From the fight on the football field to the balance on your credit card bill, it's pretty easy to tell that size matters! The same is true for goats. Since meat is sold by the pound, goats need to quickly produce heavy kids that will grow large enough to birth and protect the next generations.
Kids need to quickly grow to a prime slaughter weight so they can be weaned and sold as soon as possible. As long as kids continue to nurse, they drain their mother of resources that could be used preparing for her next pregnancy. The sooner the kid is raised and sold, the sooner the mother will be able to recover her strength and fertility for the fall. As long as the kids stay on the ranch, they are a liability that can quickly be taken by predators, thieves, or illness. The quicker the kids are loaded on the trailer, the sooner that high risk turns into high profit! Goat kids that add weight quickly increase profit by letting mothers recover and reducing the risk of loss.
But bigger kids require large mothers to carry and birth them. Pregnant does need to have enough room in their womb for large twins. A crowded uterus can impede the development of the kids during pregnancy and cause discomfort for the mother. However, the doe also needs to have a large enough frame to birth her kids. Since goats should be able to kid on their own, they do not have the option of a cesarean section if their babies don’t fit down the birth canal. Larger does have less risk of breaching during pregnancy. Goats with ample body size will have less difficulty bearing their kids through pregnancy and delivering the kids at birth.
Back to the football analogy, big goats are more difficult for predators, like coyotes, to “tackle” because they can run or defend themselves more effectively. When an attacker surveys the group, they will always choose the victim that appears smallest or weakest because they allow for an easier kill. Big goats with large horns are more difficult for a predator to neutralize. Thus, goats with larger bodies are less susceptible to predation.
Goats need to quickly grow into large bodies in order to sell faster, birth easier, and live safer. Pint-sized livestock makes for pint-sized profit. However, it is important to note that a small goat with good parasite resistance, kidding, and mothering abilities will still outperform a large, dead goat. So, with those characteristics firmly in hand, add one more item to the list. When you’re raising goats, size matters!
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