Wanted: full size dairy goat kids

[leenie]

I am looking for a couple of doe kids this spring. Ideally, we would like Alpines but will consider other breeds. We do want full size dairy goats though as we have had Nigerian dwarfs and they were not the right breed for us. My 9 year-old daughter is my constant livestock care partner so it matters that they are gentle and easy to handle. We want them as young as possible so we can train them. I am in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia so I would prefer someone nearby. Thanks!

 

[freemotion]

I'll have something in the spring (if all goes as planned.... )but it is quite a drive from WV!

 

[Bettacreek]

You may be able to find something here: http://classifieds.pennswoods.net/classifieds/categoryListing.cgi?viewcategory=Livestock

It's mainly for PA, but I do see some ads from neighboring states. If you're willing to drive, I'm sure you'd be able to find something at least somewhat close.

 

[leenie]

I'm not that far from PA and that is a do-able drive. I'll check it out. Thanks. I am getting lots of feedback about Lamanchas locally so we've begun to consider those. Thanks so much and good luck with your does this spring.

 

[Iceblink]

leenie - why didn't NDs work for you? I'm getting 2 in the spring, so any first hand experience with them would be helpful to me.

 

[savingdogs]

We are still new to goats, but we are loving our nubian/nigerian dwarf crosses. Actually the nigerian dwarf mom had a little pygmie in her too. They are super, super loving and friendly because we bought them from a loving 4H family.
You will love getting goats! Our little cross breeds have been very healthy.

 

[leenie]

Iceblink, we absolutely loved our ND as pets. They were sweet, loving, docile and yet playful. Their size made them easy to work with. We ended up with 5 of them when someone in our area had to move suddenly and had no where to house them. We had 2 mature does and 3 yearling does. One of the does I was never able to milk successfully. The other one I could but it was a lot of work for a tiny bit of milk. I realized that milk and other dairy foods for our family from NDs would mean milking at least 4 of them twice a day. That did not appeal to me when I knew I could milk one full size dairy goat to provide all we needed. We have friends who raise NDs and hand milk about a dozen per day. They make wonderful cheese, butter and sweets from this delicious milk. The butterfat content is very high so less milk is needed in terms of volume for those products. The next problem came when we tried to find a ND buck to breed our younger does. (One of them was 2 years old and ready to be bred.) Although we found several ND herd owners they were very reluctant to allow their herds to mix with another. Eventually, we bit the bullet and bought a $350 buck with the intention of selling him later. Long story short: he was sterile and the seller would not refund. So we were out hundreds of dollars and had an ornery buck to deal with as well. Our conclusion for our family was that NDs were wonderful pets, sweet and gentle enough even for small children but just not practical for dairying. Everyone's circumstances and personalities are different though so they may work wonderfully for you.
Leenie

 

[leenie]

Savingdogs,
I think a cross would be a really good option. Although ND folks would say that you completely destroy the breed integrity and they lose all their value. Since raising pedigrees never interested us that would not have mattered. Do yours have the Nubian floppy ears or upright like NDs?
Leene

 

[leenie]

Thanks, Bettacreek! I've contacted one farm about some doelings and have my fingers crossed!
Leenie

 

[savingdogs]

Leenie, mine have "airplane ears" which I guess are not valued by "mini nubian" breeders but mine are not really mini nubians.

Mini nubians are supposed to be Nubian mom, nigerian dwarf dad. They go for the pendulous ears because that is, of course, what the nubians have. I do also like those ears and when the time comes to breed mine, I was going to look for the best mini nubian with pendulous ears to breed my girls to. They would not be real mini nubians, but I thought I could sell the wethers as brush eaters and hopefully have a nice female to keep that has nice ears. My goats were actually an accidental breeding when a full sized nubian jumped the fence and mated with a Nigerian dwarf/pygmie (3/4 ND and 1/4 pygmie). But somehow one of our three has the pygmie coloring. She is actually the cutest one and has the nicest udders.

Actually "airplane ears" are really cute in my opinion, my goats are adorable, but that is me. I wish I was better at uploading photos. But we do like how nubians look and were originally drawn to them because smaller nubians fit into our barn better (low roof).