Are all bucks like this?

Margaret Langley July 18, 2012 at 8:56am

Me too, but we will get there. I don't think we have any choice, so we just have to help each other get through the hard parts. You are lucky to have a hubby that sounds like mine. God bless us all we will get through this.

Juliana Goodwin July 18, 2012 at 8:19am

Margaret..."if we don't want to kill them, we really shouldn't eat them". I totally agree. I don't eat beef, pork, or turkey. I very rarely eat store chicken (and hate it & and not at peace with eating it. Recently found out how unhealthy large amounts of soy in my diet are and trying to cut back on tofu). Am eating store fish about 1x a week which is as digusting as the rest, I am not kidding myself...My husband and kids are the big meat consumers. He used to do a lot of hunting, is a heck of a shot & knows how to butcher & clean just about anything. Our goal in the next year or so is to have at least the clear majority of our meat be home raised or hunted by him.

I have thought about raising meat rabbits, esp. since I have many dogs to feed as well. My female German Shepherd goes through 30# of chicken per month. Hate that I pay for 30# of factory farmed chicken.

Our end goal is to produce all or close to all of our own food-meat, milk eggs and produce. Partly because the food industry is scary, offensive and terrible on so many levels that you obviously are aware of, and partly because I agree with you that that day is coming when things are suddenly going to be very different than they are now. Even if that day never comes, things are so precarious it seems stupid not to be as prepared as we can be just in case.

So far we've got 100% of our own dairy products, eggs, and very soon enough chicken for a good couple of months at least because I have a whole new group of meat roos almost to slaughter age.

We are totally on the same page, I am just a softie & trying to get over it :)

Margaret Langley July 18, 2012 at 8:06am

If you have someone who can do the slaughtering etc. for you it helps. I don't mean that it has to be a heartless person. In fact I really would not want someone killing my food that "liked" doing it or got a thrill out of it, that is just sick. My hubby really dislikes it and truthfully, I don't know how well he will handle it when it when it is a goat that we raise. So far we have only done ones we bought. But he will do it.

The actual killing part bothers him and he wants to use the quickest most painless methods. Over in a split second. Once he has a dead animal on his hands, then it is all about business and it isn't hard for him to clean them. He cleans goats just like they are deer and I love that he can do this for us. I hope to not have to ever use a meat locker personally.

The fact is that although we know what has been fed to the animals before they go and that they are healthy etc. (unlike market animals that we know nothing about) we are still exposing them to the same handling etc. at the meat lockers and equipment that has been used on the other animals so the potential for our meat we put so much effort into is then at risk of being exposed to many things like salmonella etc. at the slaughter house. You just never know. I am so comfortable with the meat that never leaves home.

We personally believe goat to be the best meat we have ever had and it fits the criteria for what The Bible calls "Clean" meat. Were as unfortunately, pigs and chickens are VERY nasty. But I do love me some bacon and breast strips. Ya'll don't start getting defensive about how clean pigs are, I know that and I love them and chickies. I have a big old pet sow of my own. But they are not considered Biblically clean for eating and if you watch what they WILL eat it is gross (both of them) on the other hand look how picky goats are.

If you do decide to try raising meat you might want to consider rabbit. Best food to meat conversion, pound for pound. About 4Xs better than beef! Find you a REAL HUNTER that will slaughter for you. And save all your pelts. Do something beautiful with them that you can treasure. Or sell them!

You homeschoolers can teach your kids a lot here with this. I know it is hard. I can't imagine killing any of them, even a chicken. But this is life. If we don't want to kill them, we really shouldn't eat them. The day IS coming, when we won't be getting them from somewhere else. We really owe it to our kids to teach them this as a survival skill.

Juliana Goodwin July 18, 2012 at 5:18am

Well I absolutely agree you are correct to be wary of grocery store meat. I treat it like hazardous waste when I cook it for my family. Like being sure that after I throw the package away I don't touch the handle of the sink to wash my hands and so on. I would love nothing more than to raise all the meat they eat. I have to just come up with a system I can live with...

Margaret Langley July 17, 2012 at 8:51pm

Well, mom what can I say "He's sexy and he knows it!" Apparently he made darn sure that everyone else knew it too!

Just make sure you tell hubby that the general consensus seems to be that ANY of them CAN throw a biggun every once in a while! I am like you, I would want to breed her. Is he much bigger than her?

I use to would never have thought I would raise meat to eat but if we are going to eat it I would really rather have meat that we know more about than the stuff our government allows us to have, after the way it is handled!

And although it isn't easy they are treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve for providing us with food to eat. That is why I like to save the pelts, because it makes me feel that much more that their lives served the purpose they were bred for and I can always look back on their beautiful pelts and respectfully remember the life they sacrificed for us. I just feel that it is a shameful waste to throw away their beautiful pelts. We did that the first time and I will always feel guilty about that!

Juliana Goodwin July 17, 2012 at 5:26pm

Well..mind you, he sired Chico and Isabelle when he was like 4 months old. I thought they didn't actually "rut" till they were adult?

He sired the whopper baby with Truffle during a fence break when he was like 6 months old. We joke that he is the some god of fertility. All he has to do is look at girls and they get pregnant.

I agree he's a definitely Nigerian...but since he isn't papered I guess I thought there was a possibility of some grandparent who had standard genes that now popped up or who the h*%& knows. Frankly, Penny is due to be bred and successfully carried his kids last year. I halfway want to just breed her back to him but hubby says no after the ordeal with Truffle. And it wasn't just a big baby, it was over six pounds lol.

We will not raise goats for meat, we have talked about it. They are just too darn cute and personable. In fact, I have vetoed raising a steer as long as we only have this 10 acres. If I had another 5 acre parcel down the road or something adn didn't have to see it every day and get to know it and its personality...maybe. But I am an animal rights' activist and ex-militant-vegan. I just can't handle it. I was Penny's midwife. I coudl no more have slaughtered those little buggers...

Mind you have no problem with other people doing it with as much respect/mercy can be afforded the animal...I just can't hack it. I was pretty proud I even assisted in the slaughter of our first chicken this year. And that was a young roo we raised up for that purpose. Don't know what it would take to do one of my trusty old laying hens.

So...it's alright...I've pretty well made peace with the idea of just getting Miyagi a nubian wife and then I'll have some mini nubians to keep back out of them...maybe even with his pretty blue eyes. I have been selling milk and we are sold out with a waiting list a mile long. A Nubian sure would help with that problem- I just probably couldn't switch out on the folks who are already accustomed to the ND milk.

Margaret Langley July 17, 2012 at 1:40pm

Oh, I couldn't get rid of him either! After everything you have said and he looks almost like my Queen Tilly except the eye color.

Wake up Juliana, he has kids what do you mean first rut? He has been in rut or you wouldn't have kids out of him!

All being "IN RUT" means is being in a state of sexual arousal, heightened sexual arousal during the breeding season when all the does are in estrus or heat!

You know like 17 year old boys every day of the year! Act weird, smell weird, do weird things! LOL!

I love the thought of your rooster raising his chicks and managing his wives. Too cute!

I can't keep up with everyone on here's feelings on such but would you consider Miyagi having a couple of wives for meat production? So he can just live with his family, and the horses. If you have the room and all.

BTW, I am no pro but he looks like an ND to me! And I agree with I THINK it was Shannon who said all of them can through a big baby occasionally, especially a single birth!

Juliana Goodwin July 17, 2012 at 11:50am

Oh and... the "family group" way of living appeals to me too. I wish they could all be together. My rooster has such an interesting role in raising his chicks and managing all his "wives". But obviously my fences are my only means of birth control...and they say the buck makes the milk taste bad. And Truffle has to be protected from Miyagi ;) She's already making eyes at him again when I take her by to pasture. Sigh.

Juliana Goodwin July 17, 2012 at 11:45am

Well, Margaret...these are the reasons why I haven't sold him and probably won't. It's hard to explain what it is about him. I will say that everyone who has met him "gets it" though and just falls for him hard.

I'm sorry now that I sold his daughter by Penny last year. Although she unfortunately seemed to have inherited Penny's obnoxious qualities. Penny has the worst personality of my all of my goats. Though she is and can be very sweet and affectionate on her terms, EVERYTHING is on her terms lol. In most things, she is stubborn, uncooperative, and a brat on the milk stand. But I brought her back from death's door & I feel like we are bonded...plus she does milk well as far as quantity and duration and is an excellent mother.

So...I'm shopping for nubians to breed Miyagi to lol. Sigh. I've successfully sold other goats so I know it isn't just that I can't let go of any of them. it's just him. And penny. And truffle LOL

http://nigeriandwarfgoats.ning.com/photo/dscn1057?context=user

hopefully that link will get you to where I posted his pics? The side profile pics were a few months ago, he has matured even since then. Longer beard, more musclar.

Margaret Langley July 17, 2012 at 11:33am

He does sound fantastic and it is easy to see why you feel the way you do about him.

If memory serves me right I have had a total of 6 bucks over the years. I have known of quite a few others and honestly other than some misbehavior during rut etc. which is to be expected most of then are very good.

Of the six I have had, I have had none that were mean at all. In fact other than some being a little more aloof than others, just occasionally keeping their distance, but not always, I would have to say that they are at least as gentle if not sometimes more so than the does. Now, I am sure that a lot of people will not agree with me but, you have to consider the environment in such matters. We have always spent as much time with and given as much attention to our guys as gals. I pet and love on and hug and kiss the guys also.

Only one of the bucks was actually born with me, and his name was Beam me OUT "Scotty" because I thought we would never get his huge single self out of his nubian mom. He suffered from paralysis in his rear for about a week because of the traumatic birth. He was spoiled rotten!

I believe most of them are capable of being like Miyagi but consider this also. How many of them are usually around the babies. They are usually all separated and I hate that. This is one thing that I love about the meat herd we are building up for our personal use. It means we can let families stay together without having to worry about the breeding . We will be keeping only one buck usually and letting the does and kids run with a buck. We will most likely swap the buck at intervals and just use NDs at times. There will be some fun experimenting going on that is for sure.

Anywho back to the point. He does sound totally cool and unique not to mention loads of fun. And I would LOVE to see pics of him too. With so much talk about his big baby and possibly not being pure bred I would like to see what he does look like!

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Are all bucks like this?

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