Buying our first goat!!! Need advice.

[PunkinPeep]

I'm very excited that my husband and i may be about to finally buy our first goat!

So i'm doing some research and asking questions. But i need some general information from regular folks.

We're getting a free Boer buck from a friend, whose kid raised it to show in the fair. So my husband did some reading and said he'd like to get a nubian doe and then breed the two.

So i wrote to a local breeder and explained that we're not planning to show, and that we just want a back yard healthy milk goat (nubian) - and sort of explained our preliminary plans.

She wrote back with some possible options and asked me our price range. Well, i wasn't sure because i had no frame of reference, and i told her $100 but flexible.

When she wrote back, she was giving me phone numbers of a bunch of other people and didn't answer the questions about how much her does are. So i think i insulted her. I didn't mean to. I wanted her to tell me the price range.

Anyway, how much should i expect to pay? I don't want anything awfully special. Can anyone give me a frame of reference? I don't wan to insult anyone anymore!

Thanks for any help!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

mornin' punkinpeep!

oh golly - sorry that was your first experience.. welcome to the world of goats!

so a couple things... (sorry i'm going to sound bossy here but i'm typing fast)....

1. you might seriously want to reconsider that whole buck thing especially if this is your first goat experience. kid raised or not that buck may not always be your friend...any intact male can be very dangerous. and a boer buck is going to get huge. and he is going to stink to high heaven especially when in rut. you can get "buck services" for about $50 and then you dont have to own one yourself. really and truly i would try and talk you out of this one.

2. yeah. breeders.. or i should say SOME breeders take themselves very seriously. if you check her website you might be surprised to find that she sells her goats for HUNDREDS of dollars. yeah. i know. i dont know why she just didnt tell you. she sounds mean.

i've found there are two kinds of goat people.. us.. regular old folks. and some very wacky folks who are off the charts. i'm not sure when owning farm animals became elitist.. but wow. you'll get that.

i'd shrug her off and go onto the next thing.

check your local craigslist for prices. or call your local 4H club where you'll get more flexibility. i've see does in milk up to $300 - and thats not fancy papered does.. but barnyard ones. but it seems that doelings (thats a young lady goat, not yet bred) seem to be about $100 - $150

i paid $200 each for my does IN MILK - they just had their babies when i got them in the spring. this worked out because i could go and try milking them before i bought them. both were problems for the breeders....but perfect for me. and i just lucked out with the breeders i found. they were fun, easy, and took time to teach me a lot of things.

if you posted this over on the herds site - go and take it down before you get read the riot act about how you obviously cant afford to own quality animals and who do you think you are!! *eyeroll here* and then laugh that "these are goats, people!"

also a milker and a meat may not be a good cross. i'm wrestling with this one right now. we just needed our milker to be bred so we tossed her in with the neighbors buck. we got Ginger who looked very dairy to begin with.. now i think she's "too meat" to make a good milker. so
while it solved our immediate problem we'll breed our milkers with dairy bucks this time. thats.. someone ELSE'S buck.

i think i may have given you this - but if not here is what i know about goats and out goat getting experience so you know what you are info for:

http://adventuresinthegoodland.blogspot.com/p/what-i-know-about-goats.html

you're doing a great job of researching the whole thing - so find a different breeder and go and get your goat! (you may have better luck in the spring)

 

[Javamama]

OFG gives great advice! I'm starting out too and have gotten so much good advice here.
First of all, make sure you get more than one - a lonely goat is a troublesome goat. And you won't want to be keeping a pregnant goat with a huge buck like that - it could do some serious damage to the female, even if it doesn't mean to. When I went and visited our breeder's place, I was shocked at how rough goats are can be each other, and they were just playing!

So, I personally would pass on the buck. Those Boers are scary big! Finding a stud for your females shouldn't be too difficult.
Keep searching craigslist and check at feed stores for ads and breeder info. I got a deal on mine because the breeder is advancing her generations and just had no need for these particular goats anymore - they are perfect for me though, healthy, young and proven breeders and milkers. And she's going to breed them for me before I bring them home!
Keep searching, you will find the perfect ones for you

 

[ksalvagno]

OFG is right. Pass on the buck. The buck and doe can't be housed together and a Boer buck will end up being around 200 pounds. If a 200 pound buck doesn't want to go somewhere or do something, it isn't going to happen unless you can prove stronger than him. You would be better off to get 2 does. And boy do they stink. I have Nigerian Dwarfs and supposedly the full size goats smell much worse than these guys do and they have stunk up my barn.

As far as that first breeder you talked to, it doesn't even make any sense to ask what you want to spend. Just tell the person what your prices are and they can decide if they want to pay that or not. There are plenty of very friendly and helpful breeders out there so I would keep looking. Around here I have seen goat prices all over the map. A good place to start is Craigslist and also just look up on ADGA or AGS for a list of breeders in your area. You can also do a search on Nubian breeders and directories should come up.

Keep in mind that there is probably a reason why a goat is cheap though. It is possible to be lucky and find a goat cheap that ends up being a gem but usually if someone is selling a goat cheap, they usually have some sort of problem that they want to get rid of.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

..and i guess we should answer PunkinPeep's question... which is:

why do people have bucks if they are such a hassle?

actually for some good reasons:

1. they are set up for it. for instance one of the gals i know keeps her bucks in a totally separate barn and field than the ladies. so you can keep them in separate yards. but you've got double (ish) the expense for an animal you need for a.. that.. er... ahem... "one task."

2. its their job - for instance breeders who do this for a living

or 3.. they are lunatics!
;-)

i was trying to figure out why a friend would try and give you a buck... i'm guessing they or the kids got attached?? hum.....i dunno...

but i'm sure you'll figure out what is best for you

 

[freemotion]

I vote for skipping the buck, bigtime. I only deal with baby bucklings to breed my does, then sell them asap. They can still be a major challenge and a pain in the tushy. Literally.

My big recommendation is to squeeze out the money to buy a doe in milk if you can. There should still be does out there who are giving 2-3 quarts a day. You will pay more for such a doe, but if your family uses dairy products (you will use more once you have a dairy animal, which will displace other food items on your grocery list, saving money) she will pay for herself this year.

This way, you learn and have a good experience and the goat is paying for her food and her purchase price. Yes, a doeling is cheaper initially, but you have to feed her until she is in milk, then you don't know what you will end up with. She could be hard to milk, and she could give very little her first year or two. And you are feeding her all this time. I just milked Ginger and got a whopping eight ounces. Mya gave me two full quarts this morning. On the same amount of feed.

Breed the doe and you can keep a doeling next year, or buy a doe in milk and a well-grown doeling and breed them both this fall. To someone else's buck, this year at least.

I would love to sell a goat to someone like you one day. I would offer milking lessons and support. But I am not normal.

Welcome to the dark side!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

Yes, a doeling is cheaper initially, but you have to feed her until she is in milk, then you don't know what you will end up with. She could be hard to milk, ...

or you could spend all that time and money feeding and housing her...and then finally get some babies out of her... and she rejects the babies... and then has to go into witness protection because her momma (thats me) is on a murderous warpath.

good thing Nibbles turned out to be a good milker!

and heh heh heh... Debbie and Vita are still milking just short of a gallon a day. thats my girls!

hi Free!

 

[ksalvagno]

I keep bucks because it is a business for me and I only want to breed to disease free bucks. Everyone in my area with disease free bucks don't do outside breedings. So I ended up with my own bucks. But I have the room and the IRS wants me to look like a business if I'm going to write off all my expenses.

 

[Blackbird]

"or 3.. they are lunatics!"

Thanks for mentioning me, OFG!

I'm not sure how my 90lb mom is going to hand a buck that's back is as high as her chest and still growing. Yikes!