Anyone raise goats?

[MustangGal]

i have been thinking about getting goats to milk because my kidos drink a gallon a day almost. With milk being 3.50 a gallon up here where I am I was thinking that might be cheaper to raise aouple of goats. i known buying milk is not going to get any cheaper. How much milk do the Pygmy or the Nigerian Dwarf produce in a day.

I'm not an expert by any means, but we milk two Mini LaManchas twice a day. MLMs are a cross between LaManchas and Nigerian Dwarfs. We are getting about a half a gallon a day, but both of these girls are first time fresheners and should produce more with future breedings.

Our Pygmy that had quads raised all four with NO help. After the kids to 7 or 8 weeks, she looked like she might be trying to wean them. She was very full, so to avoid possible mastitis we milked her out. Man, that was a RODEO! We got about a half a quart, and that was with four babies! So, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find she could milk between a half and a full gallon per day. She is not a first time freshener.

Of course, it depends on the goat, but in general I think the NDs will produce more - they are considered a dairy breed.

We haven't bought milk at the store since September. In fact, I sell 2 - 3 gallons a week.

[antishot]

i have been thinking about getting goats to milk because my kidos drink a gallon a day almost. With milk being 3.50 a gallon up here where I am I was thinking that might be cheaper to raise aouple of goats. i known buying milk is not going to get any cheaper. How much milk do the Pygmy or the Nigerian Dwarf produce in a day.

[Lowdown3]

Please Do Not Breed your pygmy does with a larger breed, you will likely cause much pain and a horrible death for them.

I might have missed it, but I don't think anyone said that they did that or suggested it. ????????

[homesteader361]

Best of both worlds goats

We were given a French Alpine doe and her Boer mixed daughter. We acquired a Kinder(Nubian doeXpygmy buck) buck for breeding. Both Does produce twins at second breeding. The does are milked one a day (AM) and kids feed the rest of day til bedtime and are placed in stall beside Moms with screened peep hole strip. Stress is only 1-2 days as they see and smell Mom. The kids grow to about 75lbs at 4-6mths and meat from them is the best I ever had. The milk is whole milk(Alpine) to very creamy milk(BoerXAlpine).
Once my girls get around 7 years old, I will be getting Kinder does and/or keep two (BoerXKinder) mix to replace milk and meat production. The older does and buck will live out the rest of their life ,if finances allows this.
Please Do Not Breed your pygmy does with a larger breed, you will likely cause much pain and a horrible death for them. A 'Kinder' is Pygmy Buck with Nubian Doe. Kinderish is Pygmy buck with any larger breed Doe. The birthing is a breeze and produce a midsized friendly goat.
About Bucks and their habits, it is gross and especially if you have an affectionate one like mine is. He likes to greet us with rub of pee soaked face (yuck). He is tied during day to hut beside goat house with a 4x6 ft high used rock screen look-through into their yard in solid fence of 6ft tall. Bucks can be very destructive for their size.

[1Admin]

He added maybe $200. to the pot, maybe. :) Stay on him, you'll eventually get what you want.

Goats have personalities, some good, some bad. This last go around with goats we bought them really young, penned them up and went out every morning and afternoon and fed them by hand and worked with them a lot.

Later we got a young buck and raised him to sire our first born on the 'stead kids. After a short period of time we just couldn't get near him. He wasn't dangerous, just had some crazy horns for a little Pygmy goat. When it was time for him to go, 10 yards was about the closest I could get, it was all I needed. He served his purpose, perhaps TWICE, well know for sure pretty soon on the 2nd time.

Probably next spring we'll get another baby buck and raise him, have him for a year or so.

Year old buck doesn't necessarily taste terrible, but no matter how you cook it, it's like chewing bubble gum.

[rockriver]

we have been trying to buy a small place for a while. we were there last week.
the owner has one goat and pen and small shed.
we have been far apart on money.
owner looked up and said. i'll throw in this goat and the chickens.
i think the goat is old.
but there's about 10 chickens..
we are getting "closer!"

[Irish-Tech]

We raised nubian goats back in the 80's, they were friendly and produced plenty of milk.

[MustangGal]

We have two little pygmy does, they are about three months old now. One was a bottle baby and the other was not. It is taking a lot of time and attention to get the second little goat to be friendly. I am wondering if we will be able to milk her. The bottle baby, on the other hand, is a totally different story. If I were buying goats to milk, I would make certain I got bottle fed goats. Or raised them myself on the bottle.

I would like to breed our does to a Nigerian Dwarf buck as they are supposed to have more milk than the pygmies, but since there are only three of us it shouldn't be an issue. I do want to try making cheese and butter. It is my understanding that pygmies have a pretty high butter fat content.

I've got one pygmy wether. I plan on getting some nannies and later a buck. I discovered that you never want to permanently house a buck in with the females...wether's are best for that.

So, once I saw an offer for a free one on craigslist, I swooped however, not quite ready to expand that project yet.

I certainly like having them though. Much better, IMHO, than full sized goats. The pygmy's consume a lot less and they can produce enough food and milk to make them worth their cost.

[chancemft]

CD&T and white mucsle(from over feeding) and tet, and you should be good to go! To keep them in the fence......... I met a guy who made a coller for his best escape artist, he called it his "hole checker" he had made a coller with spikes sticking off of it about 12" long, with the hooks forward. Anytime the goat tried to go through the fence the hooks would catch on a wire and they would have to back up to untangle themselves.

[chancemft]

We have goats, I used to have boers, but we had to sell them when we PCS'd to Ft. Cambell, Ky. Now that we are in Az. I decided it was time for more. The price has realy came up on them. What I sold 4 years ago, has more than doubledas of a month ago. We bought a doe in hopes of milking her.Not gonna happen! She had 3 kidds on her side, so at least we will have meat from the 2 bucklings, and we are traing the young doe for milking. I had forgotten how entertaining the kidds can be. They have suplied many hours of entertainment since their arrival.

[slingshot]

Hey Lowdown! Just wanted to mention using hardwood ashes from the stove/furnace for liming your garden. Probably already know this, but felt obligated to mention it anyway. That's how I get rid of my furnace ashes. Had French Alpine goats at one time long ago. Goats and cows will really clean up a place. The fencing cost now days prohibits me from getting them again on this place. I paid $60 for a roll of 4' fence with 12" stays back then. Now it cost $160 the last time I priced it! Goats are wonderful animals for a lot of reasons.

[dilli]

glad to hear the goat thing is going better for you this time around Lowdown :) we have culled ours down to just two does and one buck -all pygmy/ dairy cross. now the pasture can handle them easily and with just a touch of supplemental feed. Aint the peeing thing just nasty... gotta watchum when they are real feisty, they will get ya... dont ask me how I know lol

[Klayton]

I was thinking about goats for my future farm. You are raising pygmy breed? They are so small, are you raising them for companionship, meat or dairy?
All I remember from my grandfather's farm was BUCKS STINK!! and you have to keep them out of eyesight of the does or the constant calling each other will drive you batty.

Let me know how they turn out for you. I am thinking of a dairy breed, and a seperate meat breed. Still debating if it will be worth having full size cattle on the farm for survival purposes... They just eat sooo much and drink tons of water to boot....

[Lowdown3]

We had goats once before. Kinda bought them on a whim when we first moved. We were NOT ready for them...... They escaped out of everything we put them in.

This time around we had just improved the fencing on our garden areas, using 5 foot "dog wire" type fencing versus the chicken wire fencing we started with- bad move but thankfully we had the time to figure that out!

We constructed two separate goat pastures, also with 5 and 6' dog wire type fencing supported by 4x4's in concrete every 10 feet. This has worked out well.

For the garden areas and for gates we have some of the 54" high 17' long cattle panels that we move as needed.

They do love to show off. Ours come running and doing this little side jump thing when we go to the goat yard. If you squat down when your in there with them, one will climb your back and stand on your shoulders.

We have the CD &T (IIRC) shot but we haven't done it yet. Probably need to but now I think we'll wait in case they are prego.