Just your run of the mill commercial meat goats. We seem to hover around 35-40 breeding does. Would like more, but we've been culling our unproductive does fairly heavily and can't seem to get ahead by raising our own doelings up. Most are higher percentage Boer goats, but occasionally we do buy a few dairy does and breed them to our fullblood Boer bucks. They have so much more milk so they raise monster kids. A good breeding doe should run $100-150. A good proven Boer buck will run $500 plus. But that's half your herd in one animal. These are just commercial animals, not fancy show goats. We wean the kids right off the mothers at about 40 lbs and take them to the sale barn. Lately we've been getting $2-3 lb live weight. Everybody gets fed a corn/oats/20% protein mix. If I have wheat or barley that gets added, especially to the buck ration. You have to limit a bucks corn intake or it forms too much calcium in their urinary track and kill them. Pregnant does, lactating does and kids all get good alfalfa hay. The rest of the time everybody gets grass hay. You have to keep dry hay in front of them year round. Even if they are belly deep in lush grass, they'll starve to death because their rumens need the dry matter, they can't process the high moisture forage. And they are very susceptible to parasites, you can't let them graze the pastures down to low. They were designed to be browsers, eating weeds and woody material higher up off the ground. They are a fairly high maintenance animal, if you want to do it right.
You need a donkey, Jack Assparagus! Alpaca you llama be there. Get your goat, don't be sheep! Ok. I'll start the snowblower now. I have lake effect snow to throw.
Aim one inside a freight container filled with green wood and it'll be under 20% mc in short time. The MIG kiln. Those are Russian MIG jet engines.
Never really thought about it until I saw this that really, just as people should do this (in a safe environment) in autos to get used to how to control skidding/slides, horse and buggies need practice too. And the horse really needs to be used to how it feels so it doesn't freak out at a bad time. And, it looks like fun too!
Up and having breakfast with my father this morning. Caffeine and English Muffins and peanut butter going in.
