PEOPLE WITH GOATS!!!

[MissPrissy]

A really good milker will give for 2 years. Most however need to be bred (freshened) every fall to keep up the milk production.

Complications in birthing really can't be predicted.

 

[Southern28Chick]

Complications in birthing really can't be predicted.

Is it common with goats though? You know like a dog would have complications before a cat would. Just a known fact, from what my vet told me.​

 

[MissPrissy]

No one I know with goats have ever had any problems at all.

 

[sloper74]

a word about goats...don't skimp on the fencing. Get the highest grade strength fence you can afford. Otherwise, you'll be patching holes like we are until the cows come home. Better to pay more upfront for a high grade fence then to be patching the rest of your life.

We have nigerians - i like them because their feed/milk conversion is good; you can feed them very little grain/hay and they'll give you a lot of milk for their size. We have 1 oberhasli/nigerian mix and she is trying to eat us out of house/home. She does give more milk but I couldn't afford to keep a herd of full-size goats in milk - grain is expensive!

We do let our goats roam our 20 acres, they eat forage and grass as well. Mostly they like to jump on our cars (if you have a nice car, good fencing is a must!) and sleep on our front porch. We love them though.

 

[sloper74]

Quote:
Is it common with goats though? You know like a dog would have complications before a cat would. Just a known fact, from what my vet told me.

I had trouble with only one birth so far, one was a giant stillborn buck and the other a runt buck. The mom was having a really rough time then collapsed, passed out and I basically had to yank the babies out of her. Thankfully the massive stillborn was first and paved the way for the runt. I revived her with a ton of molasses water and babied her for days.

Most of the time, you don't even know they've had their babies until the next day.

Fiasco farms advocates letting the mom nurse her babies, isolating them at night and taking the milk during the day.

I find, in the long run, you'll get more milk, if you pull them off right away, milk twice/daily and bottle feed the babies until 2 months. But that's just me - we learned the hard way and have 9 month old babies still nursing on their moms, and very little milk for us

 

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:
That makes me feel better.

 

[helmstead]

This spring we had one complicated birth out of 5. Basically the kid was too big and presented wrong. We had to sacrifice the little guy in order to save his mother (who is, by chance, DD's goat) after 4 solid hours with our arms in her to our elbows trying to reposition the kid and pull it out. The doe then had to have a course of antibiotics and (bless her heart) preparation H but did recover fully. We did not breed her back until this fall so we'll try her again next spring.

Birthing complications happen everywhere across all species. It's a risk you have to take if you want milk.

 

[Southern28Chick]

Quote:

Poor girl! I understand. Complications can happen with any birth.

It's just so sad.

 

[EweSheep]

We used to have a pair of Nubian does that we take them to the visiting goat breeder...for that very reason, they do stink and if you milk around or near billies, your milk will take on the odor too. So we never had any male goats around at all. Just all females and you will have to breed them every year or every other year to keep the milk supply going.

I had a Nubian doe that we had her milk non stop for three and half years and she just wont stop milk production and I finally gave her a good home when I was in college most of the time.

 

[EweSheep]

My sisters doe had triplets...yes 3 little ones! Without ANY problems in kidding! Horrible mom tho she would not nurse them.....head butt them to no end that we ended up bottle feeding them.

My doe however had ONE HUGE BUCK kid and had a friend ocme out and deliver her....he was a whopper and ate him about four months old as a wether.....good meat on him.

You can always sell the goats pretty young or give them to a 4H or FFA er to bottle feed them.....you dont need to wait to sell or give away at weaning time. Get your does bred at the same time and you would have kids on the ground and you can give or sell them at the same time to the same person that would bottle feed them...at least they would not be lonely without company.

Fencing is always a problem.....they are canny about electric fence and at every opporuntity they would listen and shot outo f the electric fences. So panel fencing is the best way to confine them. Cattle wire fencings are ok for kids but adult or teenagers can climb over them. If you got trees, cut them down or let them grazed by goats, they will eat them until the tree dies.

Personally, I would never get goats again...pain in the butt if you ask me but the experience as a 4h'er is priceless and the milking chores LOL.