meat goats??!??!?

[crazypoultrychx]

all I am talking about is freezer camp....can you not milk a kinder?

 

[cassie]

You don't have to milk any goat if you don't want to. Except for a dairy goat that is producing to much milk for her kids. If you are raising a kinder for the freezer, you wouldn't breed it. Goats don't give milk until they have kids.

 

[crazypoultrychx]

You don't have to milk any goat if you don't want to. Except for a dairy goat that is producing to much milk for her kids. If you are raising a kinder for the freezer, you wouldn't breed it. Goats don't give milk until they have kids.

this I know.....however.....I have been told that kinder milk is sweeter then regular nubian milk....

 

[Chooks n Kids]

I started my "herd" this last spring. I did my research for this area and the two breeds/crosses that appear to be the best for sale are Nubian/Boer crosses and Boer's. I have two Nubian/Boer cross does, one pure Boer doe and her twin brother (a wether). I have a pure Boer buckling reserved for next spring and will be breeding fall of 2015 for kids March 2016. If I was simply raising meat goats for butchering I would go with the Boer's. Their weight gain is substantially better than the crosses. As I was also toying with the idea of milking when I first purchased I decided on the two Nubian/Boer crosses. I am planning on resale of the kids for 4 H projects and herd improvement so I will be keeping the girls I have and possibly adding two more full Boer does. The Nubian/Boer crosses also have the most "cuteness" appeal which helps if you are selling for pets. As far as personality...well they are all sweet and incredibly fun to watch and if someone were to ask which is my favorite...all of them would be my answer. What ever breed you decide on....enjoy!

 

[naturalfeddogs]

What type of feed is best to feed a meat breed of goat? We have thought about getting some in the future, but not sure what is best to feed them?

 

[Chooks n Kids]

My goats browse on scrubby pasture (hoping they will improve it) that is full of African daisies, during spring/summer. I supplement the browse with local grass hay, available at all times and goat text. The goat text is made locally and is non GMO. I also give them treats from the garden in season. I have no idea if this works for all meat goats but it works for mine, they are healthy and well filled out. Cheers S

 

[chooks4life]

What type of feed is best to feed a meat breed of goat? We have thought about getting some in the future, but not sure what is best to feed them?

It's good to bear in mind that meat breeds are supposed to be efficient at turning fodder into meat as cheaply as possible. They're designed with with end commercial result in mind; any meat breed that depends on a lot of supplementary feeding is a poor performer, basically.

Careful breeders will always select those that did the best with the least input, but plenty of people overfeed them on rich foods then think the resulting obese animal is a good example of its breed, and for generation after generation many people will breed on poor quality, poor doing meat animals and use extra aids like cereals, pellets, etc to raise them to the visual/productive standard that they should have been at in the first place without any aids whatsoever.

You can get good meat animals that can get to market weight on the coarsest pastures and scrubs, and you can also get bad meat animals that struggle when fed anything less than the lushest pastures and best supplements... Choose your strain carefully would be my advice. Depends what you're after too; do you just want to 'finish' your own meat animals, or do you want to breed them? The most 'bang for your buck' will come from animals selected to do the best under the harshest conditions, either way, not those for which the breeder always relies on feedlotting to get up to standard weights. Are you happy to spend out on pellets that aren't necessary? Depends what your pasture is like too. Normally, healthy animals should only need decent pasture and possibly a mineral supplement depending on circumstances, and nothing else, to reach a good weight.

If the breeder you buy off habitually feeds them pellets etc despite the pasture being good, they're going to be a drain on your pocket to keep in decent condition. After enough generations they get habituated to the lusher diet, and become less efficient at taking the utmost from natural conditions. They become coddled and can suffer if expected to live more naturally.

If the breeder you buy off gives them a decent pasture and maybe a mineral supplement, (and some other stuff like hay doesn't hurt but shouldn't be what they rely on without drought conditions or over-wet conditions), then chances are you'll get good performers.

I should clarify what a good pasture is, as defined by a goat's needs... It's not necessarily lush green grass and nothing else. It should ideally be a mix of herbs and forbs and grasses and brush/scrub, trees, woody weeds, etc. Not everyone has this obviously and it doesn't necessarily mean their goats are poor doers, but the more 'managed' or 'manicured' their pasture, the softer they are, as a general rule of thumb. Their natural diet is not based on mainly grass at all, as with dogs they ideally should have as natural a diet as possible.

I like your signature line, by the way. So true. True for all livestock and people too but we tend to turn a blind eye to it or forget it, easier to use premixed junk and everyone has different beliefs, some swear by it and think there's no other way.

Chooks n Kids gave a good answer, though I'm not sure what 'goat text' is (autocorrect?)... Personally I wouldn't use pellets again unless desperate due to drought. Turns to mush inside the body, often full of crap, predisposes to health issues (some would argue this point but each to their own), and they do so much better on natural pasture anyway.

Best wishes.

 

[naturalfeddogs]

I am just interested possibly in a few to raise and butcher for the dogs. I feed a strict prey model diet, and want their diet to be whats most natural for them, where it's in turn better for the dogs as well.