i have a lot of briars thinking of getting about 3 or 4 nannies to try and eat them down. about how much do you think i would have to pay for these goats. not looking for anything special just something that will be pretty rugged. was told that those boar goats get sick real easy. how hard are these animals to keep in. has anybody ever heard of people feeding out young whethers if so is there any money in it and about what weight do you feed them to.
meat goat
- Thread starter trin
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Tod Dague
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About $50 to $60 for doe-lings. We use half Spanish half Boer (about 30 so far), they are pretty tough. When I move them to a new paddock they attack the brush. After a couple of days they will start to move out to the grass some. I run ours with the cows and so far haven't lost any to predation. They will strip the bark off of new growth trees and brush and eat new briars into the ground.trin":3ra3ayxo said:
cow_crazy_101
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trin":hdvhh1xh said:
No, they do not get sick real easy. But when they do get sick they are sick!!most of the time with unknown things. Get Boer Crosses. you will still need to worm and give shots to if they get sick, so don't buy them to big....and make sure your fences are sturdy :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
They can range from $35.00 to $60.00.
*Cowgirl*
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get s/t with some spanish in it : cheaper and hardier.
CowgirlUpNY
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We've been raising boers for about 3 years now and haven't had any health issues. You'll be amazed at how fast they can clear out an area.
mdmdogs3
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my Dad complained that they pooped in the mineral feeders all of the time and then the cows wouldn't eat it
so now we let the deer have the woods for cover but from time to time we turn the cows in there and they stomp it down pretty good
so now we let the deer have the woods for cover but from time to time we turn the cows in there and they stomp it down pretty good
CowgirlUpNY
Well-known member
Well, that's true, they do poop EVERYWHERE, they are not indiscriminate at all. They will poop where they eat.
Keren
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trin, if you are just wanting some goats to clean up your weeds, get a couple of good feral cross boer does. They are tough as nails and will do a good job cleaning up the place. They are the hardest of goats to fence, but a hot wire close to the ground works well because they have a tendency to push under loose wire. Full feral animals can go over fences but we have found once they have a bit of boer blood they prefer to go under rather than over. Also, some animals will get over a fence by climbing up a diagonal stay.
On the other hand, if you are thinking about feeding out wethers, to really get the quality and quantity of meat you need good Boer or Kalahari animals. They also need good quality feed - a mixture of pasture and browse, grain optional. Fullblood boer animals will clean up the weeds and do well on them, but to produce to their full potential they need a balanced diet of both pasture, browse and minerals.
We feed out boer and boer cross wethers and turn off 25 about once a month at around 30 - 40 kg liveweight. They are aged around 6 - 8 months, some younger some older. There is good money in it (over here anyway) provided you establish a market.
Have you thought about getting a few angora wethers? You could get some fairly cheap at around 2 years of age, once their first valuable fleeces have been harvested. Here you could buy them for around $20 a head. The nice thing about angoras is that they are a lot easier on fences than the other breeds. Any fence that keeps a meat breed sheep in will also keep an angora in. If you get them off shears you will have about four months before the weeds will begin to contaminate their fleece, but if you are not concerned about this you can usually graze them on the weeds as long as you like. And if you like you can then put them in the freezer. Angoras may take a bit longer to reach slaughter size than the other breeds but the meat is just as good.
From our experience, goats are not a particularly sickly animal. The person who told you this may have gotten the idea from the fact that goat kids are fairly delicate when they are born, and susceptible to cold, predators and illnesses. But if managed properly, these aren't a problem.
And yes, they will crap everywhere and then they tend not to eat feed if they've crapped in it. But, the soiled food we feed to the cattle and pigs, they are really good at sorting through it.
Wow, sorry for the long post but hopefully it helped.
On the other hand, if you are thinking about feeding out wethers, to really get the quality and quantity of meat you need good Boer or Kalahari animals. They also need good quality feed - a mixture of pasture and browse, grain optional. Fullblood boer animals will clean up the weeds and do well on them, but to produce to their full potential they need a balanced diet of both pasture, browse and minerals.
We feed out boer and boer cross wethers and turn off 25 about once a month at around 30 - 40 kg liveweight. They are aged around 6 - 8 months, some younger some older. There is good money in it (over here anyway) provided you establish a market.
Have you thought about getting a few angora wethers? You could get some fairly cheap at around 2 years of age, once their first valuable fleeces have been harvested. Here you could buy them for around $20 a head. The nice thing about angoras is that they are a lot easier on fences than the other breeds. Any fence that keeps a meat breed sheep in will also keep an angora in. If you get them off shears you will have about four months before the weeds will begin to contaminate their fleece, but if you are not concerned about this you can usually graze them on the weeds as long as you like. And if you like you can then put them in the freezer. Angoras may take a bit longer to reach slaughter size than the other breeds but the meat is just as good.
From our experience, goats are not a particularly sickly animal. The person who told you this may have gotten the idea from the fact that goat kids are fairly delicate when they are born, and susceptible to cold, predators and illnesses. But if managed properly, these aren't a problem.
And yes, they will crap everywhere and then they tend not to eat feed if they've crapped in it. But, the soiled food we feed to the cattle and pigs, they are really good at sorting through it.
Wow, sorry for the long post but hopefully it helped.
*Cowgirl*
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what's a kahlahari (sp) never heard of it?
Keren
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Kalahari is another meat breed. The full name is actually Kalahari Red. I haven't personally worked with them, we stick to Boers. They are solid red and I believe they don't quite have the muscle of the Boers but still do very well. There aren't very many of them here. The main meat breed is still the Boer. But there is also the Red Boer, Kalahari Red and a new Sth African breed has just been introduced into Australia, the Sth African Savanna goat, which has the same body type as a Boer but is all white.
aplusmnt
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Tod Dague":cjhs4qhn said:
Do you have special fencing for them? Or do they stay in with the cows with regular barb strands?
