Don't have dairy goats but doing research on getting them Mek's diary

[mek]

Below research on getting diary goats

Brief: I want to get goats for milk
Time projective: 2 years
Goal: To get everything ready without having my head chopped off and not being prepared

Get two goats (One wither and one doe lactating) or (one doe not breeding and one doe lactating)
Get goat from breeder
Get goat with free from CAE, and johns disease
Get goat papers because even though you dont want baby goats, goats need to have produced a baby to milk

Breed choices
Angelo Nubian or British Alpine
wither $100.00 (Anglo Nubian)
lactating $400.00 (Anglo Nubian)
Doe???

Owners Temperament
Works full time Mon-Fri 7:30 to 5:00 Sat 9:00-11:00
Already owns chickens quail and wakes up at 6:00 to tend to them

Land issues:
Not fully fenced around the boarder
Has avocado trees
Has rhubarb patch
Has rhododendrons-azaleas

Transport
. yes how? in the back seat of the car?

Vet
. To confirm if they are just dog and cat vets or four stomached vets

Worming
. Where to buy and prices (ask when asking vet)

Injections
.Where to buy and prices (ask when asking vet)

Hoofs and grooming
need Hoof pick
Hoof shears
Hoof file
Brush

Milking
Fridge space
Bucket
Milk stand

Feeding
Need Hay feeder
Water container
Feeding tough (see milk stand)
Free choice lick holder

Space
.How much fenced square area is needed for two goats?

Fence Height
. How high?
hoop link type fence not welded type... need fence height to determine cost

Shelter
Tin Sheds range from $300.00 to $500.00

Time
. How long does it take to milk a goat?

From my local feedstore
steam flake barley - barrastock forgot to ask price
Milking bucket $33.00 (use a jar instead)
Feeding tough $25.00
Lucerne Pellet forgot to ask price
Rectangle shaped thing of grassy stuff (lucerne /barley) $16-20
Rivena Goat feed $17.00 per 20kg (there are other minerals but I will use copper as my comparing base COPPER mg/kg : 12.00 )
Livamol- $71.50 per $15kg (200g per a goat a day) (some kind of molasses mineral thingo)
Rock salt block 6kg min $20.95
Multiblock lick $8.50 for 2kg

From my local paper
Shredded and Grassy Lucerne hay
Chaff hay
Starting price $9.90

feeding summary:
2.5kg goat pellet per a day on a milking goat (2.5kg @ $0.85 = $2.13 a day)
1kg goat pellet per a day on a non milking goat (1kg @ $0.85 = $0.85 a day)
How many bags per a month- (3.5kg *30 = 105kg = 6 bags of goat pellets per a month) 6*17= $102.00
How much minerals does two goats go through?
What is chaff?
How much dry feed (hay stuff) per a goat per a day?
How much live feed (green stuff) per a goat per a day?
Apparently you feed dry stuff to goat first then let them at the green stuff.

Emergency bag - look up BYH
Then lookup pricing when at Stockfeeds

note to self ask breeder how I get new baby goat without buck (name my goat Mary and hope for the best?)
ask the logistics of getting a baby dehorned

 

[elevan]

Wow! Quite a research outline you've got started

Let's see if we can help with some of your questions that are still hanging:

Transport
. yes how? in the back seat of the car?

It's possible yes. I brought home 2 calves in the backseat of a car

Space
.How much fenced square area is needed for two goats?

There is no right or wrong answer here. Just know that the smaller the space the quicker they'll decimate it and the more that you'll have to supplement.

Fence Height
. How high?

5 foot minimum. Depending on your predators, you might want to go higher. In Florida (for example) fence height is recommended at 10 feet.

Time
. How long does it take to milk a goat?

Truly depends on you. It'll be longer starting out and you'll get quicker as you learn.

feeding summary:
How much minerals does two goats go through?

Depends on the time of year and what they're getting from other sources. I fill up mineral feeders 1x a week for my doe pen which has 8 goats in it.

What is chaff?

chaff = dry, scaly protective casings of the seeds of cereal grain, or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material such as scaly parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff is inedible for humans, but livestock can eat it and in agriculture it is used as livestock fodder

How much dry feed (hay stuff) per a goat per a day?

I feed hay free choice in the winter months only.

How much live feed (green stuff) per a goat per a day?

I don't really measure that as my goats are on self browse spring through fall.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

You've done a lot of research!

I'll just pick out a couple of things:

Transport, yes, backseat is possible (done it with pet sheep) but a small cage trailer will probably be more comfortable for all involved. A horse float is brilliant if you have access to one. Beware that goats can jump out of uncovered cage trailers. I always put a roof on or use a collar to anchor them in.

What is chaff? In Australia chaff is chopped hay, we don't have Lucerne Pellets here, I feed Lucerne chaff mixed with their grain.

Livamol- $71.50 per $15kg (200g per a goat a day) (some kind of molasses mineral thingo)
Rock salt block 6kg min $20.95
Multiblock lick $8.50 for 2kg

If all this is for minerals I'd suggest just buying a loose goat mineral. Goats have a hard time with block licks, I ended up smashing mine up with a hammer for them. They much prefer the loose minerals I use now. Livamol is expensive and unnecessary. I use less than that for show horses and none for non-showing horses. Also beware of multi-species minerals that are ok for sheep, they won't have enough copper for goats.

Where are you located? If your in the US other members can recommend a mineral brand to look for. If your in Aus I'll tell you what I use though it's not sold for goats it's working for me as I can't find goat minerals.

 

[mek]

Where are you located? If your in the US other members can recommend a mineral brand to look for. If your in Aus I'll tell you what I use though it's not sold for goats it's working for me as I can't find goat minerals.

South East queensland 4272
cool, let me know, there was a lot of horse stuff in the stockfeed shop.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Hello fellow Aussie!

You'll have no trouble finding goats up there, I keep finding for sale adds for goats in that area. I'm down in Vic so it's too far for me to go get them.

I'm using Equilibrium http://equiaustralia.com.au/ I've used it for my ponies for ages. I used to measure it out but now I just put out 1 cup at a time and it usually disappears in a week or so. Faster in summer when it's hot and slower in winter so I put a bit less out at a time. That's for the two ponies and 4 goats, you'd use less than 1/2 that. I usually have seaweed meal out too but I've run out at the moment. The ponies love it but the goats don't seem as keen.

When I got my goats they had rough, curly, coarse coats. Everything I've seen on here pointed to mineral deficiencies. They also tried very hard to eat the ponies old mineral block with no luck till I smashed it up for them. Since I couldn't find goat minerals and the only thing I could get locally was a horse and goat block I decided instead to start them on Equilibrium which I was already using for the ponies. They love it!

I was worried about them getting too much at the start so I only offered them 1/2 a pony dose each but they were begging for more, poor things knew they needed it. I started offering it semi free choice in a feed tub, putting out twice what I expected them to use, every day for a week or so it was polished clean. I really did wonder if they could over does on it at this point but noticed after two weeks they were starting to leave a little in the bin and already their coats were looking better. After about a month they would leave some in the bin so I started giving them more and leaving it longer between refills. They were looking so much better. Now they can have as much or as little as they need and seem quite happy with nice smooth coats. I don't believe they had access to minerals where they came from but they sure knew they needed them.

 

[mek]

So after countless bids on Ebay I finally got my fence. $700.00 and the Freight was $230.00, from memory.
I'll Post some pictures later when I have time to put the fence together and pull out the camera.

On a sadder note I figured that the cost of medical materials and euipment and milking stuff would come to about $500.00 and that's without the vaccination med or the anti toxins for tetnus and Penicillikan and wat not.
(but $one hundred and ninety of it is goat specific 5L Drench)

I also found out that the breeder I want to buy from wont have any goats in milk until December.

So I guess this will give me time to save up and get the stuff I need.
AND so much for saving.... I spent some money on some browse seeds so that I can plant underneath the avocardo trees, and some other tasty seeds.
I got the following seeds:
Barrel Medic
Buckwheat
Beetroot bull blood
Beet - sugar
Beetroot Touchstone gold
Carrot Nantes
Cow Pea
Chicory Puna
Kale Red winter
Kale blue curled scotch
lucerne Seuel
Pigeon Pea
Soybean
Tagasaste (tree lucerne)

Things to buy still are: Shed for shelter

Things to make are: milk stand, mineral feeder, hay feeder.

Leads to follow for the uest of more information: Gatton Goat show March Eighteen, The goat person who provides milk for the local cheese factory, Beaudesert newspaper - info on second hand goat euipment?

 

[crazyland]

The feed store should carry some of the vaccines. Mine carries just about everything I need. I haven't needed a vet but twice. Make sure you can call 24/7. No good to have a vet that is only open 9-5 m-f. Ask breeder who she uses. If that vet is to far call them and ask if they can recommend someone closer. Vets know lots of people too.
See what you can build yourself to save cost. Sheds are not hard to build and you can choose the materials. We built a shelter for better materials for less cost than a prebuilt.
Just some ideas for you.