# Goats vs. sheep?



## AMT15 (Jul 18, 2012)

I posted in the sheep section, but what do you "goat lover" people think?(those of you who have raised both) Sheep or goats? Pros and cons? Fav.? Anything. The hair sheep people have won me over from the goat side, now I want to hear your opinions.

Thanks,


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## bjjohns (Jul 18, 2012)

It's really a personal/needs choice. I like goats for my needs. I have -NEVER- had luck with sheep (Want to read my sheep joke that is truth?)

Goats eat grass LAST.
Goats are pretty durable.
Around here, goats are as high or higher than sheep in value.
Ever buy Sheep Milk? How about Sheep Cheese?

It's hard to answer when we don't know what you want them for.


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## AMT15 (Jul 18, 2012)

it's really just breeding and selling them as breeding stock or to people who want them for........ whatever. Nothing for me(meat, cheese, milk ect.) other than getting to raise them, and hopefully a little money to be made in the meanwhile. For me it'll depend a lot on what Kind of land we end up with. Just wanted to see the "other sides" opinion.


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jul 18, 2012)

I am so biased I can not answer your question. It's goats all the way.


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## ksalvagno (Jul 18, 2012)

If you are just wanting to sell some offspring, then I would probably go with the hair sheep. Depending on your area, sheep for meat are going for a decent price.


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## AMT15 (Jul 18, 2012)

Straw Hat Kikos said:
			
		

> I am so biased I can not answer your question. It's goats all the way.


Ha, I was the same way, so I understand. BTW, if I end up raising goats, they'll be kikos


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## Straw Hat Kikos (Jul 18, 2012)

AMT15 said:
			
		

> Straw Hat Kikos said:
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> 
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> ...


Oh cool. Well now why would you choose Kikos? lol : )


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## bjjohns (Jul 18, 2012)

AMT15 said:
			
		

> it's really just breeding and selling them as breeding stock or to people who want them for........ whatever. Nothing for me(meat, cheese, milk ect.) other than getting to raise them, and hopefully a little money to be made in the meanwhile. For me it'll depend a lot on what Kind of land we end up with. Just wanted to see the "other sides" opinion.


If you do that you will have to get into the show circuit stuff. Around here, thats just not worth my effort. I need to make money from them, not spend money on them. I'm lucky enough to have a bi-monthly auction 20 minutes from my place. Right now nice meaty Boer & Boer crosses at 60~80 lbs are going for $100-150 for meat. Thats my primary sales market. No folks to house, no quibbling over delivery or price, no "can you meet me half way?". That makes me really concious of birth to market price, and helps me identify my costs. The auction is 60 minutes from a HUGE goat meat eating area (Columbus Ohio has a large Somalian population).

Oh, and like Straw Hat said, for me it's goats, more fun, more simple, more economical.


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## Roll farms (Jul 18, 2012)

I much prefer goat personalities to sheep personalities.  (Not to offend any sheep people...to each their own).  We had hair sheep and wool sheep and they were all sorta spacy.

I didn't use goats for milk or cheese or ice cream or pie or any of the wonderful 'extras' you can get either, for a while.  

Sure am glad I do now, though.  Mmmm MMMM MMMMMM.

We have no meat market near us, and I'm not set up or willing to haul them long distance.  

We sell breeding stock off the farm and I simply don't tolerate stupid customers...real easy to weed them out w/ phone calls or emails. 

I was one of the 1st people in our area to get Kikos.  Back then nobody around here had heard of them....everyone wanted 'white goat / red head' (boers).  I could barely sell them for breeding stock at break-even prices, and nobody wanted my surplus wethers for 4-H.  
I gave up on trying to convert boer people to Kikos (they didn't care about the benefits, they just wanted what everyone else had... ) and started breeding 'hardier' boers and crosses, along w/ our Nubians.

So far, so good.

But if you want to sell 'breeding stock', you'll have to invest in some good stock and be ready to back it up w/ documentation.  
The average 1st time goat buyer wants 'cheap'.  You won't make money selling 'em cheap.
Most people who're willing to pay good money want proof of the quality....performance records, buck test info, etc.

If you're not already, buy "Goat Rancher" magazine.  Lots of good info in it, and there's even a meat sheep section inside.


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## AMT15 (Jul 19, 2012)

Actually we live not to far from an auction now, but are looking to move, so if we end up somewhere with the same commodity then I might be interested in that. For some reason I thought you had to deal with killing all the animals first, lol, but just hauling them out there in a trailer, well, that might just work. (although I would still be more interested in just selling breeding stock ect.)

Thanks,


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## 20kidsonhill (Jul 19, 2012)

We sell lots of boer and boer cross breeding stock and we don't show. Now in all honesty we aren't selling them for thousands. But we are able to ask a better price for them than meat prices. But it is more work and more dealing with customers.When selling registered animals there will be paperwork and tattooing needing to be done.  We sell the better doelings for breeding stock, some are commercial and some are registered, if they have any faults we will offer them to the kids as 4H meat goat projects. We castrate almost all the males and offer the majority of them as show wethers. A couple of the better bucklings we keep intact and offer as herd sires.  Out of about 45 kids this spring we offered 4 bucklings as herdsires, 3 of them were fullblood.  The kids that didn't make those sales and are left over are then taken to the auction at around 60 to 80 lbs.  

We offer them fairly young and try to sell all our kids by 3 or 4 months of age so we don't have as much feed or time into them. 

Time of year the kids are born will help your sales. If kids in your area are interested in show wethers, your kids have to be 70 to 100lbs for the shows in your area. More people seem to be interested in buying in the springtime, I find it can be a little harder to sell breeding stock near the fall and middle of winter. Plus normally the best prices for meat goats are February through May at the stockyards. 

I do still kid out a couple in summer time, only because I don't feel I can justify keeping a doe open all year, so if the doe didn't catch during normal breeding season then I will breed her off season. 
We normal kid December through February. And my yearlings will kid hopefully by April, when they are 13 to 14 months of age. Our yearlings are always kept separate as a small group until the fall after their 2nd fall then they are put with the main herd for their 2nd breeding. I keep between 2 and 6 replacement doelings a year. I never keep just one and I try to keep them similar sizes. So often If I have a doe that kids out of sequence with the rest I will sell al lthe kids. I often sell all the kids from my yearlings the first year since they were born a little late in the year at out of sequence with the rest of the herd.


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