# Meat goats



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

I'm in Tennessee and was told the meat goat market can be profitable and easy if done right by a friend who is well connected in the farming world. Any tips on getting it rolling in the right direction. We bought 13 does from him recently and 8-12 he said were bred.


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

So we should have more on the way here shortly


----------



## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

I'm in Australia and so may not be completely relatable but you need numbers to make money on meat goats. At least 200-300 does to turn the profit and the land to run them on so feed costs are not really high. If you do it on a smaller block where they are all grain and hay fed as their main source of food then plus the worming, vet care and general care to this there would be next to no profit.


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Didn't your friend tell you how it was profitable for him?


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

Lol ^^


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

Yes, guess it's against the law to ask for other opinions.


----------



## deerbunnyfarm (Dec 14, 2015)

I'll go ahead and throw this out there, how I imagine he's making money is because his goats aren't cared for properly, aren't fed well, and are bred back to back. Based on your other post I wouldn't personally choose to take his advice. Not that there aren't other ways to turn some sort of profit, maybe someone else will chime in because I certainly haven't made any money!


----------



## chelsboers (Mar 25, 2010)

I don't know about profitable but it certainly isn't easy. Each year we make enough money to pay for hay, grain, and upkeep such as fencing. I don't raise them for the money, my family enjoys them and my son gets to have a couple for 4H. There are two directions you could go, showing or meat. Figure out which direction you plan on going first then ask for advice


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Bree_6293 said:


> I'm in Australia and so may not be completely relatable but you need numbers to make money on meat goats. At least 200-300 does to turn the profit and the land to run them on so feed costs are not really high. If you do it on a smaller block where they are all grain and hay fed as their main source of food then plus the worming, vet care and general care to this there would be next to no profit.


Well you may be from Australia but you pretty much nailed this one lol the only people I know of that consider it 'very profitable' are the ones that run large number with very minimum supplementing. Let's throw some numbers out here. So if you have 100 does that's pretty much 200 kids to sell depending on the size you sell them and the time of year of course, but say you hold those kids till they are 60 pounds, market is good and you got $3lb for them that's $180 a kid I would say $150 to be on the safe side but we will do it both ways so $180x200kids=$36,000 if we did it $150X200kids= $30,000. 
Now that doesn't sound to bad BUT that's also before you start figuring out vaccines,meds, equipment and so on......like what they break lol Add feed to that and it can go down hill really fast! Trust me on that  i shop around for hay and I don't feed grain but to the kids and they are able to go out and graze while they are not being bred or have a kid on them and I pay $220 a year per doe in feed.
What I suggest? Start out with what you have for now. Watch the market and see when high prices are. If you can ship direct (straight to a place to butcher) call them and see how much they pay, sometimes it's more money to ship direct. Slowly add to your herd and see what your land can hold without very much extra feed. Basically go slow.


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

I appreciate your input. That's sort of what I've been thinking. Right now we have them in a very nicely fenced front pasture of our property. We also have a large area of woods in the back that I would love to get the fencing solidified over time. So we definitely have the room for a large herd with lots of nutrition available to keep feed costs down. We will just work on slowly increasing it through breeding most likely


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Good thinking! That will also give you a feel for what you can handle physically and mentally as well. I went threw a lot of bad luck when I first started and I am so happy I didn't totally jump feet first into it or I would have been heart broken and in bad shape! I also would suggest just stalking posts on here lol you really can learn a lot from other people's problems :/ and there's a lot of smart people here with different views of you do happen to get into a situation. 
And back to making money at it. It's kinda a game figuring out when the best time to breed to have kids sell at high price. Every place is different but here basically from mid October to the first of May will bring very good prices. We have very dry summers so when the rain does hit again you can count on more people bidding o stock their few acres and have free feed and resell them down the road. Just watch and see what happens in your area


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

I'm gonna post some pics of our little herd for you all to see here


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

Comments , concerns ?


----------



## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

They look like they could use some minerals.

Some I think need copper blouses. 

I'd check fecals on them and treat appropriately. The stress of a move can lead to a parasite bloom.

They look to be a mix of breeds. Kiko? Nubian? And Nigerian?

Going forward with meat production I would probably not pick the miniature breeds if that's what some of them are.

They generally look ok. Pic 5 looks the healthiest.

1 and 6 have dull sparse coats.

Rumps look steep on a few.

I'd make sure to get a good buck and cull heavily. Only keep breeding stock from the best. Fastest growing easy keepers with natural parasite resistance.


----------



## deerbunnyfarm (Dec 14, 2015)

Lamancha mixed in there too, saw some elf ears!

There are some skinny goats and copper deficiencies, but some look healthy. With having minis mixed in, you'll need to be careful about bucks and may want to just sell the Nigerian crosses so you can keep large bucks without worrying that they'll breed them.


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

I think we definitely will look to get rid of the two Nigerians. They kind of came with the package deal. I believe they are bred. Do you think it would be smarter to just wait until they both kid ?


----------



## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

Do you have due dates? I might just sell them possibly bred as you're not interested in keeping kids from them. Do you know what the possible sire is?


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

We don't have a clue which is a bummer. Probably makes more sense to seek them as bred since we are unsure about the due date.


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

What do you think of this one? She seems very small too. Not sure what she may be? I feel like her small size could be due to her age but idk


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

IMO get the minis gone. The one kid that I see looks to be boer cross and if they are bred to a boer you are very much asking for trouble. I have very big trust issues, I'll admit that right now and them throwing bred minis into the deal seems fishy to me but I also don't know the seller so don't want to 100% jump to conclusions. 
For the most part they don't look all that bad. I don't always do the most popular thing but what I do with all new goats before they step out of a trailer is worm them and give their first round of vaccines. If they look like they need copper (I would give these copper) I shove a bolus down as well. But back to the worming I just do it because moving to a new place is just stressful and you can get a overload pretty fast and for me they usually do. Of course ideally you want a fecal but since it makes me sick looking threw the dang thing and it usually comes out they need to be worked I just do it. But it looks like you have good feed, they look bright eyed so some time and minerals they will probably look very good.
I agree they do look like most have a very good chunk of dairy in them. Not a bad thing at all. But I would make sure you get a meat breed buck not a cross of dairy to breed them to to make sure you have nice meaty looking kids. Before you decide on what breed that buck is though I would look around and see what is the most popular in your area. I'm a very big boer fan! Depending on where you live they may be a hit like they are here where I live or they are not very much liked. Same with kikos. But I will hold my tongue on how awesome boers are  and just say see what seems to be the seller in your area and then as you get more into it go from there


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

Do you think the black ones are the only minis or the little brown one in my last picture as well. I can't really tell with her. 
We definitely are going to bring in a meat breed buck when the time comes too. We are thinking Boar/Kiko cross possibly for the buck?


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I don't think she is she just looks younger to me. She's in the picture with the black headed one climbing up the ramp right? The only other one that looks like she could be is the white one with ears that go straight out, she's in the picture by herself and has a beard. But if she is good sized I wouldn't worry about if she is part mini or not. Sometimes pictures are hard to tell. I think a boer kiko would be just fine


----------



## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

I agree, she just looks younf


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

Yes that's the one! I feel like she's just young so we will keep her around. 
What do you think I could ask for the Nigerians? I'm gonna try to sell those just because of the unknowns you mentioned


----------



## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

August11 said:


> Yes that's the one! I feel like she's just young so we will keep her around.
> What do you think I could ask for the Nigerians? I'm gonna try to sell those just because of the unknowns you mentioned


Make sure when you sell them you disclose they were possibly exposed to a boer/standard sized buck. They may need to schedule a c-section or abort.


----------



## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

Dayna said:


> Make sure when you sell them you disclose they were possibly exposed to a boer/standard sized buck. They may need to schedule a c-section or abort.


Good point, they could have troubles


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

Just got them all some loose mineral, heavy in copper and some de worming medicated feed


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

All seem to be doing well


----------



## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

There is no feed that will deworm your goats (unless they put safeguard in it which is not effective in most cases). they do put in rumesin or monesin that is a preventative for coccidia. It will not worm your goats. You need to do a fecal and see what you need to give them to worm them. There are wormers that are not safe for pregnant goats..... I would ask your vet when you run the fecal.


----------



## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Actually they do make deworming pellets for goats that contain Morantel Tartrate. They do work for a while.


----------



## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

I thought he said it was the feed itself, not additional pellets..... but yes. I guess I would still like to know what types of worms need to be targeted...


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

Yes, I got the additional pellets


----------



## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

That is great!!! Realize that you do have to make sure each animal is getting what she needs daily for the medication to be effective. If one is getting pushed off feed, she will not get what she needs. I still strongly recommend fecals. If you have tapeworm and others this will not kill the worms...... I don't use feed through because I can't know if each animal gets exactly what they need and they are not effective against all worms. You need to know what you are up against.


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

Yes we fed each one individually the proper dosage necessary. If we didn't some of ours would definitely go without bc of our dominant ones


----------



## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

I would definitely get some fecals done, just to see what you could be potentially dealing with. A worm related disaster can strike and wipe out a lot of them in a hurry, I've been through it and trust me it is an absolutely horrible experience.


----------



## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

You should really worm them something besides medicated feed, doing it in the feed seems as iffy to me as in the water. Or get fecals done.


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

I gotcha. Also, how often should I cycle the medicated cocci prevention feed through in yalls opinion ?


----------



## August11 (May 23, 2016)

I've been trying to keep it mixed up


----------



## deerbunnyfarm (Dec 14, 2015)

You should not use medicated feed and instead dose them all individually with a good cocci med. Dimethox or baycox... Do a treatment every 21 days until their six months old and then treat based on fecals after that.


----------



## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

I don't hold with Dimethox. I'd do baycox.


----------

