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<blockquote data-quote="ddd75" data-source="post: 1260070" data-attributes="member: 23575"><p>i had 120 nanny goats and around 30 ewes. the goats were nothing but trouble. pulling heads out of fences everyday gets old. watching the little babies get beat by the other goats gets old. watching the goats destroy everything gets old. watching the goats die from nothing gets pretty old. mounding dead goat bodies everyday in a hole gets old. </p><p></p><p>i think it'd be better to light a fire with your money then to buy goats.</p><p></p><p>so i sold them off.. bought more sheep. had 150 ewes.. culled for everything you can think of.. never wormed one in my life.. just let them die if they couldn't handle it. had one fantastic heard. they ended up about killing my pastures off. ate all the orchard grass and clover to death. never let anything rest. the more land you give them, the more they eat. they are very fun to watch run and play, and the little ones are extremely cute. a lot of time just trying to gather them everyday so the coyotes and dogs didn't kill them. </p><p></p><p>tried to rotate behind cows but that was about impossible with all the killings. went through around a dozen guard dogs. most of them are worthless. we had 2 really good ones that the neighbors killed. bad thing about them is that they love the sheep so much they kill the babies. probably would of been better to just let the coyotes kill what they wanted vs. having the guard dogs. </p><p></p><p>fencing is expensive.. HT with cattle but sheep will walk right through it. so you need all woven wire. yes you can train them but its difficult b/c if they get scarred they'll run right through it. </p><p></p><p>as already mentioned sale barns are the hard part to find. New holland, PA .. and the sale near wooster, oh are the best up here. of course hauling is expensive so that really cuts into your profit. </p><p></p><p></p><p>probably the hardest part is actually find a breeder that actually culls for performance, parasites and mothering ability. its near impossible. everyoen worms.. everyone wants to keep "sally" even though she sucks.. etc. </p><p></p><p>and another thing thats bad is most of these people into sheep are hobby people.. so they will call and call and call and want to talk for hours.. then they want to come visit the farm.. look at them all.. think about it a couple more months.. and then if you're lucky after about 10 hours time.. you'll MAYBE (10%) get a sale of 1 - 2 sheep. and everyone wants them young.. </p><p></p><p></p><p>oh yea.. also.. don't havea nyting with wiring around them... they ate all the wiring off my tractor and trailers. every bit of it. </p><p></p><p></p><p>so is it worth it? no. </p><p></p><p>this is the first year i've had them gone.. the clover and orchardgrass are coming back.. i've almost tripled my hay yields, and i'll still be able to run another 15 head of cattle minimum.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ddd75, post: 1260070, member: 23575"] i had 120 nanny goats and around 30 ewes. the goats were nothing but trouble. pulling heads out of fences everyday gets old. watching the little babies get beat by the other goats gets old. watching the goats destroy everything gets old. watching the goats die from nothing gets pretty old. mounding dead goat bodies everyday in a hole gets old. i think it'd be better to light a fire with your money then to buy goats. so i sold them off.. bought more sheep. had 150 ewes.. culled for everything you can think of.. never wormed one in my life.. just let them die if they couldn't handle it. had one fantastic heard. they ended up about killing my pastures off. ate all the orchard grass and clover to death. never let anything rest. the more land you give them, the more they eat. they are very fun to watch run and play, and the little ones are extremely cute. a lot of time just trying to gather them everyday so the coyotes and dogs didn't kill them. tried to rotate behind cows but that was about impossible with all the killings. went through around a dozen guard dogs. most of them are worthless. we had 2 really good ones that the neighbors killed. bad thing about them is that they love the sheep so much they kill the babies. probably would of been better to just let the coyotes kill what they wanted vs. having the guard dogs. fencing is expensive.. HT with cattle but sheep will walk right through it. so you need all woven wire. yes you can train them but its difficult b/c if they get scarred they'll run right through it. as already mentioned sale barns are the hard part to find. New holland, PA .. and the sale near wooster, oh are the best up here. of course hauling is expensive so that really cuts into your profit. probably the hardest part is actually find a breeder that actually culls for performance, parasites and mothering ability. its near impossible. everyoen worms.. everyone wants to keep "sally" even though she sucks.. etc. and another thing thats bad is most of these people into sheep are hobby people.. so they will call and call and call and want to talk for hours.. then they want to come visit the farm.. look at them all.. think about it a couple more months.. and then if you're lucky after about 10 hours time.. you'll MAYBE (10%) get a sale of 1 - 2 sheep. and everyone wants them young.. oh yea.. also.. don't havea nyting with wiring around them... they ate all the wiring off my tractor and trailers. every bit of it. so is it worth it? no. this is the first year i've had them gone.. the clover and orchardgrass are coming back.. i've almost tripled my hay yields, and i'll still be able to run another 15 head of cattle minimum. [/QUOTE]
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