Thank you for your offer to help, I have not purchased yet decided I should wait till things with the move settle down. But what should I look for, why would you buy one goat over another?
The first thing I always suggest is to look at registered animals only. The reason for this is normally people who are breeding registered animals are looking for quality over just throwing two goats together to make babies. I have seen people who purchased unregistered animals that later came to regret it.
Examples: With registered animals you are guaranteed to get a Pygmy Goat. Non-Registered's can be mixes and not purebred African pygmy goats. So if you don't know what your looking at you might think you paid for a pygmy when in fact you paid for a crossbred goat. I have seen non-registered's with deformities. To include double teats, Blind teats (Milk can't come out), Misshapen heads, bad structure (Which will affect kidding ability).
The second thing I look for is structure. Besides easy kidding good structure should keep the goat from having issues later (Blown Stifles, etc.) . I suggest visiting the National Pygmy Goat Associations webpage. Drop down menu labeled "Goat Resources" then "Conformation".. Here you can view the breed standard, Color Chart, and the judges score card.
Although you may not be looking to show your goats the score card is what the judges use to determine if the animal is appropriate for furthering future generations. Being educated on what you are buying can never hurt!!
Also on the NPGA website is a list of breeders in every state. Most pygmy people are happy to talk with you and help educate. Go out and visit the breeder. See their animals. Even attend a local show!!!! (I went to state fair before we purchased our first goat so I could talk to the people there and see what their animals looked like. They also educated me on feeding & housing for our area. Since we live in the desert our feeding & housing requirements differ from someone say.. living on the east coast.)
Ask the breeders/exhibitors questions. Why are you selling this goat? What don't you like about this goat? How was the kidding? Did the mom have trouble pushing the babies out? (Pygmies are notorious for difficult labor. So if you think you might want to breed your goat you need to know how the doe might possibly do.) What do you feed your goats? What kind of minerals do goats in our area need? (Remember if you ask 10 people what they feed you might get 10 different answers.. so pay more attention to what your local people are doing!)
Even if you decide to buy an unregistered animal you will know what it should and should not look like.. ask the unregistered owner/breeder the same questions!!
Hope this helps!!
