[ShannonR]

You want the taller goats of the breed, although they are all short. Hips should be wide enough to accommodate easy kidding
Rump should not be too steep. Udder should be fairly large and look even, DO NOT settle for small teats!! No udders that look droopy or that approach the ground, you want good udder attachments. Be warned, with the highest production animals come the highest risk of mastitis and other udder issues. If you can get polled (naturally horn-less) genetics it will save you a lot of headache down the road. Consider artificial insemination instead of live cover-- mitigates disease risk while giving you better genetics.

It would be so much easier to evaluate individual animals you are considering, though. Easier than trying to explain this to a newbie, no offense meant. Can you post pics of goats you are thinking about buying when the time comes?

 

[ShannonR]

Here's my milking doe. Her udder is decent, but not perfect. You are looking at an udder that produces about 3/4 gallon a day on this doe. She is not purebred Nigerian dwarf, but crossed to another dairy breed. You want to be able to fit a container under the udder for milking, low hanging udders are an inconvenient, muddy mess.

 

[ShannonR]

Thanks, Shannon, that is a great suggestion (pics of goats, along with the rest of your comment) and I will take you up on it. I did join the ADGA and have looked at some data (intimidating!) and I know I need to learn more about milking stats. I would not be out of line, would I, to request and discuss records of an animal from a breeder of registered goats? If I posted photos and/or stats anonymously (not identifying specific animal by name, location, or breeder), is that acceptable?

It is absolutely acceptable. And when buying animals, ask about the milk lines on BOTH sides of the family. Ask for udder pics, always. Serious dairy folks will be happy to show off the udder of the doe for sale, along with the doe's dam and the sire's dam. Udders are a point of pride in dairy production.

 

[ShannonR]

Re your doe, Shannon, I see good attachment and pretty good teat size, for a Nigerian Dwarf (you said she is a cross though). However, her udder does look a little lopsided to me, or is that the photo angle. What would you wish for, to improve it?

Her off side does produce slightly less milk, but the photo is definitely lopsided also. It is a small enough variance that I am okay with it. She isn't perfect, for sure. As far as improvement goes, while she has good teats for hand milking, they could certainly be a little bigger so I can get more milk out faster.

 

[ShannonR]

Also, what about buying kids from a breeder's online kidding schedule? Do you think that would be a mistake for me (honestly, I think that would be a mistake for me, too, since I don't have any real experience). But oh so tempting!!! Like buying exotic vegetable seeds in a catalog, from photos of perfect specimens... Go ahead, tell me that would be a mistake.

Do you mean like, pre-ordering kids off a specific doe, sight unseen? Or choosing from kids who are already on the ground?

Here's what I think. Adult animals are always easier to evaluate. And then there is the first kidding to get through. I liked your first idea better, where you buy more easily evaluated, proven breeder does with decent pedigrees to back them up. You won't be getting udder pics of does who haven't freshened, for sure. Leave the potential problem animals to the breeder, is what I think.

 

[ShannonR]

I hope I don't sound like a goat snob or something lol. I will probably fall madly in love with any/every goat I own. Probably I am stressing too much about getting the best goats I can find. Thank you all for comments to the thread, and I look forward to reading more in the coming days.

Anytime, and enjoy the goat journey!

 

[ShannonR]

Yes, that is what I've been thinking too; thanks for validation. But there is the risk of getting the breeder's reject animals, instead of taking the chance with the new kid from good lines, if that makes sense.

I do see what you are getting at with the reject animals, and going forward buying kids might be a better option for you. I do still suggest starting out with adults and at least learning what to look for before rolling the dice with kids, though. You don't want a $400 doeling going belly up on you because of a difficult first kidding, or any number of other numerous issues that might happen.

 

[ShannonR]

I also think it is a good idea to have at LEAST one adult goat to help the babies along. And though I might be projecting my feelings to the goats, it seems only right to keep mamas with their babies... I know, I can't make up my mind.

Woah, I thought you wanted to milk them? It isn't really like the fairy tales or Mother earth News magazines where you can just leave the kids on Mama and milk them also. In fact... you asked about the uneven udder on my own doe. I tried leaving the kids on, and that's what happens. The kids ruin good udders. The mom's won't let their milk down when you go to milk them if feeding kids, either.

Personal experience speaking here. I have tried about every possible arrangement to keep kids on does AND milk, to save myself the headache of bottle feeding kids. It's sort of a no-go.

 

[ShannonR]

Well, I read in a couple of books (and ME News, lol) that some people just separate kids from moms for about 6-8 hours (I was thinking I could keep them in separate pens in the barn overnight, milk the mom in the morning for me and let the kids nurse during the day as they wanted in the pasture???) I didn't realize kids would cause udders to physically change. Oops. I'm glad you said that. That does change things. Guess I'll be doing more bottle feeding than I thought. Not a problem (hurray, I'm retired!) but yeah. I didn't realize you can't leave the kids on mama. Thanks for sharing that.

If you don't mind a drastic loss of milk production and lactation issues in your does, then It's possible. The kids are really rough on their mom's udder though, all of that butting and such causes infections injured teats and all sorts of other problems.

Separating for 6-8 hours usually got me about a pint of milk, and a doe who did NOT want to give it up because she would rather feed her kids with it than feed you.
What kinda-sorta worked was leaving the kids on full time for 8 weeks, weaning a little early and then milking the doe. I was in school full time and had a barely yearling offspring of my own I was taking care of last year, that's my excuse for doing so. But she did get the beginnings of an udder infection and the uneven udder because of that, and didn't produce as much as she normally does when she freshens. She also got a sort of nasty attitude about being milked that she had never displayed before, stamping her feet and acting like a general donkey on the milk stand. In retrospect, it was more trouble than it was worth.