Harness Goats

[username taken]

I took the photos with one VERY grumpy Chappie as a model (he's never behaved so horribly, I dont know what was up with him) but I reached my upload limit on the ranchers photo gallery and photobucket doesnt work for me soooooo I will post my pics tomorrow.

Snyder - honestly I am wondering if your does are crossed with pygmy or nigi. Not that they look it, its just they are awfully small in both weight and height.

Their hay should be free choice - as much as they want. A cup each per day is plenty - what protein level is it?

What age did you get these goats, and do you know what sort of nutrition they had before you got them?

They are very well fleshed and look perfectly healthy in these pics, just small.

 

[FourSnyders]

I got them when they were two months old, their mom came home with them. She was actually fairly big. They get free choice hay. Their mom stayed with us until they were about 4 and a half months old. She got about a cup of grain each day. The grain I feed them now is Dumor goat feed, it has 16% protein.

Here are some pictures of them when I got them and their mom. When I got them at two months old they weighed 18 and 19 lbs.







You feed them about 2 lbs. of grain per day each? That is about 4 cups of grain. Now I am confused. Sorry if I am making this difficult.

The Snyders

 

[username taken]

Apologies, I didnt word that right. My boys only get the 2lbs of grain each when they are in heavy work, when we are working almost every day, all day. During the off season, they only get about a cupful to keep them from losing weight.

At two months ... they were way underweight for high % boers. But they also look younger than 2 mths in that first pic particularly.

The feed is right, mum looks in good nick, you've been giving them enough feed, so honestly I'm a little baffled as to why they are small. The only thing I can think of is that mum was bred to a small-breed buck - but they just look so so boer!

Hmmmm ... they never got sick did they? Scours, rough coat?

What's your worming schedule like?

I'll upload those photos later

 

[gaited horse]

I want to train my got to cart when I get him

 

[gabrielle1976]

wow this is such a good idea , I dont drive and this would be a blast who needs a car when you have goats and there small enought not to need a big pasture and such like horses.

 

[FourSnyders]

I worm them at the end of every month. They don't act sickly or anything. I wish I knew what their father was, but I really don't know. I am going to see if we can get the scale and weigh them tomorrow or Wednesday, besides I need to worm them tomorrow.

The Snyders

 

[username taken]

Sounds good ... pic will come eventually, I ended up kinda busy today

 

[ksacres]

Quote:
I don't think they are small. Boers are bred to be short to the ground and meaty.

Most goats aren't fully mature until about 4 years of age.

And, does are almost always smaller than bucks or wethers, regardless of what you feed them. It's the way they are designed to be.

 

[username taken]

boers are also bred to be heavy ... these girls aint.

Look back over the posts you will find some comparisons between Snyder's girls and mine ... weight wise ... you will see these does are light for their age.

I never said they would be as heavy as my wethers. My boys have a touch of dairy in them so that helps with size too.

 

[FourSnyders]

I don't care what size they are, just so long as they are big enough to pull me in a two wheeled cart. We forgot the scale today so I will worm/weigh them tomorrow. They just turned two years old on March 21st.

The Snyders