# boer goat for sale - got the goats



## ksalvagno (Dec 10, 2009)

So I'm looking on Craigslist and searching on "goat." I have been keeping my eye out for a milking stand. I came across a post that is offering a registered boer doe with a doeling that was just born for $100. She needs them gone today. It is a person who was going to raise boer goats but she has 6 kids and one is a newborn so she is feeling that she just can't do the goats anymore. I was thinking about getting one boer goat and then just breeding it to one of my ND males and just use the kids for meat. My husband has said that he will have no problem driving them to the butcher (I'm not sure if I could do it). Would you get these goats?


----------



## FarmerChick (Dec 10, 2009)

I take it they are close to you and easy to go see them?

Yes I would check that deal out definitely.

registered doe and kid for $100

and I would try to get the pair for $75---lol

2 gals for $100 is a good deal though.
yes you could breed them to anything and have a good meat kid for your freezer.   

but of course be sure they are healthy and all that.


but for me, worth a look definitely.   around here cross mutts that are miserable go for $100.   So if you get 2 healthy does for $100 you did great.


----------



## mully (Dec 10, 2009)

FarmerChick said:
			
		

> I take it they are close to you and easy to go see them?
> 
> Yes I would check that deal out definitely.
> 
> ...


They are worth more than $100 judt for the meat value ...I would get them.... if they are in good physical shape


----------



## Griffin's Ark (Dec 11, 2009)

Two does for $100 is a good price if they are well fed and up to date on shots and worming.  
  Right now goat prices are up for good quality meat goats, but next month the price should go down quite a bit and continue down until near Easter/Pass Over.  Although I just bought some pretty decent young does at auction for $12.50 each, but that does not happen everyday.

Chris


----------



## FarmerChick (Dec 11, 2009)

12.50 ea.  

great for the buyer, hard on the seller..LOL


yea the meat goat market sure follows the ethnic holiday season.  That is when I planned all my kids and sales...to hit those holidays.  Top dollar than for meat kids.


----------



## ksalvagno (Dec 11, 2009)

Ok, I did it. I went and got them today. I'm hoping I did the right thing. I guess I should have also asked if it was worth it to keep one doe around for your own meat.  Meaning that I breed her and use the kids for our own meat. I'm new to the whole goat thing and I have jumped in with both feet! 

The whole herd was very healthy looking and they were vaccinated and wormed in August. I forgot to ask about CAE but I'm guessing that this farm probably wouldn't have worried about it too much. I'm going to have them tested. They are in their own stall anyway so they aren't with my ND's.

Here is the doe. According to her registration she is 100% boer. 






Here is the little kid doeling. So far mom isn't taking her back so I may have to milk mom and feed doeling. But I have been able to leave them together so far.





The doe gave birth on Tuesday 12/8/09. Is it normal to still see blood tinged discharge?


----------



## FarmerChick (Dec 11, 2009)

oh yes she will give off discharge for a while....some longer than others.  I don't think you have to worry about that.


Do you mean she will not let the kid nurse?

Both goats are nice looking and I think you got a good deal from what I can see in the pics.   The kid in the coat is soooooo cute!!!!


----------



## mully (Dec 11, 2009)

Congratulations you did the right thing ... good looking goats and it will all fall into place


----------



## ksalvagno (Dec 11, 2009)

Yes, she will not let the kid nurse. The owner pulled the kid when she found the other kid dead. She had felt the kids were nursing but she thinks the cold got to the first one. But she pulled this doeling anyway. It has been 2 days since this kid nursed on her mom. Will I be able to get the kid on the doe or will I be doing bottle feeding? She is not mean to the kid. Just does a little kick when the doeling tries to go on her teats.


----------



## Griffin's Ark (Dec 11, 2009)

The biggest question is, Did the little girl get colostrum?  Also CAE is not so important to meat goat people as the young usually don't stay long enough to worry about it.  Pet goats and milk goats should always be tested as you will keep them for their life span.  Test "brood" does though 'cause you never know when you are going to keep another doe from her.  If she is positive all you have to do is bottle feed her kids.  Odds are at her age she is good though.

Try milking mom then spraying the little girl on her face(cover her eyes) with mom's milk.  Then spray Mom's face with it and see what happens.  The kid may not want a teat since it has had a rubber nipple though.  You can also use a strong perfume the same way.  Or you can buy sprays designed to get mothers to accept orphans.  One such spray is called "Mother Up".   I got some from Jeffers to keep in the goat cabinet.  

Have fun and good Luck!
C


----------



## Griffin's Ark (Dec 11, 2009)

FarmerChick said:
			
		

> 12.50 ea.
> 
> great for the buyer, hard on the seller..LOL
> 
> ...


Not as hard as the one I got for $5.  She was really quite sick when I got her though.  It took all of one day to get her back on track.
C


----------



## ksalvagno (Dec 11, 2009)

The doeling wants to nurse from mom and is not taking the bottle well. What we did was to halter mom, tie her to a post. Then my husband held the front end and pet her while I held her back legs so she couldn't kick. The doeling nursed away. Will this be ok or am I making things worse?

The doeling did get colostrum. The first day they were with mom and according to the owner was nursing on mom. Then the owner milked mom and fed the doeling yesterday and today.

I will try the spraying milk on both faces. The doe was easy to get milk out of, even for a beginner.


----------



## FarmerChick (Dec 11, 2009)

No you aren't making matter worse.  We do it to kids that the does will not let nurse.    We tie the head tight and hold the front and back and let the kid fill up to the max...LOL....it is best for the kid definitely.

BUT there is a problem with this....when a doe does not let the kid nurse there is usually a BIG reason---one we do not understand.   Sometimes the kid is actually sick or something "is wrong with it" that we do not see and the doe knows this.  And she rejects the kid.   Nature can sure be rough big time.  But the moms know something we don't and we can't understand.  Sometimes when we feed the kids like this on an uncooperative momma the kid eventually dies quick, like overnight, and we didn't expect from a "rather healthy looking" kid....UGH

So just keep up feeding that kid and hope for the best.  She might take to it and let it nurse on its own but also might not never let it nurse and you will need to intervene....always a crapshoot.

hope all goes well for the pair!!


----------



## ksalvagno (Dec 11, 2009)

Does it make a difference that the doeling was taken from her for a couple of days? The doe was originally letting the kids nurse. She had twins on Tuesday and one of them died a day or 2 after they were born. They were out in this terrible cold without coats or anything on and no electric in the barn for a heat lamp. The kidding pen was sheets of 4x8 plywood but the barn was drafty. Their big barn doors don't close all the way and we had winds that were making the temp below zero and gusting over 50 MPH.. So she was taken away from mom either Wednesday night or Thursday morning and now put back with mom on Friday evening.


----------



## FarmerChick (Dec 11, 2009)

yea it might be the bond is broken.   it can depend on the doe and since she has a new home now, the apple cart may be upset alot.

keep letting the kid nurse and with luck she might accept it back.

but mom's milk direct from mom is best...but you have to do alot of feedings all the time on a newborn.  she might need to get that milk smell thru the kid again to accept it back so just keep up the good work....fingers crossed the doe takes her back!!

be watchful only because if the kid tries to nurse she might butt it away and harm it.  I had a few moms that can get quite rough.


----------



## ksalvagno (Dec 12, 2009)

Are there does that don't like to let people see them nurse their kids?

When we went out twice in the night, both times the doe and kid were snuggled together. One of the times the doe also licked her. Is she bonding back to the kid or will goats do that with any kid? This doe specifically laid back down right next to the kid.

The doe is really starting to fight us with both of us holding her and making her nurse her kid. I'm hoping that the kid is starting to nurse on mom naturally.

I'm used to a lot of feedings. We feed alpaca crias every 2 hours around the clock.


----------



## FarmerChick (Dec 12, 2009)

if she is being kind to the kid and licking it there is a good chance it might be nursing and you don't know it...LOL.

yea eventually you have to leave the mom alone and see if she lets the kid nurse on her own.     She should let you watch, she seems nice enough around you and that shouldn't stop her from letting the kid nurse.

Set up a watch.  Just see if she lets the kid nurse when it approaches her.  Hopefully she willl.

Since she did let it nurse before, maybe she will take it back.  I hope so.  Nothing can beat a mom and kid just doing it the natural way without bottle feeding etc.   So much easier..lol

let us know!  I hope it works out great for you and that kid is soooo cute I hope it gets its momma back.  They need that bond.


----------



## ()relics (Dec 12, 2009)

Is she usbga or abga registered, not that it makes any difference?  If the kid nurses and is satisfied I would then strip the doe...completely....If the udder remains partially full of milk you risk the chance of it becoming irritated  increasing her chances of acute mastitis, due to her kicking at it/rubbing it to try to relieve the pressure and then possibly bruising it or damaging it in another way...If you don't strip her she will begin to produce less milk, at the least.  If the kid and doe eventually decide to make it work the doe will be producing less milk and the kid will start wanting more, which she will be unable to supply...If you think there is an udder problem already, milk her out completely and drench her with 20cc of her own milk twice a day for a couple of days...I do this to all my does regardless if they have problem or not...Just my own theory.
   Some does are shy and prefer to nurse in private...BUT after a kid is 4 to 5 days old, providing they are healthy and getting enough milk, they will attempt to nurse Whenever the doe stands, even if she doesn't want them to....As they get older, a week or so, the doe will be unable to keep the kid from nursing, they are just too persistent, and you should be able to see the kid trying to nurse NEARLY always and the doe , though she may try, is unable to push it away...JMO/JME
IM me, if you want , I will run her registration number and give you whatever information is available about her.


----------



## ksalvagno (Dec 12, 2009)

Ok, we just went out there and got mom and baby up. Put baby under mom and she had no interest in even trying to nurse. She is alert and active. After milking mom, she went right over to her kid and smelled and licked her. So I'm thinking they are bonded. I haven't seen the nursing yet but I will be out there doing chores in a little while.

Put mom on the milkstand. The left side we got quite a bit of milk out of her. The right side, we got very little. Since this was my first time "totally" milking out a goat, I don't know if I milked her completely but I could feel a significant difference in her udder and the milk was coming out in a much smaller stream. We got a total of 1.5 cups of milk. Don't know what that means or if it even means anything but we thought we would measure it after each milking. Since I don't know if this girl has anything or not, we are just throwing the milk out. I don't want to take a chance on giving some type of disease to any other animal.

When the mom was kicking earlier, it was when the kid was trying to nurse or when we would touch her teats. She wasn't kicking at her udder in general. Once I got going on the milking, she quit kicking at my hands. I'm sure she felt some relief and I can see a difference in her udder. Her udder and teats have always felt good. I just have alpaca udder experience to go by but nothing is lumpy, hard  or hot to the touch.

She is International Boer Goat Association registered. I have her registration and it even goes back 4 generations on the back. This girl is almost 5. I don't know how long you breed boers for but I'm assuming I have a few years left in her. We aren't doing this for anything but our own meat so I'm not so concerned about the longevity of her breeding ability.

Thanks for all your help. I have been doing alpacas for 12 years and have dealt with all kinds of things and still felt like I was completely new at this.


----------



## FarmerChick (Dec 12, 2009)

OK time to NOT milk the mom and let the baby and her be alone for a bit.
could be the kid is sucking off one side only and one side of the udder will be down while the other is full....lol

so just leave them alone and watch and see if that mom is nursing the kid.      time to stop getting in the middle and bothering mom.   let everyone relax.....let nature take its course and be sure that kid is indeed sucking from mom herself.   if she is then leave well enough alone for a bit to ensure bonding.

If you put the kid under mom and it had no interest in nursing, it might have just nursed...lol...you don't know but if you pick up the kid, and feel that belly, and it is fat and full feeling, it might be nursing on its own and is not hungry.   usually you can see and feel  the little pooch fat belly of a nursing kid.


----------



## FarmerChick (Dec 12, 2009)

oh and active and alert is the best possible situation..LOL


----------



## ksalvagno (Dec 12, 2009)

I have officially seen nursing and she is nursing both teats. She doesn't nurse for a long time though. Are goats like alpacas in that they don't take in a big volume at one time?


----------



## FarmerChick (Dec 12, 2009)

official nursing....YA HOO....the best you could hope for...the doe is caring for the kid.  You are back in business!!!!!!

yes they never nurse long....the doe will let it nurse for short bursts but will let it do alot of them of course......You are go to go!!!!!

I am happy that pair worked out for you.!!


----------



## ThornyRidge (Dec 14, 2009)

yes they suck small quick volumes of milk for short periods of time.. and as they get bigger and more and more rough on mom that time is increasingly shorter.. I know how rough my nigies can be.. especially when there are two going at mom.. my doe's backend totally gets lifted off the ground when they attack the udder..  one other thing to watch for with the kid to see if indeed she is getting enough to eat... kids tend to lay around alot the first few days/weeks... if you goto rouse them or see them get up look for them to stretch.. I have been told and view this in my own opinion as true.. meaning they have full bellies and are getting enough nutrients/milk..  and then they will go scamper around/play and of course eat off of mom.. glad to hear she is nursing both sides too.. especially with a single kid.. you may have to watch if she tends to favor one side and relieve pressure so mom doesn't end up too lopsided..  I will be interested to hear how soon she starts sampling/nibbling hay and grain with mom.. heck I have had them doing it at only a couple weeks.  oh and check for the mustard yellow poop... also sign she is eating/drinking milk.  

.. please don't post any pix of those babies you plan on eating...i will cry  

seriously though couple of nice looking boers... wish I still had my 100% red doe.


----------



## ksalvagno (Dec 14, 2009)

Everything is going well and so far it is looking like the doeling is nursing off of both teats. Mom's udder is looking pretty good and the doeling is more and more active. 

No, I will not post anything that may only live a few months. Of course, we will see if I can go through with it. :/

Here are a couple updated pictures.


----------



## helmstead (Dec 14, 2009)

Test that doe right now for CL!  

Congrats on getting the kid back on the teat!  I could never do meat goats...altho I do worry my F1 mini-Nubi bucklings might have to go that way occasionally...but as a rule...I dont have the stomach for it.


----------

