The Blue Goat Homestead

Thanks for letting me join.  I'm Tony. My 9 year old homestead is called "The Blue Goat." It's 10 acres. When we moved here the previous owner had a herd of Boers, so the basic structure was here.  Since we came from Dallas we knew nothing. So for our anniversary my wife and bought a single ornery grey doe ("Blue") who beat up everyone else in the herd and had lopsided utters. Within 2 days of having a single goat we realized our mistake and added a 2nd doe - a nice tan one - and a friendly buck. We had a nice herd with good does who threw nice kids with lots of females. 

After a few years our interests drifted and we sold them off. 2 years ago one of our adult children moved to the homestead with his wife and 4 year old. Time to get some goats. 

Our current herd is 3 ND does and a buck and a couple pigmy/ND does. The ND's are good milkers. We don't even try to milk the pigmy's. My daughter in law has them more as pets. 

Today I'm swapping out my buck because out of 10 kids over 2 years we have only had 2 females. I've read it can be the buck. That may or may not be true, but I'm tired of seeing every kid come out male.  He's outta here and we are replacing him with a known stud that has a record of 53% females. Whatever happens I'll know it's not the sire.  The new buck's name is "Elvis." 

I attached some pics. The buck next to the brown lamacha is the new buck I'm bringing in today. The other pic is my current buck when he was younger and a pair of my ND does. 

Thanks again. I look forward to your feedback.

Tony

goats 23.jpg

buck elvis.jpg

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  • I only keep the best sons of the best does as bucks. Mom has to be one of my top milkers with easy to milk teats and an excellent udder. The rest are wethered and sold as pets or turned into meat. I was resistant to the idea of butchering goats for years because they seemed more like dogs to me than cows. But after learning that a few "pet" goats wound up in bad situations, I came to realize that there are worse things that being humanely butchered after having a great life in the pasture here, even if it's only for a year. And I am very particular about who I allow to buy my goats. 

  • Something to consider. We will do more banding going forward
  • Welcome to the group! It will be interesting to see what percentage of bucks-does you have next spring. It can be the buck, but it can also be the doe, depending upon the pH of her vagina. I've had does that had as much as 70-80% bucks or does throughout her entire life.

    I used to always want does, but once we started eating goat meat, I don't mind how many bucks we have. 

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