THINGS BUYER'S NEED TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN LOOKING TO PURCHASE THEIR FIRST OR HUNDREDTH GOAT:
(my opinions after years of goat breeding and purchasing)
1. ONLY purchase goats from a DISEASE FREE blood tested herd. I can't stress this enough. A breeder telling you that all of their animals come from tested herds is NOT enough. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Save the heartache for someone else. CAE testing is the most important test which should be done annually. CL is also important, but doesn't always need to be an annual test. Johnes and Brucella are also popular tests as is TB in other states.
2. Make sure the Breeder/Seller has a good sales contract in place. If the goat drops dead when you get it home, who is responsible? Is there a board fee if you can't pick it up right away? Is the goat guaranteed to be CL/CAE free? For how long? All this and more should be covered in the agreement.
3. Obtain ALL of the registration paperwork at time of pickup. This is how you avoid having a 3 or 4 year old buck or doe with a few kids on the ground, all unregistered, because the breeder was going to "send" you the paperwork. IMO it doesn't matter how nice the animal is. If there is back registration or the seller is waiting for the breeding memo, etc for the animal to be registered, it's not worth it. You don't want to end up with hundreds of dollars spent on what is an now an unregistered/unregisterable animal.
4. Do you want milking animals? Then purchase goats with PROVEN milk records. Either their own personal milk records or at least the dam's milk records; preferably the sire's dam's records also. I can't tell you how many times a breeder has told us "Oh Yeah, this doe milks 5lbs/day!" only to get it home and get barely 2lbs out of her, even after the next kidding. Have proof so you won't be disappointed. Do you want to make soap, butter, cheese? Then only buy animals with higher butterfat. Again, PROVEN. Low butterfat will take twice as much milk to make a nice batch of cheese as high butterfat. Teat size is also important. A doe might produce a ton of milk but it could be like getting blood out of a turnip. If you're using a milk machine, that makes things easier, but 95% of the people who purchase goats from us hand milk. A doe with nice size teats and orifices makes milking so much easier and more fun.
5. Have a good husbandry plan. Poor goat husbandry can make a beautiful and heavy producing animal look and perform horribly. Good minerals are the basis of good care. MINERAL BLOCKS are not sufficient as goats cannot get enough off to satisfy their needs. PURINA is one of the WORST minerals on the market. Quality free choice loose minerals are essential for fertility, easy kidding, milk production and overall health. The popular minerals of choice are Bar Ale Goat Minerals and Sweetlix Milk Magnum or Sweetlix Meat Maker (available with or without Rumesin). There are other minerals on the market as well but COMPARE labels. Not all minerals and grains are made the same. Sea kelp is also an excellent additive. Worming is important. Are you going to use herbal wormer? Conventional wormer? Are you going to rotate? Safe Guard is one of the LEAST effective wormer on the market. It barely scratches the surface. Why waste money?
6. Are you looking to show your animal? If so, be aware of any disqualifications and faults in the show ring (i.e. broken tails, double teats, overheight, etc). Not all goats are created equal either. Do you want to be rather successful at showing or are you just going to show for fun? Generally, better show animals are priced accordingly to their conformation and merits, but not always. If you are going to show, is your animal registered? With what registries? If you're planning on showing in an ADGA show and your goat is only AGS or NDGA registered, you'll have a problem.
7. Personality. Sure, your amazing show doe might milk 5 lbs/day, but what if you can't get a drop out of her because of her attitude? Do you like to chase goats when they need to be caught? How about the doe that likes to kick over the milk bucket just because she knows it gets on your nerves, or the doe who jumps out of and gets into everything? Anymore, the attitudes are not worth our trouble for us. Personality is also genetic so don't think you can always breed the awnry out of them. I enjoy going out to the field, calling our goats and watching them run at top speed from the back of the property. Goats that are easy to catch are almost always easier to lead, trim feet, medicate, milk, clip, etc.
8. How are you going to raise your kids? Goat kids that is ... Are going to bottle feed, dam raise or a little of both? Do you have the time to bottle feed 3 times a day or even twice a day for at least 8 weeks? What are you going to use to feed the kids? The dam's milk? Cow's milk? Replacer? Some may disagree with me on this, but we've had many many issues with replacer a few years back. From diarrhea to bloat, constipation to slow growth rate and failure to thrive. Whole cows milk (IMO) supersedes replacer, however, many worry about the risk of contracting Johnes disease through the cow's milk. This is a risk I'm willing to take. Of course, mama's milk is always the best. If you dam raise your kids, are you going to milk your doe in conjunction? Expect to have quite a bit lower milk rates on does that dam raise vs being hand milked twice and day. If you choose to milk your doe only once a day, definitely expect lower milk rates than if you were milking every 12 hours or so.
9. Not all bucks are created equal. A buck that shows amazing in the show ring may throw some of the most awful offspring and a buck who places at the end of his class may produce champions every time. Know what you are getting (to a point). Bad bucks can ruin your herd in a heart-beat and cause you to loose years in your breeding program. Research the buck's dam, sister, sire's kids, sire's dam, sire's sisters, dam's sisters, dam's dam, and more. The more you know the better. If there is one undesirable udder in his immediate pedigree, it should raise a red flag. Is he unfriendly? If he has kids on the ground, are his kids personable and easy to handle? Does the buck make the improvements you need in your herd?
10. Have a goat mentor. IF at all possible, befriend a seasoned goat breeder/owner. Had we done this when we first started out, many of the mistakes we made and issues we had could have easily been avoided. Who are you going to turn to when something goes wrong?
Its bound to happen... your goat has trouble kidding, got into chicken
food, has mastitis, you-name-it. Having other breeders, a good vet and
good resources (books, websites, etc) is important. Buying goat's from breeders who do not respond to your inquiries for weeks at a time are NOT ideal breeder's to purchase from. If you're able to FINALLY get in touch with the breeder to purchase the goat, good luck getting a hold of them if you ever have any questions or if something goes wrong. This usually isn't as big of a concern for those who have been breeding for a while, but new owners generally have a lot of questions. I, personally, like my questions and inquiries answered in a respectable amount of time, not 3 weeks later and only half answered.
Being a knowledgeable goat buyer is the first step to having a thriving and healthy herd that you are satisfied with and fits your needs.
For goat information, www.fiascofarm.com is an excellent resource as is www.thegoatstore.com.
www.portablemilkers.com has decently priced milk machines.
