What are some good goat breeds?
Question by Check out this GUY!: What are some good goat breeds?
Well I am thinking of starting a goat farming business and I had a few questions. What type of goats would be best for meat production? How long till they are of weight to sale at the slaughter house? What is a good livestock guard?( Lama’s, Donkey’s or dogs?) Any other tips would be helpful! Thanks
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3 Responses to What are some good goat breeds?
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Boers are the best meat goats. Weights and ages depend on the breed of goat – you’ll have to look that one up.
Llamas make good guardians but they can be ornery and require a lot more care than a dog would. Donkeys I would stay away from, unless you have experience taking care of them or horses. They are expensive to keep and very loud besides. I would stick with a dog.
WAYsmarterthanyou
May 7, 2012 at 4:34 am
If you are wanting a meat goat, a Boer goat would be the best bet, however if you are interested in milking, then a Nubian would be best, as the Boer tends to have such small teats, they are hard to milk.
If you are like me, I was interested in both, so I cross bred the Boer and the Nubian and had fast growing hearty meat/milk goats.
The Nubian goat grows fast, is somewhat tall, and is an excellent milk producer.
The Boer grows slower, is shorter and stockier, therefore having more meat.
If you are wanting to have a sale of full grown goats, wait for 1 1/2 years after birth, unless they grow faster.
If you are wanting to have a sale of them just for the meat sake, then around 1 1/2 -2 years, no more than 2 years, other wise the meat tends to get a bit tough.
They breed around 1 year of age, take five months of gestation to give birth, and often times, after their first kid, almost every birth afterwards could include twins! Especially when you mix the breeds.
As far as the guardian animals go, mine seemed to take care of themselves pretty well, I tried a dog and it ended up getting a taste for baby goat. the Llamas and donkeys are high maintenance.
One piece of advice, don’t purchase a goat from a sale barn, you have no idea where it came from or what diseases it has. I did this once and lost three goats from a diseased goat.
Look in the paper and make sure you can visit the farm, inspect the other goats too. Any one involved with goats will understand why you do this. This is the only way to make sure you are getting a good animal.
sandrarosette
May 7, 2012 at 5:15 am
Boer goats are your best meat producers, does get to be upwards of 200lbs and bucks 300lbs (these are just general weights). We usually raise our kids to be about 80lbs before they go to slaughter (for the ones who go and those are usually the bucks we are not going to keep or sell as breeding bucks).
We have 2 Great Pyrenees dogs and they are wonderful. Most everyone I know has livestock guardian dogs so I cant tell you much about the llamas or donkeys. If you go with a dog make sure the parents are working livestock dogs and I would suggest getting a puppy and raising it in with the goats.
This is not a get rich buisness and I am not being mean by saying this but a lot of people got into raising goats thinking they would have a quick turn around and ended up losing money and goats. I would suggest going out to some reputable breeders farms looking around and talking with them. Not sure where you live or I would give you some names.
Hope this has helped you some
doxsgirl
May 7, 2012 at 5:38 am