Goat brag!

[A.J.]

Great job. Those are some fine looking goats. That's what a meat goat should look like. There's quite a few goats in my area. Parasites, barber pole worms in particular, have been the biggest issue I've run into with them. They can be very resistant to a majority of the wormers. As others have said having a lot of browse for them and rotating pasture is the best way to help minimize worm risk. They can go downhill so fast once they start going. The folks I know around here that raise/buy a lot of goats take them up to Pennsylvania somewhere around New Holland and say they get good money for them. Lots of demand from the Muslim market up there. You'd have to have a trailer load to justify hauling that far from here tho.

 

[Cross-7]

Only one of the 3 was a billy.

I was just giving you a hard time.

Back home they run Spanish goats for the hardiness and put a boer buck on them.
Big auctions at San Angelo, Hamilton and Goldthwaite Tx.
I read an article in The Livestock weekly a few years ago.
The big buyers truck several loads a week.
Seems like 30 hours straight.
They want live goats and certain rituals performed for slaughter.
Something like 90% are sold to muslims.

That's lots of muslims up there

 

[cow pollinater]

Something like 90% are sold to muslims.

That's lots of muslims up there

Way to pizz on my parade. I've been thinking about getting a few goats as I'm raising goat feed whether I like it or not so it's a matter of use it or lose it but I sure hate to feed muslims... That's more embarrassing than showing up to the sale with a load of goats!

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Thanks for the compliments all!

To answer some questions-
We have a USDA inspected butcher who buys all of our weathers at about 90 pounds. Ours usually hit this weight by 4 months old. They are processed and sent to the east coast to high end markets. They are weighed live on our certified scale, a check is wrote, and they are loaded up. We do not sell the weathers as singles unless it is for a show prospect. All the kids are weaned at 90 days. The weathers and bottom 25% or so of the doelings are put on grain for two to three weeks, then sold. The middle 50% of the doelings are marketed privately treaty as breeding stock. These are good does, just often don't meet ABGA show standards. The top 25% or so are developed for our show string and ultimately join our doe flock. If a doe can't compete in the ring, she won't meet our standards to stay. We only keep one or two bucklings each kidding season to develope, show and sell. Again, we are at a point we can afford to cull ruthlessly on our flock and only use the very best bucks we can.

We have had no issues with Muslims trying to buy them. We just are not close to any real population of them. They also prefer to kill on site, which we would never allow. We do have several Amish customers though who are great to work with.

Yes, parasite control is a must. And yes, trimming hooves is a horrible job. This is a task we are happy to pay to have done. With a flock of 30-50 does at any given time and several bucks, it is just easier to write a check!

Our goats generally stay in their pastures. We have a fencer that puts them on the run and fat goats are less likely to go wandering....also, we have a few good heelers that are obsessive about the stock being in it's place!

Thanks again for all the kind words!

 

[cow pollinater]

I forgot to add that they look good to my post. Well done.

 

[skyhightree1]

Thanks for the compliments all!

We have had no issues with Muslims trying to buy them. We just are not close to any real population of them. They also prefer to kill on site, which we would never allow. We do have several Amish customers though who are great to work with.


Thanks again for all the kind words!

If you have greenbacks I'll sell to you because at the end of the day whether a direct sale of a goat or they buy in the store anyone can but it so I try to keep as much $ In my pocket for my family as possible. The selling point that does a great job and brings in a good bit of $ is I provide processing facilities. I move 50-60 meat goats a month and sheep. I have a strong ethnic base here.

 

[Ol' 243]

When you say ethnic base . . . . . . ., does that mean you sell a lot of goats to Muslims?

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

The only thing I know about goats....I like peperoni pizza. Those goats look like they would make some amazing peperoni. Very good looking critters you have there! Congrats on the success.

 

[Bestoutwest]

your name would have to be changed to goatrider and people would think that means something else. biggest issue I see with goats is marketing . there are only a select number of outlets to sell at without traveling substantial distance. We have one within 1hrs of me and every one calls it the goat and chicken auction. there are a couple of buyers there that load up and haul to Miami weekly but they pay well below the market on them but people have no choice here .

You need some more Mexicans. We've got a pretty good goat market here. I'll import some of the Mexicans over to you so you can do better in the goat world.

 

[M-5]

your name would have to be changed to goatrider and people would think that means something else. biggest issue I see with goats is marketing . there are only a select number of outlets to sell at without traveling substantial distance. We have one within 1hrs of me and every one calls it the goat and chicken auction. there are a couple of buyers there that load up and haul to Miami weekly but they pay well below the market on them but people have no choice here .

You need some more Mexicans. We've got a pretty good goat market here. I'll import some of the Mexicans over to you so you can do better in the goat world.

I actually did sell to them when I had some. They pay good.

 

[skyhightree1]

When you say ethnic base . . . . . . ., does that mean you sell a lot of goats to Muslims?

If you got the $$ you can get them. I sell mostly to Mexicans, Moroccans, El Salvadorians Africans Muslims The Africans like strong selling meat bought big boar like 700 lbs or more cant remember for like 20 bucks at the barn an African while there getting a goat offered me 300 for it I told him the meat would be strong he said they like it like that so I kept the goat for about a month till he called and said he was coming to process it helped him as much as I could with the tractor and keeping the hot water rolling. The one thing about those ethnic groups is they will be your advertisement and tell all there people to buy from you if you treat them fair.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Thanks for the compliments all!

We have had no issues with Muslims trying to buy them. We just are not close to any real population of them. They also prefer to kill on site, which we would never allow. We do have several Amish customers though who are great to work with.


Thanks again for all the kind words!

If you have greenbacks I'll sell to you because at the end of the day whether a direct sale of a goat or they buy in the store anyone can but it so I try to keep as much $ In my pocket for my family as possible. The selling point that does a great job and brings in a good bit of $ is I provide processing facilities. I move 50-60 meat goats a month and sheep. I have a strong ethnic base here.

We just don't have that "base" you refer to up here. We are lucky to have a standing order for kill stock, so that makes other avenues of sale not necessary for us at this point. As with our cattle operations, we are seedstock focused. The weathers and kill does are simply a beneficial by-product. We carcass scan the kid crops just like the cattle and track their performance. This doesn't make the weathers worth more, but it sure does make the sire and dams worth more.

 

[mwj]

If you keep an open mind, a good young goat is very good eating! The good thing about the ethnic buyers is they want those older intact males that are hard to sell.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

After another weekend of shows, our Stella doe (Sr doe earlier in thread) added 2 more division titles (show 1 and 2) and Reserve Champion Overall (show 2) to her list of accomplishments in the ring! We have shown this doe for over a year and she just keeps getting better!