Getting Goats: Breed Questions

[savingdogs]

My mini-nubians were giving 1/2 gallon a day, if that is a good reference for you. They have dropped that amount now however, but they are getting nearer the end of their lactation and I plan to breed Molly this month.

 

[CrimsonRose]

I had a nubian a while back and we had to get rid of her before we got her bred... but her original owner told me her mom gave a gallon a day at peek so I assume she would give 2-3 qts on average. but remember it probably won't be as much the first year if you get a yearling. And also that's if they come from good milk lines as well...

One thing to remember about nubians is they LOVE to talk... or should I say scream! I always had to have food to give her if I went outside just so she wouldn't make the neighbors think I was trying to strangle her.... LOL (my nearest neighbor is nearly a 1/4 mile away...) You honestly could hear her probably close to a mile away when she was really upset! hahaha She drove my hubby nuts! You could hear her in the house with all the windows closed and the TV turned way up... She had a pygmy buddy who like to talk too but she was nowhere near as loud! (pygmys are adorable sweet little loveable... monsters! NO fence could contain my mini heifer... She taught my nubian to jump them too as well as to rub up against them till they fell down if they got too high! She ate every fruit tree I had down to nubs,,, and forget having flowers or herbs! She tried to headbutt the rabbits to show them she was boss! as well as my sliding glass door! Lucky I caught her before she got a running start and a 2nd go at it! we didn't tell hubby she did that! hahaha

Pygmys don't give much milk maybe a qt if you are lucky... but they are supposed to have the highest butterfat of all almost 5% I think... but unless you have ft knox of goat pens I wouldn't get a pygmy! Don't let the cute factor fool you... They can be quite evil... while being cute and sweet at the same time... she had the greatest personality if she would just stop getting loose and eating everything I planted! She would follow me everywhere no lease required! Oh and she had a beard! hahaha

As for the nubian she was high strung! and a drama queen! if you let her loose you would be half the day trying to lure her back and catch her... or if you tried to put a lead rope on her she would fall to the ground screaming! If you would pull she would scream louder and begin to walk on her knees and thrash around... (take the rope off and she was fine!) She hated the the rope like the plague. LOL It made moving her a challenge! The more I tried to work with her the worse it got... She was stubborn.

Don't get me wrong I LOVED my nubian she was really a sweetheart (when she wasn't beening a drama queen) but just wanted to give you a heads up... I only had one so it might have just been her as an individual.... But from what I've read a lot of nubians behave this way especially the loud part... I had read they were loud but had no clue till I got my own!

So since the noise drove my hubby insane... and I wanted to get goats again I started looking up quiet breeds and found the saanen. They can give 2 gallons a day at peek! Their cream percentage is lower than nubians I think it's like 2.5%.... I am like you... I really wanted butter! That's why I got the nubian the first time... But here is my thought...

Saanens are known to be laid back and easy to train and handle... they give twice as much milk... so even if the nubian gave twice as much cream... with each milking you would get the same amount! with extra milk! They seem to be hardier from what I read as well...

(again this is just my personal experience each individual goat is going to be different) but my nubian was sorta sickly... Not bad... but she did require extra feed to keep her weight...) we had to worm her frequently and this kept her looking like a rack of bones... (All the while my pygmy didn't need wormed as much and was wider than she was tall... on just a little extra feed)

Where as tomorrow I'm going to pick up my new saanen..... hoorah! and I spoke with her owner and asked what type of feed was she on? She said straight pasture! Said she does great on just pasture and hay in the winter no extra feed needed... said she only gave her a little bit extra when she was lactating! She was a first freshener and already gave over a gallon a day! She also was super easy to train and takes to the lead rope well!

She is the last goat this girl has (she got a cow and is selling off her dairy goats) but even being alone in the pasture she said she is quite and doesn't scream! My nubian had a heart attack if you walked 10 feet away! While my pygmy would jump and wiggle her fat butt over the fence to follow me....

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Bubbling Brooks, I have seen you post numerous times about how goats should not eat grass pasture and in this thread you said it can cause problems. May I ask where you heard/read that? Grass is not harmful to goats. They prefer browse, but grass is just fine for them (after all, hay is grass). If you've found something stating otherwise I'd be interested in reading it.

 

[lorihadams]

I have nigerian dwarf goats...My older doe usually gives a half gallon a day but because of my learning curve when we got her she is down to a quart a day. I wasn't milking her out completely and her production dropped. I have two does to be bred this year and I am taking them back to my breeder to have them bred but she is only 1 hour away so it is not that bad. She only charges $50 for breeding too so I would rather pay that than keep a buck all year long.

Nigis don't need as much space as other breeds as they are about the size of a labrador retriever. We only have 3 acres so it was a good choice for us to go with a smaller breed. Our barn is 10 by 16 and that should give us plenty of room to use cattle panels to partial off kidding stalls temporarily. Our breeder uses 4x5ft kidding stalls in her barn which is plenty of room for these guys. We also did a milk room/feed storage that was 10x16 and a hay/straw storage that was 10x16. It has worked out very well. We have a fenced off pasture for them that is 50x125ft. We cut branches from the woods behind the house and bring it to them.

If you have small space you should definitely consider going with smaller goats. The smaller size makes them easier to handle by yourself too. Mine don't tend to be very vocal either....unless I walk out on the back porch.

 

[lorihadams]

Hey Katie, we have a "pasture" for our girls and there are no trees in there at all. We have lots of weedy growth and broad leafed plants that are okay for goats in there though. We also have access to 20 acres of wooded area behind our property and so we trim lower branches and bring them to the girls and hang them on the top of the fence posts so they have to reach up to get them. It just wasn't feasible for us to fence in the wooded area for them....the layout of the property just didn't allow for it. I think if you are able to bring them "browse" to offset the fact that they have grass pasture then they will be okay. We also planted some clover in the pen for them in little patches and they munch on that from time to time. We also feed alfalfa pellets daily. I think the problem arises when they don't have any variety of food sources.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Hey Katie, we have a "pasture" for our girls and there are no trees in there at all. We have lots of weedy growth and broad leafed plants that are okay for goats in there though. We also have access to 20 acres of wooded area behind our property and so we trim lower branches and bring them to the girls and hang them on the top of the fence posts so they have to reach up to get them. It just wasn't feasible for us to fence in the wooded area for them....the layout of the property just didn't allow for it. I think if you are able to bring them "browse" to offset the fact that they have grass pasture then they will be okay. We also planted some clover in the pen for them in little patches and they munch on that from time to time. We also feed alfalfa pellets daily. I think the problem arises when they don't have any variety of food sources.

Well, I can understand that goats really like browse and prefer it to grass, and they're very happy when you bring them browse. I just don't think there's anything wrong with having goats out on pasture with no browse. Many producers feed this way. The only thing I can think that may be "bad" with pasture is the parasite issue and them ingesting eggs and such. I mean, we all feed hay and hay is grass (and legume depending on type, but that's not browse). I just wondered why BB says it's bad, or the reasons why.

 

[lorihadams]

Like I said, the only thing I can figure is that the type of grass plays a factor too. If you put them in a pasture of fescue then they aren't going to do as well as a pasture with a mixture of weedy type "trash" and grass. I'm sure the size of the pasture and the concentration of goats plays a part too. I'm sure we all know that the higher the concentration of animals in a confined space the higher the risk of getting parasites and keeping them. If you only have grass pasture it may do better to fence off a few separate smaller paddocks and rotate them periodically to cut down on the risk of parasites and boredom and nutrient deficiency. You could even come behind the goats with a small flock of chickens to "clean up" after the goats.

My husband's uncle said "this pasture isn't really the best quality stuff for the cows"....which means that it is great for the goats . Goats will eat a lot of things in a pasture that other animals won't. So, yes goats can have a grass pasture but if they are only on a pasture with one type of grass in it then you may be more prone to problems. At least that's my take on the situation.

 

[BarredBuff]

I really like the look of the Alpines I saw them at State Fair and talked with the owner a lot and I have her number somewhere. But anyhow I liked them a lot.....

 

[savingdogs]

I think getting NICE does is more important than what breed. What you just described is the situation we were in after the fair three years ago. We really liked the ones we saw there, liked the person we bought from, liked ALL her goats and how they looked. She was nice enough to give us lots of pointers and even let us tour her barn before we brought them home, so we could see how to care for goats and what our new goats were used to. It was extremely helpful. We still follow the advice she gave us and she also pointed out the best place to buy hay in the area (where we still buy from). I think that sounds really good, I'd talk some more with the lady with Alpines. I know they are supposed to be really good milkers.

 

[freemotion]

Alpines are called the Holsteins of the goat world....big producers, slightly lower fat content. If a doe is able to "milk through" she is probably an Alpine, too. My Mya is an Alpine and she is my biggest producer and is very, very hard to dry off....I was going to milk her through but she whispered to the buck directions on escaping and got pregnant last year. Hoping my eight foot fence prevents that this year....but he's thwarted it three times now that he is in rut. Thank goodness the does haven't been in heat....yet.

Anyways, her daughter is half Alpine and half La Mancha and even as my tiniest goat and a first freshener, she is my second biggest producer.