We just recently moved back to my husbands home town for him to farm the family farm. I am new to everything that comes with living out here but have so far been raising my chickens. Goats are my next venture so we are going to look at what I am hoping is my first goat this Sunday. Her current owners have been raising goats for a while, but this girl - Tituba - has come to them from a friend of a friend and they don't have much background on her other than that she is a Nigerian Dwarf, about 3 years old. They had her in with a buck they got from the same friend of a friend for at least 2 of her cycles right up until January. They are cutting back their herd and are open to letting her go. I came upon them from a Craigslist ad for upcoming kids, so I asked if they had any older goats that were milking, that's when they told me about the possibility of Tituba. Of course I am very excited about this, BUT the fact that we don't know for sure that she is bred, her milking capabilities, or really anything else, my real questions is what is a reasonable offer for her? She is not registered either by the way.
Below are 2 recent pictures of her that they sent me.
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Unregistered goats on Craigslist are usually somewhere between free and $100 ... maybe $150, if they at least come from a herd that is tested negative from diseases. However, based on what you have said, I would not want this goat. If she has a disease, such as Johnes, she could wind up contaminating your pasture, which would mean that you couldn't have any ruminants (sheep, goats, cows) for five years, or they'd get because it's fecal-oral transmission. Goats in the early stages of CAE, CL, and Johnes have no symptoms, so you would only know she has the disease through blood testing.
Also, if they are willing to sell you a single goat, that's a good sign that they are not very clued in ... assuming you've told them that you don't have any other goats. Being herd animals, goats should never be kept alone. Here is a post with more info on that:
http://www.homegrownandhandmadethebook.com/2014/06/debunking-9-ill-...