New Goats *PICS!*

[cyanne]

I have been planning for a while now to add some milking goats to our little family. Now that we've moved from the 'burbs to a place on 5 acres, we have the space to do that. We picked Nigerian Dwarfs as the breed we wanted to start with because it is just the hubby and I and we don't need a ton of milk to start off with. Plus they are adorable!

I had planned to build my pens and shelters and whatnot and THEN shop for goats, but, as is typical of planning, it didn't quite work out that way. I was perusing craigslist and found an ad for someone that had a herd ND's that they were selling off at $50 each for regular and $100 each for the blue-eyed ones. I LOVE the blue eyes, so we drove out to see them and they were wonderful. These were not the wild, unkempt pasture goats I was expecting, but were healthy, tame, hand-raised pets that had had all of their routine vet care. It was obvious that these people LOVED these goats, but there had been a drought in their area which left their land completely bare of grass and whatnot so they were struggling to buy feed for all of their animals and needed to down-size.

I felt like I was interviewing to adopt human babies rather than buying livestock! But, she evidently decided we would take good care of her babies and we ended up buying a trio of beautiful black and white pinto girls, all with blue eyes. They are a mother (3yrs) and her twin girls (2 yrs). They were not registered, but I don't plan to show, so I wasn't too worried about that anyway.

Now I have a ton of questions for the goat people on this forum. I've been doing my research leading up to this purchase (yay Fias Co Farm and Goat Spot!), so I understand a fair bit, but I'd love to hear any tips the experienced goat owners have on housing, pens, what to keep in my emergency medical kit, etc. Also, I really would rather not buy a billy in order to breed my girls (stanky!), but I wonder if it is feasible to 'hire' a stud goat?

If I have to buy a boy I will, but I'm not looking forward to the smell and the extra expense of building a second pen and buying not just the billy, but a couple of wethers so he won't be too lonely penned up away from the girls (don't want stinky milk!).

Thanks guys! Here are two of my girls:

 

[nightshade]

First congrats on the girls! I have been watching for a little wether for a pet.

Anyway here is my thoughts.

You need to realize that a ND has tiny tits because they are a tiny goat. They are great for pets but not so great for a home dairy goat. They are hard to milk because their tits are too small to do it easily.

I have Nubians and LaMancha goats and have had billies of both. Now we have a Spanish bill. None of which ever smell, even when breeding time is here. The smell you are talking about it common with Pigmy goats. Which I have even heard people at sales say "I smell a Pigmy" when there are 50 or 100 billies around, and sure enough only the Pigmy billies seem to smell. If you do buy a bill though you will have to keep the boy from your girls or you will have stinky milk. I keep my billies with my horses in the barn and the girls in their shed. And when it comes to wethers to keep a breeding bill company you may end up with little ones from your girls that you just want to keep to much and then you have you buddies, at least I know that I have a soft spot for billies and wethers and I have never had a problem with them.

But lots of fokes rent a bill for breeding, usually it is around $50 or choice of the little ones when they are born, Per goat. Some fokes though will rent you a bill for one cost for all your girls. Sometimes it is less the cost per goat other times it more.

Caprine Supply and Hoegger Supply have catalogs that you can get anything that you will need that you can't by at the local feed stores. In the back of the Hoegger Supply catalog they have a check list for kidding, first aid, milking and general care. The thing I found that works great is to have little sweater totes and mark them first aid, kid kit ect and pack them with everything for these lists. Plus I keep a er kit in the car, just in case. When you need something you just grab the right tote and run.

edited to add : How big are they? Usually NDs are under 17-20 inches to the tops of their backs.

 

[helmstead]

Quote:
Nuh uh

! Many NDs have nicely sized teats...and are quite easy to milk...you have to get the ones that are BRED for milking, not pets quality strictly.

And Pygmy bucks don't smell any worse than other breeds...wow I find a lot to argue with you about on your post

 

[helmstead]

Quote:
They are beautiful! Congrats on your new girls!!! Great find.

 

[hcammack]

They are beautiful goats! I want some that trio is stunning! They would look great with one of helsteads bucks as a herd sire

I want some goats. Helstead is right about the buck and the milking of the ND's. As long as they are bred for milking they have nice teats for milking.

Henry

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Love your goats. You will enjoy them soooooo much.

 

[nightshade]

Quote:
Sorry but I have never smelled a male except pygmies and I go to sale twice a month if not more and spend all day in and out of sale pens with large amounts of male goats. The pygmy males are the only ones that ever stink. lol

edited to add : I have never seen a ND that had nice milking tits, maybe it is just the ones around here are bred for pets? It could be possible cause there are not a lot of them in our area.

 

[RedStickLA]

Congratulations on your new girls...They are beautiful!

You said the people you purchased them from were downsizing…will they still have a billy? Did you ask them how much they charge for a stud fee? The people I purchased one of my goats from charges $25.00 stud fee plus $1.00 per day boarding which I feel is very reasonable. For now I am not planning on getting a billy either I will do a driveway breeding paying a stud fee.

Mitzi

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Oh, blue eyed goats, how pretty! Congrats!!

 

[Cara]

The lady I got my goats from warned strongly against borrowing or lending a billy, even if paying for a stud service. There are too many diseases that can be spread amongst entire herds this way. She recommended that I get my own billy and never lend him to anybody else.