# New goats - what should I get?



## rmonge00 (Jun 13, 2011)

Hi

I am looking to start a small goat herd on two acres of pasture land.  I would like to be able to milk one female, keep one male for breeding purposes and then raise and sell the kids.  

What breed should I get?  What age should I buy my goats at?

Thanks!!

Ryan


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## poorboys (Jun 13, 2011)

maybe you should start with yearlings, 3 does, and your buck, any milk breed you prefer. cause if your wanting to breed and raise your kids you'll need more than 1 female, you can dry the others off after the kids are weaned and just keep one in milk.


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## TGreenhut (Jun 13, 2011)

Get nubians! They're great dairy goats and they're friendly too. I would agree with poorboys--that you should start with yearlings, 3 does and a buck.


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## Ariel301 (Jun 13, 2011)

You've got to figure out first what you want in a goat, then you can choose a breed easily from there. Here's some stuff to consider:

Do you want a LOT of milk, or just a little bit? (i.e. full size doe or a mini breed?) Does it matter to you if it's noisy? (Nubians are known for being very vocal and loud) 
How much are you willing to spend? (some breeds may cost more than others, be harder to find locally, and a doe already in milk will cost more than a young kid) 
Do you want to start milking right away or would you be willing to wait a year and raise a baby instead of one already grown?
What breeds are available within your area (or an area you are willing to drive to?) Some areas have one or two very prevalent breeds and others are hard to find--I have a heck of a time finding purebred LaManchas within driving distance 
What breed's appearance appeals to you? 
What will your market be for the kids you sell--4H kids? Breeders/Show people? Backyard homesteaders? Kids for meat? (People who are going to breed or show will want high-quality purebred stock, while those looking for meat or pets don't care about breed so much but they need to be suitable for that purpose)
Do you want registered/purebred goats or not? Purebred, registered kids will generally fetch a higher price than "mutt" kids. 

I would advise you to learn what are good and bad points about a dairy goat so you know what you are looking for in a quality animal. Buy the best quality you can possibly afford in your chosen breed--it costs just as much to feed a good goat as a mediocre goat, so you may as well keep the best you can. 

Now time for me to advertise my breed.  I raise LaManchas. They're a medium-large breed, from 100-150 pounds. They are known for being able to withstand hard conditions and still produce, for the most part I find them to be very easy keepers and efficient producers on less than ideal feeding conditions. They average around a gallon of milk a day. Yeah, the ears look weird. But they do not have any ear problems, and their hearing is fine. They are typically very sweet, people-oriented goats with a will to please their owners, I compare them a lot to Golden Retriever dogs. They also come in a mini version if the full size is too big.


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## rmonge00 (Jun 13, 2011)

Great suggestions.  The qualities I am looking for are: good milk production, nice around kids, and least likely to destroy my fruit trees.  I live in Western Washington (which is very mild) and I have 2 acres of beautiful pasture, with a bit of forest.   I also have a small orchard that I need to keep them out of (I hope to make small fences around each individual tree).  Any breeds that fit this description?  I would be willing to pay a bit more for a good breed.

My main purpose would be for milk, breeding would only be a little added bonus to keep the mother in milk.  Would you guys still recommend three does in this case?  If I buy yearlings, how long will it take until they breed and then make milk?  What is an approximate price range for a good milking breed yearling?

Thanks!!

Ryan


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## rmonge00 (Jun 13, 2011)

p.s.  appearance is not an issue for me...


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## mossyStone (Jun 13, 2011)

any and all breeds of goats tall or short,  will tear up your orchard! i know this from exp.. 

ours can no longer go in that area at all


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## Pearce Pastures (Jun 13, 2011)

I keep pygmies but some acquaintances of ours have Nigerians-they are adorable, little, and give a great deal of milk for their size-they told us that they make better cheese from Nigerian milk than from the larger dairy breed they previously owned (can't remember what it was).  Nigerians have a lot of babies though which could be a pro or con depending on what you are wanting in the long run.

We're actually thinking about getting a couple to add to our herd.


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## poorboys (Jun 13, 2011)

If you buy yearlings, you can bred them this fall, and have babies and milk by feb. if you buy babies you've got alot of work and learning to do and they might not be up to weight by breeding season, the reason i say yearlings, is because all the hard work has been done, they might cost more but you won't get stuck with an old one, or a young one that might have problems.


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## Mzyla (Jun 13, 2011)

Ariel301 said:
			
		

> ...........Now time for me to advertise my breed.  I raise LaManchas. They're a medium-large breed, from 100-150 pounds. They are known for being able to withstand hard conditions and still produce, for the most part I find them to be very easy keepers and efficient producers on less than ideal feeding conditions. They average around a gallon of milk a day. Yeah, the ears look weird. But they do not have any ear problems, and their hearing is fine. They are typically very sweet, people-oriented goats with a will to please their owners, I compare them a lot to Golden Retriever dogs. They also come in a mini version if the full size is too big.


Now you made me to think! Maybe my LaManchas are "mini version"???
They are 3 months old and shorter then my Pyrenees dog!
For the Full size goats, shouldn't they be bigger/higher???


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## elevan (Jun 13, 2011)

mossyStone said:
			
		

> any and all breeds of goats tall or short,  will tear up your orchard! i know this from exp..
> 
> ours can no longer go in that area at all










Fruit trees and goats do NOT mix...yep, I know from experience too    Even the elderberries are no more...


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## Hamsteries (Jun 13, 2011)

I had Nubians for most of my life... but recently switched to pygmies.  I love both breeds and each brought new experiences to my life.  Right now, I am more into fostering goats from criminal cases that I am working (I work as a Humane Investigator), but my "permanent goat" (and by that I mean one that I actually own) is a pygmy... but I have been looking into getting some more Nubians.

It really depends on what you are looking for... I look for more companionship from my goats, which is why I tend to stick to the Nubians and Pygmy breeds.


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## carolinagirl (Jun 14, 2011)

rmonge00 said:
			
		

> Great suggestions.  The qualities I am looking for are: good milk production, nice around kids, and least likely to destroy my fruit trees.  I live in Western Washington (which is very mild) and I have 2 acres of beautiful pasture, with a bit of forest.   I also have a small orchard that I need to keep them out of (I hope to make small fences around each individual tree).  Any breeds that fit this description?  I would be willing to pay a bit more for a good breed.
> 
> My main purpose would be for milk, breeding would only be a little added bonus to keep the mother in milk.  Would you guys still recommend three does in this case?  If I buy yearlings, how long will it take until they breed and then make milk?  What is an approximate price range for a good milking breed yearling?
> 
> ...


If you are wanting a goat for milk and have no place to keep the buck away from the doe, your milk will be tainted with the buck's foul odor.  You will need to house him away from the does when they are in milk.  The fruit trees.....you are going to need STRONG cages around them.  Use sheep and goat stock panel to make cages and stake the cages down with tee-posts.  Also in your wooded area....any trees you don't want killed will need cages around them too.  they will strip bark of most any trees and that will kill the trees.  You can try wrapping the trunks with several layers of bird netting.  They will stand on their hind legs and pluck off any branches and leaves they can reach.  Goaties LOVE to munch on trees!


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## rmonge00 (Jun 14, 2011)

Tainted by the buck's milk eh?  Darn it!!  So they need to be in separate fenced pens?  Will the goats even kill large 50 year old fir trees?  For the fruit trees, what about strong gauge welded wire, kept up by t-posts and how far out should it be from the trees?

Maybe I should get a cow instead - they sound less destructive...

Ryan


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## carolinagirl (Jun 14, 2011)

It does not matter how old the tree is.  If they like the taste of the bark and eat the bark off around the tree, the tree dies.  All of a trees vascular system lies right below the outer bark in the inner bark area which is called the cambium layer.  The trunk is there only to support the tree.  So it's really easy to kill a mature tree just by destroying the bark around the trunk.  It's sometimes done intentionally...it's called girdling a tree.  And goats are GOOD at it.

You can cage the trees.  How well you have to do it depends on the goats and the abundance of other yummy things to eat.  Some goats are much more persistent than others.  If you can cage each tree and run a hot wire around each cage, that will help a lot.  

I used to make cheese out of my goat milk because I hated the taste of it with the buck around.  Bucks are nasty critters.  They like to pee on themselves because apparently the girlie goats thinks it makes them smell wonderful.  And it does really make the milk taste off.  Maybe you can rent a buck when the time comes to breed the does.

Goats are a lot of work in my opinion.  But once you get past the learning curve and get them figured out, they are fun.


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## DKRabbitry (Jun 14, 2011)

I wanted a cow... Hubby said no... Now I have 8 goats, all does that will probably be kidding next year, and I will be getting a buck shortly.  That'll teach him! 

Okay, on topic... I love my Lamanchas.  I got them for milk and for meat.  I don't expect to get much meat off their kids, but that is fine with me.  It is just another good reason to have them around.  The one in milk right now has the most delighful tasting milk and is a pleasure to work with.  Sweet temperament, sweet milk, what more could you ask for?

I can't help much with your fruit tree dilema.  If it were me, I would be inclined just to fence off the whole orchard depending on how big it was.  That way they are not just jumping up and eating branches (full sized dairy goats can stand high on their back legs) and I wouldn't have to fence in each individual tree.

Also, a friend of mine keeps bucks in with her does and says the milk tasts fine to her and doesn't have a bucky flavor....


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## rmonge00 (Jun 14, 2011)

Wow!!  I am not sure that I will be able to get goats now...  I have like 40 mature Doug Firs and Cedars that I don't want dead....


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## 20kidsonhill (Jun 14, 2011)

rmonge00 said:
			
		

> Wow!!  I am not sure that I will be able to get goats now...  I have like 40 mature Doug Firs and Cedars that I don't want dead....


Our goats have killed almost all our cedar trees off in the last 10 years, we have 6 acres, around 20 goats, plenty of pasture, but they will eat the tree as high as they can reach, and then as the lower branches fall off they will eat the bark and kill the trees. We had at least 50 cedars, maybe more and there are maybe 1/3 left and every year more of them die. We figure in another 5 years only the large hard woods will be left, and even some of those they have ate the bark off and killed.  It is our one complaint about the goats.  We really enjoyed the cedar trees and a woody feel to the pasture. 

We wanted the goats to do some clearing, but really didn't expect or want them to kill all the trees off. 

A dairy cow wouldn't do this to your pasture.


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## rmonge00 (Jun 16, 2011)

Just read something about miniature milking cow breeds.  Does anyone know anything about these?  Where to buy?  What breeds are best?  If they are less destructive than goats?

Ryan


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