How Big is the Herd?

[FarmerChick]

How big is your herd?

Curious for those on the board?


I was up to 120 Boer does...breeding for meat over the years as an actual working farm business.

Was going to increase but realized I was getting older and more tired of hard farm work so instead went to downgrading.

Down to 70 for a long time and then currently I am about 30.

The 30 herd is so much easier than the 120 herd...HAHAHA



So how many do you have and why do you have them?

 

[freemotion]

OK, y'all know this but I'll start!

I have 5 goats, my little homestead herd. The first two were only for company for my horse when she retired and moved home with us to the 'burbs.

Goats are like potato chips....you can't only have....2.

The next one was for milk, in my search for health, raw milk was on my list and I simply could not find it here unless I wanted to pay $16 per gallon. Even then it was rarely available. One local goat farm only sold to families with infants who needed it because the list was so long.

Then a second doeling to raise as another dairy animal, now of course I needed a buck!

So who knows how many I will have by spring...

 

[ksalvagno]

I have 3 males and 6 females for a total of 9. Four of the females are pregnant so I will have some little ones in the spring.

We wanted to be more self sufficient and wanted our own milk. So my goats are all dairy. I got the smaller goats due to size of property and knowing I would want more than a few. Went with Nigerian Dwarfs.

 

[dkluzier]

We have 3 males and 7 females. 1 purebred pygmy billy, 1 pygmy/nubian cross billy, 1 nigi wether, 2 nubian/pygmy cross does. 2 saanen/nubian cross does, and 3 purebred nubian does. Looking at starting a kinder line in March with the pygmy buck and nubian does.

4 of our does are bred for Spring so we'll be adding more to the mix.

Luv the raw goat milk and am hoping to start selling it next Spring if we can get the milking room set up.

 

[()relics]

Way too many....No really 12 grade boer does, I call them grade does but they are really percentages, I usually don't register their doe kids and the billy kids all get wethered...This is my money making line. I sell the wethers as percentage show prospects and the does are replacement animals that I either add to my own herd or sell to other producers...And 5 fullblood does...These are my show lines and my money pit....Again the billys are wethered or sold as herd sires and the does likewise, replacements...Except the select few that we keep to show ourselves...And 2 fullblood billys, sold my past herd sire this fall because he had run his route...In with the new out with the old, blood that is....So that would be 24 boers.
.....And I guess I'll admit that my daughter has 3 purebred NPGA does and 1 Billy(NPGA)...Just don't tell any of my friends....So that is it total 28 which is way too many...And I have 2 newborns on the ground and MANY more due soon...I don't like to count them yet plenty can go wrong before I want to claim them in my herd numbers....No more pygmys for me..editted to update

 

[jlbpooh]

I have a huge herd of 2 Nigerian Dwarf wethers for pets....at least for now, lol. That number could possibly expand in the future. The only way I could convince my husband to let me get some is if they weren't reproducible, now he is hooked though. It is cute seeing a 300 pound man playing with 2 little Nigis, lol.

 

[Roll farms]

30 something...27 are pregnant....so 30+ and counting....

I do it b/c I love goats, I love baby goats, and I love breeding GOOD goats, seeing what I can improve, who fixes what, and breeding to create dual-purpose meat & milk goats.

 

[lupinfarm]

I have 2 Pygmy does Adding a Pygmy billy and Nigerian Dwarf Wether in the spring.

We also have 2 horses, 19 chickens, and 3 ducks.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

not really a 'herd' more like a couple o' goats.

we had 4 this summer, sold one, and now one is at the breeder for winter... so that leaves just two.

got em originally to keep the brush down.. but then tried the dairy thing and i'm sold. now that everyone is dry we HATE buying dairy products - and we use the milk to complete the barnyard circle of life - goats feed the hens and hogs, hens lay eggs for the hogs, hogs feed me. everyone is very very happy.

however, i am not a goat 'lover' more like a goat 'liker' - i still think i'm a repressed cow person.
;-)

 

[goat lady]

1 adult male and a 7 month old male. 3 adult does breed to my adult male, and a 5 month old doe, but she seems lonely by herself and I am talking hubby into looking into two does that I found not far from our place that about the same age.