Goats!

[abbygibson1212]

Hi! I'm looking for a saanen or saanen cross goat to milk, I live in Missouri halfway between springfield and joplin and I can't find a doeling ANYWHERE! If anyone is selling goats, knows someone who is, or has advice on how to find some for sale please help me out!

 

[Stacykins]

Hi! I'm looking for a saanen or saanen cross goat to milk, I live in Missouri halfway between springfield and joplin and I can't find a doeling ANYWHERE! If anyone is selling goats, knows someone who is, or has advice on how to find some for sale please help me out!

Try your local craigslist and feed store. You can also look at the ADGA search for Saanen breeders in your area. If this is your first goat, plan on two. Keeping one is cruel, as they are herd animals and stress when kept alone.

It is unlikely anyone here will know of any goats for sale. There may also be facebook goat groups in your state you can access to find what you are looking for.

 

[abbygibson1212]

@Stacykins I've already checked all of those, which is why I posted here. I can't seem to find any anywhere. As for keeping two, is there other animals you could keep them with? Cow, horse, sheep? Or does it need to be a goat?

 

[Stacykins]

@Stacykins I've already checked all of those, which is why I posted here. I can't seem to find any anywhere. As for keeping two, is there other animals you could keep them with? Cow, horse, sheep? Or does it need to be a goat?

Sheep have different dietary needs. The amount of copper needed to keep a goat healthy will kill a sheep from overdose. If you feed a goat sheep feed and mineral, the goat will become copper deficient and also eventually die.

High risk for cattle stepping on the goat, which would be fatal for a small goat (think about the massive weight difference).

Not all horses will tolerate goats, which means if the horse is one of those that dislikes goat, the goat is getting stomped to death. It has happened often enough to be a real risk. A goat I sold (as a pair with her wethered brother) escaped and went to visit the horses once got stepped on by accident by a tolerant horse...crushed her little leg.

So in the end...just get two goats. Easier for you and the animals. If having two is such a problem, don't get goats.

 

[abbygibson1212]

@Stacykins It's not really a problem, I was just wondering if there were other options because I already have other animals.

 

[H Diamond]

Yes, please get two! If you don't want two does, get a doe and a whether. Any responsible goat breeder should at least try to sell you two anyway, knowing you don't have any others at home. It's just kinda common knowledge in the goat world, and for those it's not common knowledge for, that's why we try to educate.

 

[abbygibson1212]

@H Diamond Yeah I'll definitly be getting another one now that I know! She's good right now because she is with 2 other goats, and I've got a couple months before I bring her home to find another and decide if I want a nanny, billy, or wether and what kind I want I'm thinking I might try to find a Nubian doe though

 

[H Diamond]

Great! The one thing about getting a buck. ... You shouldn't run the buck and doe together all the time. It's just too hard on one doe. So, if you get a buck, you would need to still get your doe a friend, plus him a friend, plus have separate pens.
I have a single buck in a separate pen ( for many reasons, main one is fighting) until he goes to his new home in a week, and it's not going well. He shares a fence with the other bucks and also the does, but he's still not happy being in there alone. If I wasn't convinced someone was going to get a leg broke or something with the horns ( conversation for another day!) He'd still be in there. I have entirely too much testosterone on my place right now! Lol

 

[abbygibson1212]

@H Diamond Oh! By the end of this goat adventure I'll probably end up with 2 nannies, a buck, and wether

and I'll probably keep all mine polled

 

[H Diamond]

Polled or disbudded? You don't want all your stock to be polled as two copies of the polled gene can sometimes end up with hermaphrodite kids.
I'm thinking you mean disbudded (I know, it's a lot of terms!), and that is great! My experience with the very few horned animals I've had on the place has been terrible. I had one doe who had to wear tennis balls and the end of each horn because she was hurting others, a couple bucks that had to wear sticks taped theirs so they quit trying to hang themselves in the fence. A bottle baby buck I raised that caught me on the back of the leg between his and I was bruised all over. I don't do horns. Some folks do, and that is their perogative. I'm not going to delve into that discussion any further, lol.