Goats

[jveretto]

I have a few Boer goats. I do not keep a billy for previous explained reasons. Mine are gentle and will not go over a fence that is near falling down. Once I bought several mixed breed goats used as Ranch Rodeo roping goats! They could jump a six foot fence and if one jumped, all 8 jumped! They could not be contained but they just went around to the gate and wanted back in the pasture. I prefer having the girls around to clean up brush. I rent a billy from time to time. Not worth the trouble keeping a billy for me but then I am not heavily in the goat business.

 

[QueBota]

Agree with that, goats are cool but they are a bit troublesome and mischevious; however, I would miss them if they were gone.

I got mine to clear several acres of invasive species in the woods behind my house. I had everything except kudzu (knock on wood, it's getting closer). Didn't want to disturb the ground/trees by running equipment down there and didn't want to spray anything, kids at play and a large collection of snakes, toads, frogs etc.

I move fence sections around and relocate the goats several times a year. They have done a great job. What was once a non-walkable tangle of undergrowth is like a picnic grove in most places and I have started planting pasture where the lawn/pasture has begun moving in.

Goats are pretty smart, when they are bored they appear to be studying the fence to figure a way out. Many times I come home from work to find goats outside the fence with no apparent escape route. They don't go anywhere, they are normally hanging out around the gate wanting to get back in for a drink of water to wash down everything they ate outside the fence (appear to have goat smiles on their faces).

As mentioned earlier, certain billy goats are just born crazy, don't turn your back on them. I had a very large alpine billy, horns suitable for mounting, full curl plus. Close to 4' at the shoulder and approx. 150 lbs. If you went in the pen with him he did not like you in "his" pen. Very impressive when he would stand up on his hind legs, bounce forward, then lower his head and charge. He never followed through on his bluff but it would get your attention. He would spin in circles slashing his head and kicking his back legs like a bronco.

IMHO, if you keep goats, keep the horns on them, can be a bit dangerous but provide a good place to grab hold if necessary. Otherwise, grabbing a goat that doesn't want to be grabbed can turn into a bit of a greased pig contest.

Q

 

[Tororider]

Sheep eat about the same as goats, but aren't quite as interested in escaping. In your climate you could shear twice a year.

 

[300UGUY]

We have had goats for 17 years. We have the pygmy type, they get along good with horses. They are pretty picky eaters, they browse like deer. I can't tell you about selling or butchering. I have a friend that raised about 100 lambs per year, he was sold out every year, we have a lot of folks from the med or Arabic countries that wanted lambs.

 

[sldva00]

...Once male goats become old enough to breed at approx. 1 year, their value as a meat goat goes down. The "musk" odor tends to permeate the meat. Some Latino's don't mind but Africans are not intested. Not to be politically incorrect but they are the predominate purchasers of meat goats in my area. They drive out from the city to pickup the goats, the Latinos take them live in the back of a pickup or even a car. I have a small barn that the Africans use to slaughter/butcher the goats, they prefer to take them home that way.

Q

My experience is the opposite. I prefer young goats 3-6 months and a colleague, who happens to be from Africa, prefers older adult goats. The last goat (or kid to be more appropriate) I bought was a long time ago (~ 10 years ago) and paid around $30 IIRC. My cousin got a goat last year and I believe he paid around $50.

 

[weldingisfun]

What do the male goats do that's so bad? I've been reading what I can find about raising them and I've come across two suggestions. One is to castrate them because they will breed like crazy if you don't. The other says that if you castrate them, they will bring a lower price when you sell them because the ethnic market does not want them to be damaged in any way.

Do you just round up all the males when they are too young to breed and haul them off to the sale barn? Are they big enough to be worth anything?

Eddie

We keep four bucks for our breeding program. They are all registered Boers and their weights range from 175 to 300 lbs. Yes, they do stink when they are in the rut, running from August through December, for all the reasons stated by the others. The boys have their own 9 acre pasture away from the does. Their pasture is fenced with field wire, topped with two strands of barbed (4.5 feet high) and electric (10K volts) on the inside. They have learned not to challenge the electric wires.

Yes, they can be aggressive, especially during the rut. You treat a buck like you would a bull, meaning never turn your back on him and never pin yourself in a corner. Do that and you will be okay. If you have one that is overly aggressive, sell him or shoot him. Male goats reach sexual maturity at about 5 months, so you either sell them before that or you cut them. If you sell them at the auction it makes no difference, they sell by weight, not gender or whether they are intact or castrated, they sell by weight.

Unless you want babies being born all year long, don't run a buck with the does. It is possible for a doe to have kids twice in one year, the gestation period is 5 months. If that is not your intent, do not buy a buck. Someone mentioned bringing one in from outside to breed your does. That is good advice. Do that in the October or November. When he has done his job, take him back home and you won't have to worry about it anymore.

 

[TomSeller]

Saw this on the Internet. Might be a good way to help entertain your goats and help keep them out of trouble.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYZoGx8KFL8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Uncle Doug]

We raised boer cross goats for about 10 years running between 20-30 mature goats. Goats can be high maintenance between fixing fences, fixing pens, trimming feet every few months. No fence is goat proof. I would avoid the goat wire fence unless you have hornless goats. You will be pulling one out of the fence every day. Hot wire or cattle panel will hold them but they will test it every day. Do not leave any farm equipment in the pasture. What they will not tear up they will crap on.

Over the years it just got to much for us. All our child labor graduated and moved on.

Start with just a few and go from there.

 

[NoTrespassing]

We raised 6 Boer wethers on our 1+ acre of pasture a couple years ago. It's fenced with 5' 2x4 inch horse fence. They didn't really like the pasture grass and preferred the low hanging tree limbs. They found a way out of the fence at least every other day.

We sold the goats live to some Filipino friends of ours 1 or 2 at a time and they butchered them. We also have a sale barn about 20 miles away but I've never sold goats there, only chickens and rabbits.

Next year I want to find some weanling piglets. We raised them when I was a kid and they can't be as bad as those goats!

 

[EddieWalker]

The more I read about their ability to escape, I get excited about the challenge. Honestly, I like the idea of building the fence more then dealing with the goats!!!

I spoke to a friend the other day and he said that goes will eat the best grass first and compete with the cows for it. He is the only one who has said that, and the only one I've met who has personally had both goats and cows. He got rid of the goats because there wasn't any money in them and cattle are doing great.

Eddie