Goat farming questions

maxxkatt

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Ok, posted this here so Tom_in_Ca and Mudd Puppy might not see it and wouldn't have a field day with these questions.

But hey, I have made a few jokes so payback may be due.

But this is a serious question because I have a wife who wants to raise goats when we move further north from the Atlanta suburbs. Maybe get an acre or two and raise goats for extra income. I posted on Friendly metal detecting forum because I know we have a large range of occupations represented by our members.

Now normally I wouldn't waste time on this subject, but when my wife gets an idea in her head, well.... lets just say beware to the person who tries to discourage her from her goal.

She wants to raise them to sell them to a distributor for meat. She read that the ever increasing number of immigrants from countries who eat goat meat is increasing and she wants to cash in on the trend.

How many goats can you raise on 1 acre?
What are vet bills per goat?
How long til a baby goat grows to a size where you kill it for the meat?
What type of fencing? I understand goats are very adept at climbing?
Do they smell bad?
Do they make a lot of noise?
What are other pros and cons of raising goats.

Personally I would like to just raise English Springer Spaniels since at least you can play with the puppies and when they leave, they are going to a nice home not the slaughter house.

Ok, jokes and wise cracks will be accepted, but hope to get some replies from some of you with good info on this subject.
 
Huh??
 

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Doubtful an acre would be enough for more than a handful to make a profit. And they eat everything in sight.
 
Did not see the following in your list of questions:

What is the cost of goat-chow from baby to adulthood vs sale price to slaughterhouse ?

Jim
 
Depends on the land anywhere from 1-8 goats per acre. The better the land the less feed you buy. Goats get by on poor land better than most critters. Goats are normally slaughtered anywhere from 8 weeks to 8 months depending on breed and like sheep do you want lamb or mutton. Regular farm fencing with 2-3 strands of electric fence is probably the most common fencing for adults, hog panels with smaller openings works great for kids. They can get loud when they are mad or happy, hungry or horny, but they are quiet at night.

There is money in meat goats, there is probably more money in the "exotics" like fainting goats and mini goats for the pet trade. My Grandfather was a goat roper, I spent summers on the farm and we had every kind of edible critter out there. The only ones I felt bad about butchering were the goats. There is no happier creature than a baby goat discovering how to jump and play. They have a sense of humor and distinct personalities, they are tasty, and I'll eat someone else's goat but after I've bottle fed and made friends with them it just doesn't seem right to eat them.

Grandpa's favorite goat story: Billy goat kept climbing the gate where there was no electric lines. He wasnt getting out, just wearing down the gate. One morning Grandpa was at the kitchen table and seen the goat climbing the gate and told me to shoot him in the belly with my bb gun. !0 year old me pumped it up a half dozen times, stepped out on the porch and took careful aim at his belly about 100 ft away. Dead on left to right but the bb dropped about a foot an a half right in the low hanging fruit. They swang back like a church bell, the goat screamed and danced on his back legs and then his front legs and back to his back legs until he was in the middle of the pasture for the rest of the day. He never climbed the gate again
 
A Guy that used to work for me had Goats.. One day while feeding them he bent over to pour feed into whatever and one of his Goats tried to Mount him.. Moral of the story I guess is to "Watch your Back" side..
 
Rent em out to other detectorists as "Bush hogs"!! They will eat brush, weeds, Kudzu, and anything else in the way of a place that needs cleared for metal detecting. Then sell em.
 
Goats are the coolest of all farm animals.If you decide to milk em you’ll need a low stool and only milk on Sunday..Aso,keep them away from the strawberry patch unless you prefer strawberry flavored goats milk..lol

No joke tho,they’re very easy to raise ,but like all animals you should have them vet checked.I grew up on a large working farm and the vet would come to our farm and give the herd a look over.Cant load the cattle in a truck ,or goats for that matter.
Acre is a good sized piece of land just for goats.Id say a easy 10 could live there comfortably.Youll need to get things they can jump on,they really like to get up high and play.Im kinda envious,I really liked being around the livestock.Good luck
 
Don't castrate the young males. This makes them prone to dying from "wet belly" which is caused by calcification in the urinary tract. Keep the males and females separated. And boy do the males SMELL. They urinate on their own faces to produce a musky smell the females apparently find intoxicating in season. You WONT like it tho. For the fastest return on your money in feed look at a medium sized breed. I agree...after awhile I just couldn't kill them. We still breed meat rabbits. I try not to make any friends except for the breeders. All the rest I name "teriyaki."
 
Goats

On one of our trips to the Philippines we picked up a small goat at the market and he rode back home in the jeepney with us. I assumed they were getting him to controll the weeds behind the house. I started thinking of him as a pet after we got home i found out he was to be supper .:laughing:
 
Ok, jokes and wise cracks will be accepted, but hope to get some replies from some of you with good info on this subject.

Okay, first the funny stuff :laughing:

One picture that came to mind when I saw the thread subject line was a "goat" farmer :laughing::laughing::laughing:
goatfarmer.jpggoatlaugh.jpg

Now I don't have any experience with goat farming myself, and I am not saying not to get goats, but do research on all the negative aspects of owning goats BEFORE deciding for sure, I just did a search and here are just a couple sites with info to consider:

https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/11/goat-problems.html

https://modernfarmer.com/2016/05/lessons-from-raising-goats/
 
Probably a bit like raising meat chickens, which I’ve done. There’s profit to be made, but I had to charge $30 per bird (6lb birds dressed). I did all the processing. Chickens a heck of a lot easier than goats.
 
Probably a bit like raising meat chickens, which I’ve done. There’s profit to be made, but I had to charge $30 per bird (6lb birds dressed). I did all the processing. Chickens a heck of a lot easier than goats.

:shock: I am not doubting you got $30 per bird, I am just amazed there are that many people who would pay that much, we usually buy chickenbreast pieces on sale at 99 cents a pound, occasionally my wife will get a whole chicken on sale at 99 cents a pound, but even at regular price the store bought chicken is about $1.29 a pound 6 x 1.29 = $7.74 for a 6lb bird, so you were doing good getting $30 for a 6lb bird !
 
Goats are characters with personalities. We had "Billy" and "Nanny" when I was a kid. One Sunday, after church, I had what seemed like an abundance of red shoestring licorice. (I think it was 3 feet of it) Upon arriving home, I decided, out of the goodness of my heart, to run down to the shed, wake up Billy, and give him a bit of my tasty licorice. A little treat for my horn-headed buddy. He liked it! He wanted more. He used his horns to head-butt me into a corner until I gave him more. Would NOT let me go! I was eating as much as I could while paying him to not beat me up, until it was all gone. Once he saw it was all gone, he let me go. It was only a matter of seconds, but I'll never forget that.
 
Haha! I used to know a guy who had a garage that was a popular hangout for the guys. Many times they would bring their own beer and just hangout and shoot the breeze. One day a fellow came there with a paper sack full of beer and the pet goats got after him. After they chased him around the car a couple of times Cecil came out and told him to just let them have the sack and they would leave you alone. It turns out goats really do eat paper sacks and not tin cans.
 
:shock: I am not doubting you got $30 per bird, I am just amazed there are that many people who would pay that much, we usually buy chickenbreast pieces on sale at 99 cents a pound, occasionally my wife will get a whole chicken on sale at 99 cents a pound, but even at regular price the store bought chicken is about $1.29 a pound 6 x 1.29 = $7.74 for a 6lb bird, so you were doing good getting $30 for a 6lb bird !
Thats why we raise our own. Store bought birds are full of antibiotics, and GMO’s (leaky gut for us human) from their feed. This time of year, everything I eat I’ve grown myself.

BTW, I never said I sold any of mine, :lol:
 
Thats why we raise our own. Store bought birds are full of antibiotics, and GMO’s (leaky gut for us human) from their feed. This time of year, everything I eat I’ve grown myself.

BTW, I never said I sold any of mine, :lol:

I agree about trying to avoid antibiotics and GMO's, I've noticed on the store chicken we buy it says "no antibiotics ever" as well as "no added hormones or steroids", (I just looked at the label again to see how it read) so there are stores that sell that kind.

I've read that home grown tomatoes taste better because tomatoes grown for stores have been bred for something else at the sacrifice of taste.
(just did a search and found this: https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2012-jun-30-la-sci-tomato-taste-20120630-story.html )

Okay, could it maybe, possibly just might be, you never sold any because of the $30 price ? :lol:
 
I agree about trying to avoid antibiotics and GMO's, I've noticed on the store chicken we buy it says "no antibiotics ever" as well as "no added hormones or steroids", (I just looked at the label again to see how it read) so there are stores that sell that kind.

I've read that home grown tomatoes taste better because tomatoes grown for stores have been bred for something else at the sacrifice of taste.
(just did a search and found this: https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2012-jun-30-la-sci-tomato-taste-20120630-story.html )

Okay, could it maybe, possibly just might be, you never sold any because of the $30 price ? :lol:
Why do you think I priced ‘em at 30 bucks!
 
Haven’t bought a crunchy store bought tomato since I can’t remember when. Store bought veggies are raised for shelf live, not taste, yuck!
 
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