Meat Goat Blog

Dead Goats Make No Sales - Even If They Weigh a Lot

This following post was inspired by an e-mail I received from a reader. I always appreciate good suggestions - keep them coming!

Penny,

Thanks for the note. Weight gain is definitely an important topic for us goat breeders! As you mentioned, our Post Oak-goats have strong Spanish and Kiko influences. Those were the best genetics we could find when we started looking for new breeding stock after a rough welcome to the goat business from a herd of Boers.

Since we switched away from Boers a little over ten years ago, we've been focused on improving our goats' genetics in three main areas: parasite resistance, mothering, and body size. We think that parasite resistance is most important. A doe can't raise a healthy kid if she's dying from worms. However, mothering takes a close second place. A healthy doe that is infertile or neglects her kids just costs me time and money with nothing in return. We only began to consider size once we felt like we had parasite resistance and mothering pretty well in-hand. A little extra bulk can definitely improve the prices you see at the sale barn. But, a large dead goat kid is worth a lot less that a small goat kid I can load on the trailer.

Weaning weight is a tricky subject to tackle because everyone raises their goats a little differently. We had some friends a number of years back who raised the most gorgeous registered Kiko goats we'd ever seen. They were big, healthy, and even had a weaning:mother ratio greater than 2.0! But then we learned a little more about their operation. They kept their goats in a 20 acre lot with a barn big enough to use as a house. The goats were fed high-dollar bagged feed and the kids were treated like royalty the second they were born. While we were still very impressed by their livestock, we started to realize that we weren't making an apples-to-apples comparison with our goats. From the beginning, our goats have been treated like goats. We provide them with brush to eat and water to drink. If they ever get bagged feed or hay, it's because they flat ran out of brush to eat in the Winter. They kid in the pasture and we don't handle them much (other than ID tags) until the bucklings go to the sale around 90 days old. Because of their environment, our goats may not always be pretty - but they're definitely tough! While scores like average daily weight gain have their place, it can be difficult to equalize between different operations.

I hope this answered a few of your questions. I left links to a few more posts your might be interested in below:

• Average Daily Weight Gain in Goats
• How Big are Spanish Goats?
• Parasite Resistance in Goats
• How to Select Future Breeding Stock
• About Our Ranch

Matt

 

 

Goat Minerals Follow-Up Question

Post suggestion by Allan

I recently got an e-mail from a long-time viewer of the blog with some follow-up questions regarding a post I wrote a few years ago about avoiding Coccidiosis. Here's how the conversation went:

Matt,

I have several questions but first a little background. My wife and I bought a ranch as I retired ten years ago. It is in south Texas and adjoins her parents’ ranch. We have also taken over my father-in-law’s cattle operations.

However eight months ago, at age 89, he decided he would start a goat business. He knows little about goats so I have been trying to learn as much as I can from websites like your blog ever since. That said, I am very interested in learning better ways to do it both for helping today and to prepare me for tomorrow.

Your blog has me interested in Rumensin minerals. Would you be willing to give me some advice as to how you feed this product to your goats?

What period of the year do you use the SweetLix with Rumensin?

Do you control which goats have access to it?

How do you make certain all the goats you feel should have it actually get it? Our goats have a pecking order around the feed and I’m sure some don’t get any at all.

Do you have to get the doelings/bucklings you wish to sell off of the medicated feed for a defined period before they can be sold?

My father-in-law still has good forage available (50% south Texas brush, 50% pasture with mixed grasses/ weeds). The only supplemental food he puts out is corn. Initially it was to train the herd to come in every night. But as soon as we get a freeze things will change more.

Thanks,

Allan

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Allan,

Welcome to the goat business! I hope you enjoy it as much as we have.

I'm happy to tell you about what has worked for us; I'm not a vet, though.

We don't mix our minerals with anything. We just leave them out for the goats to eat whenever their bodies need them. We offer free-choice minerals year-round but mainly worry about Rumensin minerals from about a month before kidding until the kids are weaned. We offer minerals to every goat on the ranch but NOT TO HORSES. I've been told that goat minerals have too much copper for a horse and can kill them. I'm not sure if this is true for cattle. We give our goats Sweetlix 16:8 Meat Maker with Rumensin. I found an online store that carries it here.

Since the minerals are always available, the goats usually don't fight over them too much. Any goat that wants the minerals can walk over and get them. We have had to stop providing minerals for a few months occasionally; when we put them out again, the goats will sometimes eat a whole bag in about 48 hours. After a couple weeks, they slow down again. 200 goats will eat a 25lb bag about every 2 weeks. But, the rate varies wildly depending on the season.

I believe Rumensin is safe to feed to animals before slaughter. I found this FDA article that says it can be used to increase weight gain in slaughter cattle (among other uses).

We use a swivel feeder that we got from a friend to give the minerals to the goats. At the time, we never would have paid this much money for a glorified feed bowl. However, I would definitely pay for one today. We've been using ours for over 10 years and it still gets the job done. The fin on the top of the feeder turns the opening away from the wind when it's raining. This keeps the minerals dry. The swivel also prevents the goats from knocking it over. It doesn't take very many bags of ruined minerals to pay for the feeder. Here's a link to a similar Sydell product.

If we do give feed (separate from the minerals), we usually use 20% protein cattle cubes. The main reason they need feed is to supplement a lack of good weeds to eat when the property gets eaten down too much. Protein is the most important thing in bagged feed.

I hope this helps! Keep questions like these coming. I'll probably start turning them into posts that might help other people who have the same questions!

-- Matt

 

How to Transport a Goat

As ranchers, most of the goats we sell get loaded in the bed of a pickup truck or the back of a trailer so they can reach their new owner's farm further down the road. Some folks bring rigs that look nicer than most houses; others have simpler setups that get the job done just as well. But, there are a few tips we like to give prospective goat breeders before they drive off with their new herd.

A goat trailer should be fully secured from top to bottom. In case you hadn't heard, goats are pretty good at jumping! Since goats like to lie close to each other on road trips, they make excellent launching platforms for any escape-minded travelers in the group. To avoid this, the trailer walls or truck pen should either be very tall (which often isn't practical) or they should have a ceiling of some sort. No one wants to see a flying goat in their rear-view mirror!

Also, a goat trailer should have some wind protection to keep the animals warm and to protect their eyes. The air moving through a trailer at 75 miles-per-hour can get very cold very fast. Goats will do fine huddling together for warmth in most weather. However, a trailer without wind protection can produce wind chills that are just too cold for their health. Furthermore, the air running through the trailer can damage their eyes with enough time. Fast-moving air will dry their eyes much faster than the winter wind ever did on the farm. With enough exposure, that can lead to temporary 'wind-blindess' or even long-term eye problems.

So, whether you've got a Hollywood mansion on wheels or a faded stock trailer with a dent in the side, make sure you take a few precautions so your goats will be in top shape once they reach their new home.

When to Wean: There Go the Kids

With the 2017 kidding season already underway, we've been getting lots of calls from people wanting to buy goats as soon as they're available. But, the kids need to be raised and weaned before they can be sold. So how long should a goat rancher wait before weaning?

Well, there are a couple of things to consider when weaning kids. You don't want to wean them too early - otherwise their growth will be stunted. But, you don't want to leave them too long either; then, the bucklings will start breeding everything they can reach.

We've found that it's usually best to wait between 60 and 90 days before separating the kids from their mothers. This gives the kids adequate time to grow strong on their mother's milk and to begin eating a few weeds. Once the kids are separated from their mothers (preferably out of her line of sight), the doe will have a chance to regenerate her strength for next breeding season without needing to provide nutrition for three.

Thanks for the suggestion, Allan!

Pokémon Goat - Discover Adorable Baby Goats!

I may be a little late to the party...but all the millennials have been playing an iPhone game called 'Pokémon Go' where they walk around collecting digital monsters on their phones. Well, I finally figured out what all the buzz is about. The game is just like a goat rancher searching for new baby goats that have been born!

Just look at the similarities between 'Pokémon Go' and 'Pokémon Goat!'

• Goat ranchers and Pokémon players both get to collect fun new animals (I would argue that goats are more fun, though).
• Ranchers and millennials both get exercise while trying to find their new critters (baby goats are very good at hiding!).
• Goat herds and Pokémon collections can both include hundreds of animals (admittedly, goats aren't quite as pocket-sized).

I can't help but notice one difference, though. Goat ranchers get a much higher price when they sell their livestock at the end of kidding season! Well, at least I finally understand why everyone was playing. I'll be ahead of the curve when 'Pokémon Goat' goes viral in 2017!

Happy New Year from Meat Goat Blog and Post Oak Ranch!

We have Goat Kids!

We were happy to find our first goat kids of the 2017 kidding season earlier today. We can't wait to see what the latest generation of meat producers can do! The kid shown here is from our Post Oak breeding line. Hopefully, she will have the parasite resistance, mothering abilities, and all-around toughness of that breeding line!

Good Bucks Have to be Sold Sooner

Here's a funny thought: if you have a really good buck, you'll end up selling him sooner than you'd sell a buck you don't like as much. You'd think goats would be like an old ranch truck you love to drive because it's gotten the job done for all these years. The more you use the truck, the more you like it.

However, with bucks, the more times you breed them, the more their genetics are present in the herd. This makes it hard to continue breeding without inbreeding. That's the unfortunate situation we have with one of our favorite bucks: Blue.

We've bred Blue almost every year since he was born and we really love the hardiness of the kids he produces. But, that means it's getting harder to breed him. Because so many of our Spanish breeding does are related to him (or his father), we're having to make the hard choice to put him up for sale now that he has finished this breeding season. It's funny how things work out - good bucks have to be sold sooner!

Hornless Goats are Hard to Handle - Quick Tips

If you're trying to decide whether to purchase horned or polled goats, consider this: goat horns make great handles. When you're trying to move a hornless goat, there's not much to hold onto. Although this means the goat won't get stuck in the fence, it also means that you'll need to wrestle with the goat anytime you want to work it.

Improving Bad Breeding Stock - Quick Tips

So you purchased some less-than-ideal breeding stock. Now what? When we first entered the goat business, we purchased Boer crosses in a herd dispersal and attempted to 'breed up' using (comparatively) high-dollar Kiko bucks. Unwelcome as this advice may be, after a few years of disappointing results, we determined that breeding up is too much work. It's easier to cull the bad blood and finance better stock.

How Long is a Goat's Gestation Period?

How long after breeding will my goats start kidding? Breeding season is almost upon us again! So, if you're trying to figure out whether to breed now or in a couple months, you may be wondering how much time the goats will be pregnant. Goats have a gestation period of roughly 150 days (about 5 months). As you decide when to breed your goats, be sure to consider the weather conditions, fly population, and predator activity during the time of year that you plan to kid. Be warned - goats are notoriously susceptible to early kidding if bad weather arrives.

Breeding Expected Kidding July December August January September February October March November April December May January June February July March August April September May October June November