/22/13, 09:18 PM

We started with meat goats as well and I sold every last one about 2 years ago. For us, they were not profitable, hard to keep healthy (always have to worm issues, hoof problems, etc), extremely hard on my fencing, and in general, the does never paid for them selves with the sale of their kids. I culled and culled to get worm resistent, good mothering skills, etc A lot of the issues were with our environment. Very humid, very wet, etc. My Nubians are always healthy, never have worm problems, and profitable to our farm.
Not trying to discourage you, just sharing my experience.

Caitedid · #18 01/23/13, 11:04 AM

We have a house cow as well, so I only need my ladies to have enough milk to make fat, healthy babies. For what we're working with I will need animals that will do well on browse and exercise, rather than having to practically force feed them high protein feed!

I'm not sure how important registered animals are to me, as I'm looking mainly to raise animals for butcher. Maybe I'll just buy a few kids to feed out this year, then start worrying about breeding stock when I have some idea of whether I want to deal with feeding more goats out.

chewie · #19 01/23/13, 02:48 PM

I am also considering getting some boer does, just a few. I think I have enough space to browse them most of the summer, and use the kids just for our own use. I'd just use my dairy buck, at least he'd be paying his way more. or eat the wether that keeps him company now and get a boer buck?

we raise angus but getting one processed is sooo spendy, not to mention the cost of the steer (not being sold). I did like goat meat, and since its so healthy, I just think this might be a good option in our situation. I think 3 does plus the bucklings from the dairy girls, chicken and game would fill our meat needs without buying or paying processing.

like with a lot of things, it might not be cheaper, but it'd be better, kwim? but if a person were doing it for profit, having a good market would be key, and having browse or other ways to feed witout breaking the bank.

YamahaRick · #20 01/23/13, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hiddensprings

We started with meat goats as well and I sold every last one about 2 years ago. For us, they were not profitable, hard to keep healthy (always have to worm issues, hoof problems, etc), extremely hard on my fencing, and in general, the does never paid for them selves with the sale of their kids. I culled and culled to get worm resistent, good mothering skills, etc A lot of the issues were with our environment. Very humid, very wet, etc. My Nubians are always healthy, never have worm problems, and profitable to our farm.
Not trying to discourage you, just sharing my experience.

Where do you reside?