# Is there a market for Meat Goats in SC?



## Sc_Sonoma

I am in the process of making my property "goat proof" and soon I will be buying some Boer or Boer crosses. My problem is that I don't want to sell to the individual buyer. I would like to trailer them to an auction or to some kind of process facility that would buy the live goats all at one time. 

I have seen livestock auctions listed for South Carolina (I can't believe they operate during the week while I'm at work! LOL) but before I get into this venture too deep, I want to make sure there is a market for what I'm planning. 

Does anyone here know what the market is here in SC? Is it expanding? 

I have the property to make this a large scale operation but I don't want to create something that I can't sell or don't make a profit selling. 

Thank you for your input!!


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## Sc_Sonoma

There must be someone here from South Carolina! 

Help a Newbie out! :help:


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## ksalvagno

I'm sure someone will come on but are there auction houses near you that you can contact? Or just do a search for livestock auctions.


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## chelsboers

Maybe you could go to one of the auctions in your area and see what the prices are and what size goats sell best. I know in my area the best time to sell is the last auction before 4th of July and the last one before Christmas. Usually kids 40-60lbs sell for the highest amount so for me it's breeding in the right time frame so the kids are the right size when the prices are the highest.


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## Sc_Sonoma

Thank you ... I wish all the auctions weren't on weekday mornings. I work all week. I might have to team up with someone who will take my goats to market for me for a fee. Either that or sell them off my farm.


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## ksalvagno

I would think you would get more money selling off the farm. You will have to market more but would be worth it.


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## 20kidsonhill

A lot of people haul up to New Holland or they pick up animals on the way up there. Google New Holland Got Auction.


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## Sc_Sonoma

20kidsonhill said:


> A lot of people haul up to New Holland or they pick up animals on the way up there. Google New Holland Got Auction.


I've heard of New Holland from the horse auction. I wonder how many you would have to take to justify the expense of a 10 hour drive.

I think maybe, after reading more, I'll start small and grow from there. I just read the "Newbie Mistake" thread in it's entirety .... goodness gracious! It looks like I'm in for a wild ride.


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## 20kidsonhill

lol. You will be fine. But yes there is a steep learning curve. When you google New HOlland Goat Auction it will bring up the most recent auction and the prices. We veiw it all the time to get an idea of what we should be charging off the farm. We are a 4 hour drive.. i met someone that was hauling a double decker from Texas up to new holland every week and they said they were making good money buying at the texas auctions and heading up to New holland. Sometimes they would drive straight there and sometimes they woudl bring some of them to their farm to feed them out a little more, they lived in TN. 60 lbs seems to be a good weight to sell at new holland, on a good growing kid that is pretty much weaning weight. 
Here is my advice for you starting out. Don't buy junk to start out. Growth rate is important and it is genetic. Buy stuff that looks healthy and has good growth rate the first 4 or 5 months of age. Don't need to have registered, but get the best buck you can afford. I have not been disappointed with my fullblood bucks that we have spent a quite a bit of money on. You can build your herd with good bucks. 
structure is important, if they look dumpy they are dumpy. You want nice legs under your meat goats. You should build a herd of meat animals from the ground up, another words legs are important. 
You will make more money on your does if you can sell them as breedign stock. Does are needed and popular. You can easily get $225.00 to $275.00 for young does after weaning if they are healthy and have good growth rate and good structure. 

faults, faults aren't a big deal in the meat industry, but if you are wanting to try and sell extra does to other people to make a little more money, having a bunch of goats with a bunch of faults is not going to help you any. vertically folded ears, pour bites and cluster and split teats are things you should be checking for. These are genetic and you don't want a whole herd of them. 

The bucks teat structure does matter, ask about it. 
2x2 teats are fine, even a well spread 3x3 structure is okay, you just don't want them having splits or fish teated or cluster teated. they can still milk, but may throw this to their kids. Not a problem if you are selling the offspring for meat, but will be a problem if you are keeping does in your herd or wanting to sell does. You can look up teat structure on ABGA website, to see what is acceptable and what is considered not acceptable in the boer goat industry. 

Pigmentation is nice. People like pigmentation, but being you are meat and not doing show goats, It would be a plus to have good pigmentation, but personally I think some of the other things are more important, it is easy to breed pigmentation into the next generations by using a well pigmented buck. 

Length is important in meat goats. You don't want them to be all front end with not a lot of loing and back end. Don't get lost looking at really big fronted bucks. Make sure they have length and a big butt or make sure his parent's do if you are buying young.


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## GTAllen

If you look at meat cut chart of goat you will get a good idea of what is what. The rib section and the loin section are the prime cuts. They sell for the most money. So you want a lot of length and width. The rump and shoulders is where the weight is at. When looking from behind you want some width and a lot of twist. From the side try to get a good idea of the overall structure of the hindquarter. The bigger the better. 
Of course you have to have a very good foundation to carry all that around as 20kidsonhill saying. So good heavy bone. 

Put your hands on the animal you are considering. Feel where the loin cut would be. Get your hands around it and look at the length and the width. Judge it compared to others of the same age. Feel the rib section and do the same. You soon will be able to judge what goat is better.


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## 20kidsonhill

the twist is the line from the anus to the scrotum, The line where the butt checks meet . You want a long twist, some refer to it as the stitch.


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## chelsboers

20kidsonhill said:


> The bucks teat structure does matter, ask about it.
> 2x2 teats are fine, even a well spread 3x3 structure is okay, you just don't want them having splits or fish teated or cluster teated. they can still milk, but may throw this to their kids. Not a problem if you are selling the offspring for meat, but will be a problem if you are keeping does in your herd or wanting to sell does. You can look up teat structure on ABGA website, to see what is acceptable and what is considered not acceptable in the boer goat industry.


I completely agree. People will tell you that the teat structure for bucks doesn't matter, but I can say from past experience that if the buck has an issue it will be passed on to his kids. I didn't check a buck until all the doelings I was getting had fish teats. Sure enough he had one even though his breeder had registered him and told me he was clean.


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## 20kidsonhill

You can get away with having a few does in your herd that arne't perfect, but make sure your bucks are the best you can get. AFter all they are the dad to everyone, the mom is only the dam to just 1 or 2 or 3 kids. I have a couple split teated does in the herd, they almost always throw split teated kids. Since we have a really good market for wethers and can sell does as wethers for 4H shows we just use them for that. But If you arn't careful your whole herd will be split teated and cluster teated.


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## Sc_Sonoma

Wow .... thank you so much for the replies. I hadn't thought of it that way (buying the best buck instead of the best does). I'm almost finished with the fencing and the shelter. One more week and I'm ready to buy. 

I'm super excited but I'm also really nervous. The registered nice bucks and does are expensive but worth it ... I'm just afraid of not having enough information on their care and losing my investement. I have been a horse owner for several years and I know them inside and out ... goats are entirely different from what I've been reading. 

It sounds like a lot more can go wrong faster with goats than with horses. I'm confident I'll learn fast ... I just hope fast enough. I've been reading everything on this forum ... I know that will help. 

Thank you everyone for your replies!! I really appreciate it.


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## Sc_Sonoma

One more question ... I am looking at a registered buck and doe ... should I start out with registered or does it matter?


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## 20kidsonhill

Sc_Sonoma said:


> One more question ... I am looking at a registered buck and doe ... should I start out with registered or does it matter?


 Personally, unless you have someone by you that is mentoring you, I would go with healthy, but not worry about spending tons of money on registered. Although if you look around you can get some reasonable registered stock. if you get not registered, make sure you know what breeds are in it and how much Boer is in it. If they seem unsure move on. Personally, If they can't tell me weights on the animals or at least Daily gains up until they were weaned I don't buy from them. These are meat animals, weights are kind of 101 of Goat farming. We got this nice little buck for $300 he is registered with 4 ennoblements in his pedigree. He is 11 weeks old in the photo and 60 lbs with an ADG of .6 lbs per day. 
he is a very clean, well separated 2x2, nice horn set, good bite. He could use a little more pigmentation. That is my least favorite thing about him. Take your time and visit a few places. Get a feel for it before you start buying. Ask to be on a few farms call back lists as they get ready to sell kids this year and next year. Being on a call back list is a good way to not end up with the left overs from a farm. Be willing to travel a little. 
Go to some fairs and shows in your area.


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## 20kidsonhill

To directly answer your question, I feel registered are worth it, but I woudl be careful how much you spend starting out. It gives you an additional market. First you sell the best as registered then you can sell does with certain faults as commercial, then the rest for meat. If you only have unregistered and don't have good quality you can only ever really sell for meat. Maybe that is okay with you. Certainly your choice. You have to deal with the public more if you are selling registered. 
find out if your fairs in your county and neighboring county has 4H Wether or meat goat shows? Those can be some really good sale opportunities if you get nice structured stock. Of course to sell to teh kids for 4H the goats have to be a certain age and size so they have to be born a certain time of year. For us that is January into february, maybe the beginning of March. 

Love to see what you are considering buying.


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## Sc_Sonoma

I'm so up in the air as to what is best for me. 

When I had the idea to start a small herd of goats I thought auction was the only answer for me because I work 5 days a week. When I started researching auctions in my area I found out that they run weekday mornings. I don't know anyone who can take them for me and even if they did, I'm losing profit by having someone else haul them. 

That leaves me with selling from a website, craigslist or Facebook. 

I started out thinking Boers would be the best breed because that's what sells well at the auctions here but if I'm not selling at the auction that widens what breeds I have to chose from. 

Nigerian Dwarfs seem to be in steady demand on craigslist and go for the same amount of money as Boers do. I know that seems like quite a jump ... meat to milk ... but I really just want to make the best decision about what will market well in my area. 

I think my brain is about to revolt on me ... all these decisions! LOL


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## 20kidsonhill

good luck on your decision. We sell all our Boer goats off the farm. But you are right, if you are selling off the farm you could try other breeds. Kinders are growing in popularity as well. 
Nigerians do seem popular. I am not sure if they are selling for as much. But can't say I have researched it much. 
Do you plan on milking, that is a lot of work? Not sure how well your goats would sell as milk goats if you don't actually milk them. But I don't know much about the nigerian dwarfs. 
Good luck on your choosing.


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## surveyman

Here are the South Carolina graded goat auctions.

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/LSMarketNewsPageSCGoats


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## dan354

A lot of livestock sales will have somebody there in the evening before the auction to assist people who want to drop off their animals. just ask at the desk or call, most places will work out something wit you. I have done it before.


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