Adding a girl to the herd

[BJnMe]

We found a local dairy farm that will be giving away pure bred nubs this spring. Our boys will be well able to breed by this point, but the female would obviously not be ready until the following spring. Would we be better off getting a mature female this spring or getting a baby and raising it.

I know that getting a baby (or 2) would mean them being separate until the girls were old enough. My question really is would we be better off with a dam that has kidded.

 

[Roll farms]

Why are they giving away female kids?

If you want the hassle of keeping the doe kid seperated for at least 9 mos....have at it.

 

[BJnMe]

We will be needing the milk and don't have the ability to disbud/castrate/feed all of them this year.

We haven't decided if we want to deal with the hassle yet. It would be nice to hand raise them as instead of buying a goat we don't know.

 

[freemotion]

If you have never owned a lactating goat before and all that it entails, I'd strongly recommend that you start with an experienced doe that is easy to handle. You will bond with her just fine, and will have enough to deal with without having the frustration of a first-freshener. You can get a free doe kid at the same time, so you will have milk all year and then you can breed both again in the fall. Or you can take a chance that the mature doe you buy will have a doeling for you to keep.

You won't regret it, and the doe will pay for most or all of her purchase price in milk and dairy products like cheese, kefir, yogurt, ice cream, pudding, custard, etc. Then you can still have the experience of raising a goat from birth and having kids from her and training her to be milked.