Getting into goats

We are thinking seriously about trying to raise a few meat goats so I'm wondering if anyone here as any experience, hints or tips they'd like to share? We are looking for 10 - 15 boer or boer cross does.

I don't have much experience with goats, Hubby says No way. But you should talk to these people, we met them a couple years ago at a Sheep/Goat workshop and they have just started out and are doing well.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Well the market is strong on the boer and boer x goats right now.

Were you at picture butte last weekend? There were 10 really nice big boer nannies, also I think all of the doelings from the nannies sold also, looked like a small herd dispersal.. I was tempted, but no no no ! hah

Market is really good, boer are not as tough as I like breeds so you may have to keep them in very warm shelter, I have Cashmere goats for this reason, anyrthing you want to ask specific questions just go ahead.

We kept and bred pure boer goats a few years back, on Vancouver Island. Hated the whole thing. Couldn't sell the kids for what it cost to raise them, the billy goats are disgusting, and milking the nannies wasn't an option. They escaped out of every pen imagineable, and contrary to popular belief, did not believe in eating weeds of any sort. Where we live the soil is deficient of selenium, so the hay is not of the quality it should be, I ended up with 2 kids with white muscle disease, requiring pretty intensive care for two weeks for two kids. It was not a fun or profitable adventure for us, but I guess if you have better fencing (although we have 5' farm fencing around the perimiter of their pen, with electric on top) and a market for the kids, it would be a different story. That was just our experience with raising meat goats.

It's stories like your Briarwood that worry me. My biggest worry is the market, but I do believe it is growing in our area - We are south of Calgary.

I'm looking at breeds right now and at this moment am thinking about Nubian. We won't be doing purebred to start anyways, just commercial so I guess a mixture of different breeds would be OK and maybe even good so we can see what works best for us.

What would you suggest for essential equipment for the first year? What about guardian animals? Dogs? Donkeys? If there's a hotwire at the to and middle of the fence is it necessary? Our only predators here are coyotes or stray dogs.

And no Ty, I missed the Butte Auction last week!! I usually only go to the Odd and Unusuals, but maybe I will head out this week and see what there is to see!

I think in your area, and our general area the goat market is going to do nothing but increase. The immigration of foreign people is increasing and for many of them goat is their main diet, as their population increases the demand for goat will increase. If you like nubians or any other breeds, they would be fine as your nannies, but I would recommend crossing them with a boer buck, as all the meat buyers want boer or boer cross's. Depending on how bad predators are in your area will determine what kind of set up you need... a donkey would work. (Which I have lots of, and can help you out haha)

Thanks Ty, I will keep that in mind!

DC - Maybe try a very small herd at first? Nothing against anyone's culture, but the ethnic groups that were interested in our kids would only take them if they were slaughtered in our field, not something we were into. To have them butchered to sell we couldn't recover butcher costs. I'm not trying to scare you off, my friend just got a herd of boer's thinking she will be able to make it big ($$) and I just don't see it happening here.

The kids are adorable, and so much fun. The nannies are very sweet. The billies gross me out LOL! They are cute to watch, though And, they co-habitate with the chickens nicely!