Hello All,
To start out, I'm leaning towards purchasing two Nigerian doelings, having them bred and not deal with a buck this year. Today, an acquaintance has offered their two does turning 2 & 3 yrs old this coming year, Nubian mix, (unreg) as they are considering no longer keeping their goats due to less time to raise them. I know both does were freshened last year but they were not bred this past season, so I'll have to have them bred as well. So the question is, in your opinion, which would you rather purchase starting out,does or doelings? I can see pros & cons to both options but I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions, positive & negative. Thx! :)
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Good to know Marty!
Marty said:
If you don't need milk urgently, I'd go with doelings. Does are great, if you know their milk potential.
My first ever goats were purchased as 3 day olds, and were saanans and nubians. My current goats are Nig. dwarfs. One was purchased as a bred doeling, 8 months old. She is due early April. The other was purchased just and only becasue she was in milk. Sadly, at 3 months fresh, we've topped out at just under 1 qt per DAY, thats about 1 and 3/4 cup per milking. If you want a milker, buy from a doe thats a resonable milker, bred to a reasonable milk line buck.
Thank you Rachel for the great advice and good points!
Rachel Whetzel said:
If your goal is to have registered Nigerians, DO NOT get started with non registered goats outside the breed you want. I was "given" a nubian when I first started out, and she was not the breed I wanted. She also didn't get along with the goats I did want when I got them. It wasn't fun. Take some time, and find yourself a doe that is already bred, and near kidding. You will pay a little more for that, but in the end, when you have kids, you're paying less. Buy a bred doe from a bloodline you really want. Then you end up with more than one in the lines you really like. Building up a herd to the lines you want takes a long time. If you can swing it money wise, it's a much easier and shorter path to buy into lines you like already.
One thing to consider re meat goats, is that ANY goat can be butchered. Talk with your husband about considering butchering the males your does have. You won't get as much meat, but the meat you get will be good.
When I first started out I wanted to get two little doelings and bottle raise them because I have always thought it would be fun to bottle raise a baby animal. Every time I had planned to go buck them up though something came up and by the time I actually got them they did not need a bottle. So my plan never really happened and now I have a couple of does I have to wait and breed for 7 months and then wait another 5 for them to kid! I never really thought about getting mature does but I sure wish I did. I would have had babies a lot sooner and the milk I can't wait to have! I would always recommend registered because then you have the chance to look aback and see what kind of milking genetics they have and make a better decision. I would also strongly recommend buying from a experienced breeder. I got my first two doelings from a very nice grade A creamery and they were very healthy little babies and when I got a older doe from a newer breeder I was out a bunch of money getting her back to being healthy.
Well, I was just thinking that if you were going to have a couple of NDs for quality milk and wanted/were able to have some others for meat and extra milk that they might be good to have.
That is what I would want to do. We have 10 ND does for milk and one has a 4 month old doeling that we are keeping, two ND bucks for breeding and 2 cross breed does + one of them has a 7 month old doeling we are keeping and the other one is pregnant by our ND. We will keep our mixed does for breeding and all there bucks will be eaten.
That way we can keep purebred, quality NDs but still have mixed slightly larger meat goats, without keeping bucks of other breeds around. No risk of a buck getting my ND girls that is not also an ND himself. I really like this for right now,it is a perfect starter solution.
As soon as I can afford to though, I am going to get me some Spanish does, and then I will get a Spanish buck. Then I will have to face he problem of keeping him away from my little girls! Really strong, really high fence!
The hubby would like meat goats so that is something to consider.
Margaret Langley said:
I agree, it is a long wait to let them grow up before getting kids and milk etc. I would basically have to agree with what you have been told. If you are only going to have two I totally agree with that plan, especially if your goal is great milk.
However that doesn't mean those other does are out of the question either. There are other details to consider that fall into the what you hope to "accomplish" category. Like are you going to want many more goats or do you want meat also? These goats would probably be great additions to a herd for someone needing more milk or meat producers etc.
But if you will only want 2, I would get really good quality ND's. You will love them!
That is exactly what I'd like as it would give the doe time to acclimate and not too much time to wait for her kidding. Perhaps it's best to pass on the Nubians. It's really not what I had in mind but I was considering them they would just be extra goats for milking. I would rather have registered.
Glenna Rose said:
My preference is to have no more than 2-4 does for milking. I'd rather have registered Nigerians for the good lines, milk production/flavor & selling any kids I do not keep. You have a point on the waiting time. I'd rather not wait. I'm not into showing but I may change my mind later.
Nicholas Windsor said:
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