How do you go about finding a good bred doe? I'd like to get a Toggenburg. Being a newbie I don't have a clue about where to look or what to look for in her.
MollyD
Goat question
You can start by searching for breeders on the net. If you have no luck there then you can check at local livestock auctions. You may not find one you want there, but you should be able to find someone with connections to a good breeder. Good luck!
http://nationaltoggclub.org/Breeder%20listing.htm
This site was from a link from the adga.org
Thanks Talley. Thanks Sandy. ^_^
MollyD
Also they have listing for local goat clubs in every state http://www.adga.org/clubs.htm#NY
Hope this helps get you started.
Just to throw another website at you! I have gotten good advice in emergency situations w/ my goats from this site: http://www.goatworld.com/
Thanks Sandy! Those are very useful links!
MollyD
You're welcome! Have fun browsing!
well, more for me to read tomorrow!
Molly:
As a former gal who was owned by 45 goats I want to warn you about purchasing a goat from the local livestock auction. Most (I didn't say all) animals that go there go for a bad reason and most are not ones that you would want to bring home. Please check out the ADGA web site and look for breeders in your area for the breed of goat you are interested in. Then go out to their farms and check out the conditions they goats are living in. This one thing will for sure tell you if you want to purchase from them. And please, please should you go to a farm and the conditions are terrible please please don't feel that you would be saving a goat from those terrible living conditions as you really are only adding fuel to the owner so that they will continue to find a sucker to buy their cast offs.
Ok now off my box and back to the quite corner.
Anyway good luck with your search and should you end up with some be prepared to give your heart away to them. LOL
such GOOD advice
Thanks meadowyck! I agree with you 100%. I've stayed away from our auction house for the very reasons you list. I wouldn't know a sick goat from a healthy one unless it was very ill so I'd be very likely to end up with a problem child on my hands.
I was at Barnes and Noble this week browsing books. Found one on goats and sat there reading. They mentioned the very points you did about auction houses! Couldn't buy the book just then but plan to go back for it. Small book but loaded with information. It said that Black Walnuts are poisonous to goats. We've got hundreds of Black Walnuts here so I'm concerned about that.
I had a chuckle when the book described a prime herd sire as one whose scrotum had a circumference of 10.5" or more. LOL I just can't see any buck standing still while I whipped out my measuring tape and took stats on his private parts!!!
I'm still looking around here.
Thanks!
MollyD
Molly, here's a link which lists poisonous plants. http://kinne.net/poi-list.htm
Sue
Thanks Sue. Does this mean if they ate the branches or bark the goats would get sick? There are very few spots here that they wouldn't be able to reach a black walnut :-(
edited to add: Oats are on that list?? Why? Is that a list of poisonous to people or to goats?
MollyD
This message was edited Apr 14, 2008 9:54 AM
Not sure-but according to the link I gave you it lists all parts as poisonous. So I think I would be very cautious when it comes to the black walnut. Would it be possible to clear a pasture of the black walnut?
I have noticed though w/ my goats they tend to stay away from poisonous plants(unlike sheep!) especially if you keep them well fed. They like to 'taste' everything, browsing around the field. Some animals will eat an entire plant while a goat will only eat a leaf or two unless it's starving.
Sue
it's 10 acres of woods here Sandy. Only clear spaces are up back where the horse grazes mostly and our lawn area. Everything else is black walnut forest with locust, cherries and the odd oak tree mixed in. A few box elders too. That's mostly it.
MollyD
Wilted cherry leaves are poisonous as well-they contain cyanide. Did you have an area in mind for the goats?
Sue
We were going to make their shelter by the barn but that too is surrounded by the walnuts. There is brush everywhere that I wanted them to browse on but that too is in between the walnuts.
MollyD
hmm...not sure if it's safe for them or not? Maybe another DGer has had experience w/ their goats. Is there anyway to thin out the Walnut trees in that area? Or is it too brushy?
Paul wouldn't let me touch a single tree! There are literally hundreds of them. About every 6 ft there is another tree. The brush (raspberries and multiflora) grabs at you when you try to walk. It's pretty wild in the woods here. Not a 'tame' forest. Also lots of wild grapevines that get on everything. In August the walnuts are dropping everywhere and the ground is covered with them. I don't think the goats would touch them since they're on the ground.
MollyD
They would love your raspberries! We used to have beautiful blackberries but alas the goats loved them! They will eat stuff that's fallen on the ground-acorns, which I've heard that too many of them can cause kidney damage but I've never had that problem even though the pasture they were in had several oaks trees. Which brings me back to it's possible if fed properly they would leave the BW trees alone.( of course I may be scolded by other DGers for that comment!)
Sue
Thanks Sue. I'm going to talk with other local goat owners and see what I can learn before I buy any goats.
MollyD
Your local folk probably have the walnut trees too so they should have good info for you. Sorry I wasn't much help!
Sue ☺
Thanks Sue. You were helpful and as you say the locals have the same problem. Every area must have something goats can't eat!
MollyD
Your welcome. Let us know what you find out.
Sue ☺
I run sixty to sixty-five nannies and two billies. Once the babies come I can run anywhere from 150 to 200 head. My goats are kept on a 120 acre ranch owned by my grandfather. They have pasture land as well as the river bottom access. Our place is covered by Black Walnut and Wild cherry trees and I have never once lost a goat to eating poisonous plants. I don't know if they know what to eat and what not to, or if someone had a bad experience and just think that all goats should be kept away from such plants. My goats eat everything and are just as fat as can be, not one sick one.
Talley that is very interesting! I would imagine that the goats know not to eat what will make them sick. At least as long as they aren't starving. I just don't want to bring them here and cause them harm out of ignorance!
Do you find that they eat anything from the walnuts and cherries or just that they ignore what's bad for them?
MollyD
I haven't watched them all that close but I do believe they do eat the small walnut trees and the leaves from them. As far as the cherry trees, I haven't noticed one way or another on them. When it comes to questions like this the quickest and easiest thing to do would be call your local large animal vet and ask them if there is anything in your area known to be hazardous to goats.
Talley a large animal vet is another thing I haven't been able to locate! I've been asking around and the closest one I could locate was in a different area code! Still looking since I figure I should find the vet before I have the goats. You never know when you'll need a doctor!
MollyD
Do you have any universities near you that have vet studies? You could call that dept. and see if they have anyone they could suggest.
I have called Tufts University in Ma before w/ a problem we were having with a ewe. They were very helpful.
This message was edited Apr 15, 2008 8:35 AM
Cornell is the closest with vet studies and they're about 2 hrs from us. Lots of other universities but not with vet studies that I know of.
MollyD
Found our goats!
We went to CJ Hill Boer Goat Farm and spent several hours with the owner Jim Bailey. We ended up buying two does. One is 10 months old and is a Designer 16 daughter.She's a percentage Boer. The other is a little older, 94% Boer daughter of Clancy. She went a little cheaper due to an accident when she was a kid. Hurt her eye and it healed leaving a slight deformity. Nothing that hurt her eyesight but ruined her for shows. She's coming bred by Superstar. Both are registered with papers.
They'll both arrive mid May when we've got their quarters fixed up.
I chose these does for friendliness and what I call 'touchability'. Neither was reluctant to let me handle them :-)
Here's where we got them from http://cjhillfarm.com/
I was really impressed with this place. Over 200 goats and you could hardly smell them! They all looked healthy and happy. Very curious too. One attempted to climb onto Paul's shoulders LOL. Gave him quite a start!!
He's so into it now that he's talking about our buying a buck!
MollyD
This message was edited Apr 15, 2008 7:15 PM
Congratulations, Molly on finding your goats.
Thanks Granny ^_^ I feel really good about this person. He's offered his help throughout everything. Is willing to teach me everything I need to know. Spent 3 hours with us today discussing his goats, their lines, etc. Lots of really good information! They aren't cheap but the ones I bought aren't his most expensive ones either. He had a purebred 1 week old doe that was the cutest friendliest darling! Unfortunately she was way out of my budget at $500. She comes from two long lines of en-nobled ancestors!! Wish I could have afford her though!
MollyD
Congrats Molly!
Thanks!
Well, you are very fortunate to have found someone who is willing to take the time to help you in any he can. Sometimes that is what you need.
GG
YEEHAH!
Yes indeed Granny! And he wasn't even expecting us to buy from him! What really convinced me to buy was when I asked about getting stud services for any does I might buy and he said he ran a closed farm so that wasn't possible. To me that was a good sign that he took diseases very seriously! He even explained the dangers of showing goats as far as diseases were concerned.
YEEHAH! indeed tf! And he's a short distance away too (between 30 mins and 45 mins depending on traffic and weather).
MollyD
Sorry I've not been able to get back here to post. Had virus hit my computer,,,, thanks a lot norton.....
So % boar is what ya have. I noticed you said because of how friendly. I'm glad they are but just so ya know, when a kid is born most folks (dairy side of the goat business) take kids away and bottle feed so as to tame the kids and to work with them so when they are ready for the milking stand they just follow. A wild goat is something that really isn't fun to deal with...LOL.
I'm especially thrilled to hear that the guy who sold you your first goats is going to continue working with you and helping to teach you. This is the only true way to know that you have found a good breeder to purchase from, especially when you are a newbie.
Enjoy your new additions and post some pictures for us all to see.