# Thinking About Raising Goats



## GPhillips (Oct 11, 2008)

Alright guys, as the topic implies, I have been thinking about diversifying our small cow/calf operation by adding getting in to the goat market on a small scale. We raise our own hay, and typically have plenty left over that I could feed instead of stockpiling it for the next year. I know that I would have to rework the fencing in the area, it's good enough for the cows, but no way it would hold a goat.

Those of you that raise commercial goats, what breeds are you raising, what are you feeding them, would regular grass hay be good enough or would I have to do more specialized hay?

Just trying to gather information while I'm thinking about this move, anything that you can think of to pass a long please do so, I don't want to jump into a losing proposition.

Thanks


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I have 3 goats. The idiots do not like grass hay or teff hay. They love alfalfa. I sell alfalfa to dairy goat owners and they also say they only like alfalfa. They just play with grass hay. So I'm not a professional with goats but what I've experienced with them agrees with what the true goat professionals that I sell hay to say. I've been told by the professionals that goats are actually pretty picky. The ones that eat anything are generally starving. I will say our 3 goats sure love bull head thorns though. We let them roam around and I noticed no bull head thorns this year for the first time ever. They also like tree leaves of cottonwood trees.


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## CowboyRam (Dec 13, 2015)

I have a few goats, and they will not eat oat hay either, at least my goats won't. If you are wanting to get into selling meat goats; I would suggest the Boer goats. All the kids around here that sell meat goats for their 4H, and FFA project raise Boer goats. Boer goats can get up to over 200 pounds. Goat can also jump fences; I have a Nigerian Dwarf buck that can jump a 4' fence; that pretty high for a 20" tall goat.


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## Swv.farmer (Jan 2, 2016)

I use to have kinko goats they were pretty tough and they would eat enough grass hay to surive if the ground was covers with enough snow but if it was possible they would eat roughage.


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## MtnHerd (Jul 6, 2011)

Goats are browsers linstead of grazers. They like and are built for more broadleaf and less grass. With that being said they will also consume a lot of grass, but only after the browse is gone. Mine eats the same grass hay that the cows get, except I do not have a way to feed them round rolls yet, so all of theirs get square baled. There are plenty of ways to feed round rolls to them, but the topography and infrastructure I have where I winter pasture the goats doesn't make that possible.

The biggest one issue with goats is parasite load. If you can cross fence and rotate them then that can make a huge difference in how many you can keep living. And that is with any breed. I have seen breeders talk about how their breed is so much more parasite resitant than another breed, but I have never seen where that is true. There are particular individuals in any breed that are more resistant than others, and they should be breed and offspring retained while individuals that you are constantly worming should be sold for meat or weed eating. You also need a shelter for them. Unlike cows, most goats cannot take being wet or they will get pneumonia and other issues. Cold they can handle, but they need something to get under to stay dry. Also, they are more susceptible to moldy hay than cows, but not as bad as horses.

As far as breeds, boer is the majority pick for meat goats. They get large and provide a lot of meat. The problem is finding good commercial stock that can get big and produce kids with minimal feed input. Too many boer breeders are show breeders that spend a fortune to get their animals the nutrition to look the way they do. Those same goats would be culls on pasture and grass hay as they are not efficient at converting regular pasture to proper body condition. With that I would recommend you look for someone who raises the goats on pasture instead of someone taunting bloodlines that have awesome offspring when constantly grain feed but can barley survive if totally pasture based.

Kiko are also good meat goats, they just do not get as big as boers, but you can usually find commercial stock more readily available. Again, it is good to make sure that what you buy is living off pasture with minimal grain input, not living off of grain getting minimal pasture input.

Savannas are a breed that closely resemble boer goats. They are fairly new to the market and as such are usually much higher and are raised more like show goats.

I personally run boer goats and mix the, with some of my dairy goats. I try like to get 3/4 boer and 1/4 dairy for does to get a little extra milk production while retaining high butterfat content from boer. I also like to keep up the hybrid vigor. Just like in cows, a little new breed blood can make a big jump in offspring. Good luck in your search, goats can be aggravating but enjoyable at the same time!


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Never had em on the farm, but I've heard from quite a few goats will spend the first 3 or 4 hours of every day figuring out how or where to get out later in the day.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

mlappin said:


> Never had em on the farm, but I've heard from quite a few goats will spend the first 3 or 4 hours of every day figuring out how or where to get out later in the day.


Them are the dumb lazy ones. The rest spend all day trying to figure out how to get out. Then they spend all night trying.


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## Wethay (Jul 17, 2015)

I've thought of meat goats but I'm very concerned with predation. I have seen guardian dogs be effective but the price makes it impractical for a small operation.


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## Swv.farmer (Jan 2, 2016)

Lot's of Elictric.low high in the middle with good grounds.


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