Raising goats

My wife has an interest in raising meat goats and I have no background with them. Are there any good books or websites you could recommend? I have had a neighbor recommend a local farmer that we can call/visit that will help us understand what's ahead down this path, I'd like to have some other sources to review

Thank you, Greg

I raise meat goats my #1 advice is to get Kikos and stay as far away from Boers as you can get.You need to find a producer in your area that raises meat goats and actually makes a
profit selling them for meat on the commercial market.There are many purebred breeders that never sell their goats for meat that want to sell you high priced 'breeding stock' don't
go for that or it'll be a sure money looser for you. Also before you spend 1 Dollar$ determine where you'll sell your goats in your area and how much they are bringing.There are huge differences in goats markets across the USA.

Thank you TF.

I'll make some calls to the local butchers and see what the market is supporting as well as checking with the neighborhood farmer that was recommended to us

Greg

I tried them when I first "bought the farm"....misnomer. Grin

Couldn't afford beef so settled for the Nubian breed as I thought they were pretty with their droopy ears and udders were huge and well formed.

In short, unless you sell brood stock, the "kids" don't have that much meat for the size of the carcass. and the amount of feed it takes to support
mama and papa through one cycle of gestation and Kid rearing ready for the market. They are excellent at "jail breaking". The containment fence
has to be good and including electric wire helps. They prefer to eat your flowers and play "run over the mountain" with your car jumping on the
hoot, then top, then rear deck. They have no "private part" decency and can embarrass young children and ladies especially the Ram. The old
axion about breeding and reproduction and all doesn't apply. Rams are opportunists! Requiring the Nanny to be in heet has nothing to do with it.

If you can't afford to fence in a large area where you can rotate them from pasture to pasture to keep them from eating grass down to the nub
where it has poor regrowth, the best thing to do is tether them. That way you can move them around when they eat what's available where they
are.

They are climbers and mess on their chow. If you plan on haying them you have to figure out how to keep them from climbing onto it and soiling it.

A lot of Hispanics inhabit this area and their preference seems to be the Boer breed. They do produce well because every time you pass a field of
them, most are plump in a motherly way. That's what I know about them.

They are healthy and I never had to consult a vet in the couple of years I raised them.

Best I can do for now.
Mark

Goat meat is the number 1 meat worldwide, the huge increase in Latino, African and nnalert populations in the United States guarantees a
steady market for goat meat, Spanish nannies bred to a large carcass sire such as Kiko or Boer gives the hybrid vigor and muscling that will
make money in any market, the most important goat markets in the country are San Angelo Texas and New Holland Pennsylvania, all the rest
pay according to their proximity to either major market.

I started with mutt goats, did ok. Then decided to go with registerd Boer big mistake. They were always
sick bred good but had a hard time keeping them alive. Heard that they do well in warmer parts of the
country In KY they did not do well. Crossed them with my mutt goats and they did better. always made more
off kids than for meat. Butt if you had to call the vet any profit was gone. They did clean the weeds and
brush out of my pastures though.

There are lots of goat sites out there that can get you started. Good fencing is a must. Electric wire won't do it. Electric netting usually does if they are trained to it and you don't get a jumper. Good Paige wire works. They don't eat tin cans, they prefer brush to grass, they are extremely susceptible to worms and nutrient deficiencies, and they are lots easier to handle than some other livestock. Marketing is your main issue. The market is almost all geared to ethnic holidays now. Do your homework and make sure you can access a nearby market. Shipping for hundreds of miles kills your chance at profit.

You need an ethnic market within an hour's drive.

Everything has about been covered below, but I will reiterate the need for good fences. Paige wire at least 6 feet tall (fairy heavy paige wire, too, not the thin stuff)is the bare minium. And nothing within 3 feet of the fence they can climb on to or they will be over the top of the fence. We had one that from a stone pile, reached out over three feet to hook her front feet unto the fence, then hooked one hind foot into the fence and over the top she went. Once out they will eat anything they can stuff in their mouth. they will chew off saplings and girdle the bark on the ones they can't chew off. Any flowers, shrubs, and bushes you have are fair game. They are hilarious and fun to have around. They are a constant source of amusement. Just be aware that there are no compromises when it comes to fencing or your homestead will be flower,shrub and sapling free within a manner of hours.

The advice about researching your local market possibilities and breed prefrences before spending any money is solid advice.

You might look into hair sheep. They are a little
more parasite resistant. They do require a pretty
good fence, but they don't make it their life
mission to get out. Less stinky, also.

(quoted from post at 15:08:44 08/22/16) You might look into hair sheep. They are a little
more parasite resistant. They do require a pretty
good fence, but they don't make it their life
mission to get out. Less stinky, also.

Click to expand...

Only the buck goats are smelly and only for a few months out of the year. If you pee'd on your face to make yourself attractive, you'd smell funny too!

I run about 100 hair sheep. I don't buy the " parasite resistance" thing anymore. I think it's entirely a function of where you ahve them, how you pasture them and what the grounds parasite load is.

I sure think after attempting to raise Dorper(hair) sheep for a few yrs that they aren't "parasite resistance". I also tried raising Boar goats and the billy goats I had STUNK 24/7/365!!!!!!!

The parasite resistance thing is marketing IMO and no more than that. Maybe if you had a really high bred Merino or something on the same pasture as a Katahdin/Dorper cross you'd see the difference, but too many people (like me) bought the resistance thing hook, line and sinker. Rotational grazing is the #1 best way to pasture for a low worm problem. Or dry hay year round. Same thing for goats, although a goat in brushy pasture will do far better than on grass.