pygmy goats

[Brush Hog Girl]

I did a search for this and nobody has really gone into depth about pygmy goats on here yet.
Do you think it's "worth it" to breed and raise them,or do you think a boer would be better?
Does anyone here raise pygmy goats?

P.S. If you do,do you use the sale barn or private sales.

 

[dun]

Pygmys have been a very small niche market for 40 plus years and will continue to be. Meat goats seem to be profitable and a lot less trouble then pygmys.
We looked into Boers and decided to not include them here. We would have to change our fencing around to much and I'm to old(lazy) to change the single hotwire system that we use now.

dun

 

[Brush Hog Girl]

I own one male pygmy.I was thinking about buying a female.But this won't be for a while.

I guess I can start small and see what happens.

 

[andybob]

There is a bigger demand than supply for good meat goats,but good fencing is essential with Boers,I used a five strand moveable electric fence 4 ft high, and never had any escape.

 

[Aero]

are boers more or less likely to jump a fence than other breeds?

 

[andybob]

My experience is that all goats jump,but of the types that I have bred (native 'Matabele' goats and Saanens) the Boers are less inclined to jump to any hieght, the heavy Improved Boergoats definitely do not clear any great heights.

 

[RebelCritter]

Depends on what you want to do... If you want to raise them to just sell the babies, then either breed would be good. Pygmys I think would be more of just a "pet" to most folks - so I would try to sell them locally. Boars are large meat goats. There is more of a market for them. If you can find an area around you that have Indians or Arabs, you can corner the market with them. Their religious holidays require them to eat goats of different ages.

Fences would have to be very secure for ANY goats. Just the larger goats, the fence has to be taller. But the fence itself still must be strong. Goats are sneaky and will find a way out!

 

[Chuckie]

Pygmy goats make good pets, and I think they are considered an exotic type. If I were raising goats for meat, I would go Boer. Or just to run with cattle, I would definitely use a larger sized goat. A pygmy is not the fastest animal and they are easily injured if running with larger animals. Neighborhood dogs have a tendency to be attracted to them. Might want to fence the dogs out as much as fencing the goats in. The little goats run into more difficulty giving birth if they gain much weight. I had several many years ago.

 

[bgm]

My experience is that all goats jump,but of the types that I have bred (native 'Matabele' goats and Saanens) the Boers are less inclined to jump to any hieght, the heavy Improved Boergoats definitely do not clear any great heights.

Don't know what you mean by any great heights, but my friend at work (same one that lost a cow in previous post) has a big Boer billy that clears his 48" fence easily. I'd just about bet it'd clear 52" if it was inclined.

Just my thoughts.

Have a good one

Bryan

 

[Aero]

big Boer billy that clears his 48" fence easily. I'd just about bet it'd clear 52" if it was inclined.

how does he contain them?

 

[andybob]

Bryan, I did say all goats are inclined to jump, The heavy improved boer buck will definitely not clear four foot fences, the ordinary commercial ones may well do so if they have got into the habit of jumping or climbing fences. A good electric fence is essential to controll goats, as they are as a whole the ultimate escapers!

 

[jaydill]

As has been said already, boer goats have a much larger market. Pygmys are good pets but if you're looking for profit, get yourself a few good boer goats and you'll have junior showman knocking on your door for some kids...looking maybe $250-$500 a head depending on the quality. If I were in your situation, I'd go boer.

 

[TheLazyM]

I'm not going to say that there is'nt a heavy boer that can clear a 4' fence but it is rare. most times boers find other ways. they are very good animals and imho they more than help a cattle operation. if you rotate your grazing and follow the goats then you have gone a big step in the direction of breaking the worm life cycle. pygmy goats will work for this as well, but the way i look at it is that a boer brang better money and if the need arises you'll get a better return for the boers than the pygmies. pygmies can be hard to sell if you need to unless you almost give them away or unless some body is looking for them. but boers sell at the weekly sell barn around here every week.

 

[Beef11]

I own one male pygmy.I was thinking about buying a female.But this won't be for a while.

I wouldn't just keep a billy goat around unless you had several females to breed. Simply because of the aroma.