Goat Experts, Advice Please.....

[lockedhearts]

I am considering getting a couple of Does for milk. I know they need to be papered for the kids to sell at a decent price, I know zero about Goat Bloodlines and very little about breeds.
What is the best breed for milk, are their more prefered bloodlines or just as long as they have papers?
Ask me about Horses and Dogs and I can answer all the questions, Goats

 

[ChickenToes]

A lot of breeds are good milkers, like Nubians and LaManchas. A goat doesn't have to have papers. A lot of mixed breed or purebred-but-unregistered goats are very good milkers. Try doing a search on goats here on BYC, just search in the Other Pets and Livestock section. There's several pages of threads that will answer pretty much any question you have. Believe me, I've been there.

 

[wynedot55]

reg papers dont mean squat to alot of people.but now if you have some1 wanting a show goat.you may need to have reg stock.but i really dont know.

 

[kinnip]

I decided on keeping registered goats (Nigerians and LaManchas) because I don't want to have to sell them for meat. Of course, the papers don't mean anything unless you have a careful breeding program. Even with papers don't expect to bring in a mint on your goats unless they succeed at shows. I've seen registered LaManchas go for a grand. I've also seen them go for $75. Check out some of the ADGA resources to get an idea of breeders and shows in your area. I prefer LaManchas for their fantastic dispositions. Nigerians are really good producers given the amount of food and space they use. They also have a very high butterfat content to their milk making it quite sweet. There are a lot of factors to consider when you choose a breed, like the amount of space you have, whether you want to sell some goats for meat, what you can physically handle (goats are strong, big goats are stronger). All of the recognized breeds have organizations associated with them. These folks are usually quite helpful and their websites are informative.

 

[tvtaber]

Personally, i would pay more for a kid that was hand raised and bottle fed than for a registered kid. Or even one well socialized for that matter. If you are raising for the pet market, which seems to be very hot right now, a well socialized animal will be far mroe valuable than a registered goat.

I have a registered goat I would not give two cents for since she is so shy but a completely non-standard sweety-pie I would never part with!

 

[lockedhearts]

A friend sent me a link for the Dairy Goat Forum, so joined there.
Honestly I would plan on bottle raising anyway, at least some of them.
I have looked at Nigerians and like the way they look. I do have limited space right now until we get the back of our property cleared, so that may be the better choice. I plan to take this slow and do tons of research first.
THe only goat experience I had was a nanny that thought she was a dog lived in the house and used a cat litter box. Her and my male PitBull I used to have were best buddies.
Oh and she used the doggy door too.

 

[Jessika]

I keep Nubians...un papered. But I make sure before I buy they are CAE negative. In my area in Oregon it is hard to avoid. I took a class last spring on goat owner ship and the spokesman said it went from 10-50 cases reported to now 100-500 or more reported. Maybe just more people are testing....was always that way. Hard to say.

I know people who keep positive goats too. It doesn't transfer over to humans so the milk and meat is still safe. And if you bottle feed pasturised goats milk of supplements the baby goat won't catch it. As long as she/he never nurses.

This is year 2 or so for me with goats so I still have a ways to go in learning. Who wants to quit learning?

Others will know more I am sure...

 

[helmstead]

If you go with Nigis...then yes, registered stock is preferable. Still, my herd consists of mostly grade stock and the kids sell like hotcakes (altho for much less profit than registered kids would). I am slowly adding registered stock to my herd - but I could never ever part with most of my grade girls.

 

[Chirpy]

lockedhearts asked:

What is the best breed for milk

There are several breeds that are very good milkers. Alpines generally give the most milk (in quantity), Nubians generally give the highest butterfat. LaManchas are good milkers also. I have 2 Alpines that give me one gallon of milk a day. I am going to get a Nubian to add butterfat to my milk.

I also have ND's (Nigerian Dwarfs) that I will milk when they are old enough to freshen (have kids and be milked), as they have a high butterfat content also. They are just harder to milk with those little teats.

One of the biggest things that I learned when looking for my milk does is not so much the breed as the temperament (as tvtaber said), how well they stand on the milk stand and the size of their teats. I milked a bunch of different goats (different breeds at different farms) and found that too large of teats was too hard on my hands and too small was almost impossible to milk for my hands. And, having a goat moving around on the milk stand is a complete deal breaker for me.

As to the papers question. Around here we can get more money when selling papered kids. However, many people can't afford the papered goats so they look for goats that are not registered.

Finally, some of the best milkers I ran across were cross bred: Nubian x Alpine mixes, etc. If all you want is to get milk, don't pass by a mixed breed if she is giving the milk you are looking for.​