New to Goats, New to farms... New to it all! From NC

[norseofcourse]

Of course once y'all are bonded, you'll most likely want to let them out so they can follow you around the yard helping you do chores by getting underfoot... Or assist by stealing and re-positioning any tools you might have lying around... Or eating your favorite ornamental planting.

Just had to add a caution here, there are some common landscape plants that are poisonous to goats and other livestock, including yew, azalea, rhododendren, oleander. Remove poisonous plants or make sure the goats cannot reach them, and if you ever feed yard clippings to the goats, make sure you're only giving them safe plants to eat. You can google 'plants poisonous to goats', one good page is here:
http://fiascofarm.com/goats/poisonousplants.htm

 

[babsbag]

Not being registered probably made them much cheaper but wethers aren't registered no matter what. (there might be one goat registry that will register a wether...but why ? ? ?) It seems that goats cost more out where you are than they do in California, but out here you can get unregistered healthy kids for 50.00 or less. Bottling feeding can be fun if the goats are already trained to a bottle. You don't feed around the clock for very long, some people never do it. The goats will certainly bond to you, but it is hard to do if you are working away from home so you have to do what works for you. Personally I would bottle feed but that is just the sucker coming out in me...I raise bottle kittens all of the time.

 

[Southern by choice]

It is more about the quality of the animal and the breeder really.

Our unregistered dwarfs are $150 (does) wethers ($75-100)- but we also do goat education, require the new owner to take our class before picking up animal. We do this because everyone should know goat care before they get a goat and sadly many "breeders" don't give support. We put alot into our animals, they are disbudded or polled, healthy, very parasite resistant, vaccinated, tested for CAE, CL, & Johnes. They are also quality unregistered, given the same care as our registered goats.

Our unregistered does are also milkers- not just "pets". We kept only our best unregistered does and they are bred to registered bucks. This year we almost didn't breed our unregistered goats but then changed our mind. There are those that don't want to show, milk, breed and don't want to spend $300 and up for a doe.
If a breeder isn't interviewing you than they probably aren't worth going to.

For 4 wethers you should have no problem finding them at around $75 each... if all from the same place -Which means someone had a buck year LOL- you might get a package deal. Bottle babies that are raised by the breeder will more than likely not be discounted as there is alot of work involved.

Come spring there will be SOOOOO many bucklings born and most won't "qualify" as breeders so will be wethered. You will be overwhelmed with choices!

 

[Latestarter]

What Southern said is right on! I know it's difficult, especially when you're all geared up and flying forward with the goal in sight, but if you can wait just a few more months, you'll basically have your pick of goats.

"Most" folks breed their goats for spring births (for a number of very good reasons). Feb-April being most common
"Most" folks want does, not bucks, and consequently get more bucks than does... I'm sure you know how that works right? "Most" folks will have all these bucks, that nobody wants. They don't make milk or new kids after all... They just eat...
"Most" folks will discount even further if you're buying multiple goats, especially if it's all bucklings, wethered or not!
"Most" folks bucklings will not be "herdsire" quality so should be wethered but in any effort to make them saleable will offer them either unaltered or wethered... just to have a 2nd opportunity to find a buyer. A "GOOD/conscientious" breeder will NOT allowed a poor quality buck to remain intact as that just passes on bad genetics.

Show breeders are the contradiction to "most". They breed for the highest quality and breed conformation & normally their kids are sold/reserved well before they are ever produced. Their animals are also substantially more expensive as they are all either registered or able to be, from excellent, recognized blood lines and their potential offspring are therefore much more valuable as well. This is even more true in the most popular or rarer, or less available breeds.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

@Ericka What does the original breeder test for? I didn't see it on his website. Maybe I missed it It is very important to know WHAT the breeders are tested for. So many say "oh I'm tested for everything" but that is not the reality. See the documents for yourself! If the breeders don't have have it, demand that they get a copy. Many leave it all to their vets. Some people don't even know what they are testing for. Others think they are getting tested for several things but the vet was only testing for 1 thing, then realizing years later that it was not the case & now have disease in their herd
This happens more often then you would think

@Latestarter You don't have to be a show breeder to breed for the highest quality and breed conformation or to have the top bloodlines You can still have great goats and never have entered a goat into the show ring. When I look at goats I am not just looking for show wins, I am looking more at DHIR & LA records then anything. The LA, in my mind, is less subjective. You may have a doe that has a huge, beautiful udder but is she just uddered up or can she really milk? The DHIR, if you are doing the 305 day test, will be able to tell you how the doe will hold up when she is consistently milked.

Be very careful with slats. I think slats is a bad idea when you are dealing with ND kids. We had a doeling get her leg stuck in one of the slats, had I not been there her leg would have broken for sure. She was pawing and her tiny little leg slid through one of the slats, the doeling started to panic & flail around. The slats were so close together that the berries wouldn't fall through. I think slats are fine with large breed goats, as the kids are usually 7-11lbs vs a ND that are tiny lil' things!

 

[babsbag]

The dairy I was at did say that she was going to be watchful with the Nigi kids and the slats, she said that they had not used this flooring before with kids. I agree that it is something to watch for with little ones.

 

[Latestarter]

Sorry @Goat Whisperer ... wasn't implying anything... just saying "most"... I too look for the best I can afford to have. Just the price from some of these show breeders is gold plated... and the waiting lists can stretch over a generation or two...

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Don't worry LS, I wasn't offended at all!

@babsbag Glad the breeder will be keeping eye on the ND kids. They really can get into some things that shouldn't be possible What was the name of the dairy you visited? Did you get any pics of the setup?

 

[babsbag]

@Goat Whisperer I was at Pholia Farms in OR. The owner was nice enough to let me come and watch how she milks and I got a lot of tips and ideas.

 

[Ericka]

Hey everyone been busy making more stuff for the "kids". We added bedding to half the barn and made a play center. Work in progress, but I think that for the right farmer we are willing to wait until Spring for pick of the litter LOL.

I have no idea what he tested for, his website was a bit vague and he mentioned in an email that he was a "natural" farmer. So basically only medicated when they needed it. But we have let him know that we aren't able to bring home his babies as the horns are simply not a good fit for us and my husband is now refusing them after googling some terrible stories.

So, we are officially on the hunt for more information and a new farmer. I was able to reach out to 2 local goat mini farms, facebook has been so great LOL. They both are giving us tours and showing us their "grounds". I am pretty excited, even if we have to wait to bring our sweet babies home, I think that this is a better fit for us to keep looking. And I am feeling more and more prepared with knowledge every day. @Southern by choice how long is the class? Assuming you don't have any unregistered babies still available for the spring, a class might be more than helpful!

Someone mentioned the fencing. We do have "slats" assuming that was the 3 cross braces. We put it on the outside of the wire fencing, for supports should they rub the fence. Still working out the idea of a single electric line on the fence for extra added support and to keep the critters out.

Anyway... pics of what we did today