20kidsonhill
True BYH Addict
We offer all our doelings for sale, as either registered or commercial stock. I sell them off the farm at 10 weeks of age, At this point they have only been on feed for around 7 weeks, and are probably eating around a 1 1/2 lbs a day of grain for the last couple weeks. I feel they transition better to their new home if they are used to eating grain.jodief100 said:
More than half our males/whethers born in a season are sold as fair animals for 4h/ffa meat shows. These animals have to be used to eating grain inorder to be ready for their new homes. Most of them will be picked up at 10 weeks of age. We wean at 8 weeks of age, so the show whethers(they could also be doelings) are ready to go to their new homes as soon as possible.
The left over animals, hopefully no more than 1/4 of what we started with) that aren't show quality or breeding stock quality are fed out on our farm until they reach around 70lbs. OUr goal is to have them out the door by 4 or 5 months of age. First off we have a very healthy coccidiosis population here in virginia in the valley. I pretty much have to treat for cocci, so feeding them medicated feed really helps with this. Secondly, we only have around 4.5 true acres of pasture and we are running 25 adult goats, plus then their off-spring, so we are a little tight on room anyway. OUr hay is fairly pricey, maybe you are getting a better deal on hay. OUr hay is $5 a 50lb bale of grass mix 2nd cutting hay and $5 for a small bale of alfalfa, maybe up to $7 a bale for alfalfa. The pelleted medicated feed is about double this, but I figure it is offering atleast twice the nutritional value of the hay, another words 1lb of pelleted feed would equal 2lbs of hay consumption. I am truely just guessing, never actually figured it out.
By selling the does as replacement does and whethers for the show I am able to ask as good a price or most the time higher for them at 10 weeks as I would get for them as 70lb to 80lb meat goats, no need to feed them out at all. Although several of them were already above 50lbs at 8 weeks coming off of mom. They wouldn't have had to much more growing to do. You figure the fair animals are the better goats. So I am left feeding out the lower end of the kids. If I have a few lower end kids that I get tired of feeding out, I just sell them lighter and be done with it. sometimes a 50lb kid will still bring really good money at the sale as long as they look healthy.
I haven't had any buyers complain about the fat on them. I would agree they probably are a little fatter. I had a gentlemen from india coming and butchering 4 to 6 a year, at a good price. He commented that he didn't like them too fat, but he seemed to think the meat tasted really good and when he had a party some of his friends commented how wonderful the goat tasted. This would have been a wonderful business arrangement with him, except he was making his moves on me(okay, stop laughing), and I had to tell him we wouldn't sell to him any longer, he was getting that inappropriate. He called me on and off for another two years trying to get me to sell him and his friends more goats, He probably would have purchased just about everything I could have produced. He had some great connections up in the Washingtion D.C. area. It was just getting weird and creeping me out. I said, "Stop laughting at me."
No one wants to pay anything for them buying them from the farm for butchering around here, except Mr. creepy that I mentioned, we have had much better luck at the stock yards with our left over kids, so it isn't like they can complain to us about the fat. Plus probably 2/3 of our goats have a little nubian in them and you could feed them all day and they don't get fat, they just keep putting on frame. Man those things can grow. We have some good competition at the stockyards, with a couple buyers taking loads up to new YOrk and lots of privit buyers as well. There they have to pay and don't complain when they go $1.50 to $2.00 a lb. yes they sell per head, I am going off of what I know they weigh.
feel free to ask any questions.
I apologize if this is too off subject for this thread.
Don't get me wrong, our taxes always show a lose, and we don't make a living from our goats. But I do expect the goats to pay for themselves, with the added benifits of tax breaks from the improved buildings, fencing, ectt....... Has it all been financially, profitable in the end?
ygoras
