Meat goats how to help gain weight?

[farmerfay]

Hello, I saw another thread similar to this one so my apologies. Im wondering if anyone has tips on weight gain for goats. We have 3 alpines who I was hoping not to have to keep over the winter, but they don't seem to have much weight on them. They do not have worms, are very healthy, happy, and super active. They get pasture, freely pasture being a lovely wooded, shrub filled area with lots of weeds and such. We were doign our own mix of grains (oats, black oil sunflower, some corn, alfalfa and beet mash) plus their minerals.. I finally started to get some meat goat pellets hoping that would help but they just are growing big but not out. Could this be due to their awesome space to run and play in? A friend down the road has goats who all seem more chubby than ours, but they dont have a lot of space. I feel a little silly asking about this but I've only raised pigs for meat and birds... never had this issue before! Thanks in advance

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

More to do with breed. Dairy breeds don't put on weight the way other breeds do. They are bred for milk production not meat.

 

[res]

No matter how much you feed a dairy goat, it is not going to bulk up like a true meat goat breed...

 

[farmerfay]

More to do with breed. Dairy breeds don't put on weight the way other breeds do. They are bred for milk production not meat.

Thanks, makes perfect sense!

 

[farmerfay]

No matter how much you feed a dairy goat, it is not going to bulk up like a true meat goat breed...

Ah yes make sense, thanks for feedback!

 

[farmerfay]

More to do with breed. Dairy breeds don't put on weight the way other breeds do. They are bred for milk production not meat.

Thanks- yes, makes a lot of sense.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Hello, I saw another thread similar to this one so my apologies. Im wondering if anyone has tips on weight gain for goats. We have 3 alpines who I was hoping not to have to keep over the winter, but they don't seem to have much weight on them. They do not have worms, are very healthy, happy, and super active. They get pasture, freely pasture being a lovely wooded, shrub filled area with lots of weeds and such. We were doign our own mix of grains (oats, black oil sunflower, some corn, alfalfa and beet mash) plus their minerals.. I finally started to get some meat goat pellets hoping that would help but they just are growing big but not out. Could this be due to their awesome space to run and play in? A friend down the road has goats who all seem more chubby than ours, but they dont have a lot of space. I feel a little silly asking about this but I've only raised pigs for meat and birds... never had this issue before! Thanks in advance

How do you know they do not have worms? Even dewormed goats usually have some the medication does not kill. How is the color of their gums?

 

[farmerfay]

i dont know for sure, I have not had a fecal done since we got them, which was in the spring. That test came out fine. Their gums and under eye color is healthy.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My oldest current dairy wethers are about 6 years old. They have no meat on them, and never will. It's hard to get dairy breeds to fatten up. My pygmies get fat, but not the dairy breeds.

 

[farmerfay]

My oldest current dairy wethers are about 6 years old. They have no meat on them, and never will. It's hard to get dairy breeds to fatten up. My pygmies get fat, but not the dairy breeds.

Seems to be concensus! I got the alpine because they were available in our area...a goat dairy down the Rd always processes her males for meat and they are alpine so I figured it would be fine. They will just be less meat than meat goats my goats look more boney than hers, which I why I started questioning. But she also has hers in little space with no pasture and mine have lots of space and are running around all day, so probably that makes a difference as well..thanks for your response!