# What weight and age do you sell....and do you supplement feed to get there?



## mcompton1973 (Jun 11, 2012)

I know that not everyone has access to giant pastures to raise your babies without supplemental feed etc. But I am curious as to how many do, and what kind of growth you see. I saw some earlier posts about half pound a day gains, but then I saw they were feeding grain.

I am also interested in what that ideal weight to sell is. The "conventional wisdom" is 50 lbs-ish Seems to get the most per pound (at least locally) around $2.50 per pound live. But holding on to them till 100 pounds gets you only $2. per pound....but more money per animal. So if you have minimal expenses to get that other 50 pounds....worth it. If you are adding grain etc, or wormer again, hoof trims etc....maybe not?


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

This is what I do:
Kids get pasture (basically weeds and brush) during the day, I feed alfalfa hay to moms at night. Kids have access to a creep feeder 24/7 that is always filled with hay and grain. For the most part the kids only go in at night or when they come in to get a drink and moms take their mid day nap. Oh I also have protein tubs out because I do not grain my dose.
4 months old they leave. I do NOT wean before they go to the sale. This is stressful for them and they will loose weight. Also by 4 months old they are not nursing all that much so it's a little more easy on the does to be weaned. I weighed my kids last year and they the smallest was mid 40s (I'll have to see if I can find the paper) and they heaviest was low 70s. I don't go off of weight I go off of age because you are right the more they weigh yes the more money in your pocket but unless it is grass only you have to put money into the animal to get it back. Some people will sell at different times of the year. A friend I have back east she doesn't care if they are 20# or 200# they go right before Easter.
Yes I work mine at 2 months old and again 10 days later. They also get copper bolus and banded at that time. I had mixed feelings about the banding at first. If you band again it's stressful and they will not put the weight on but I now band because they are not putting the weight on when they are chasing everything that moves and trying to hump them. Also those are my genetics and if someone wants them they can pay more then sale yard price for it.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

mcompton1973 said:


> I know that not everyone has access to giant pastures to raise your babies without supplemental feed etc. But I am curious as to how many do, and what kind of growth you see. I saw some earlier posts about half pound a day gains, but then I saw they were feeding grain.
> 
> I am also interested in what that ideal weight to sell is. The "conventional wisdom" is 50 lbs-ish Seems to get the most per pound (at least locally) around $2.50 per pound live. But holding on to them till 100 pounds gets you only $2. per pound....but more money per animal. So if you have minimal expenses to get that other 50 pounds....worth it. If you are adding grain etc, or wormer again, hoof trims etc....maybe not?


Were you selling at a sales barn?

I would say that I'm somewhere just above minimal expenses for the kids. My does and kids are out on pasture 24/7 until the kids get weaned, which this year, happened to be at 4 months. During that time the kids have unlimited access to creep feed. (Next year I plan on having hay available to them also). Everyone has access to free choice minerals. The other expenses that I have in the kids are: cdt shots, pneumonia vaccine and depending on the year/if it's needed; ivermectin wormer. They get their first shots at 2 weeks and then their boosters/banding at 4 weeks. I don't worry about hoof trims on the kids I'm selling for market.

I'm able to get away with not feeding them a whole lot because my pasture, which is probably borderline for that amount of goats, is spring fed. Not a lot of brush but plenty of alfalfa, leafy spurge, other weeds, and grass. So that may not apply to your situation.

I think 50-70# is a good weight range, but it all depends on what time of the year and how much pasture you have that year. Normally I could go another two months on my pasture, but we are in a drought this year so they had to go a month early. Which wasn't ideal.

I also copy Jessica and just sell them right from the dam, no weaning, they just get loaded on the trailer.

So I sold my kids, this week actually, at: 4 months old, 57# avg (wethers and doelings all mixed) and got 2.09. For comparison, last year at 5 months old, 63# avg, I got 2.11 at the end of August. So not a whole lot of difference really, other than that they are starting to gain a slight more as I refine my herd. Other than that I followed the same regime last year.

This is of course not the ideal time of year to sell, with there not really being many holidays, but where I'm at; with the weather and having a full time job, i cant have them kidding in jan/feb like others can...letting them sell around the ethnic holidays. Though also where I'm at, it doesnt seem to make much of a difference for price either.

My does (on a normal year) don't start getting fed until a month before i let the bucks out, then they get alfalfa and a token amount of creep feed. This year I'll have to start earlier due to our drought.

I don't know if this rambling helps at all, I know it doesn't specifically apply to your exact situation and nobody's advice probably will. We all have to take bits and pieces to do what works for us and our areas.


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## MontanaBoers (Jul 27, 2017)

I have registered fullblood boer goats. Does get sold for breeding anywhere from 5 months to 1 year. Usually for $150. Bucks are very hard to sell here, I leave 1-2 the biggest and most beautiful for breeding. They are sold after 1 year for $200-$250 with all the papers. And the little kids are sold to butchers or customers at age 3 months with max 30kg live weight (66lbs). Butchers give very low prices, around $3-4 per kg/live weight. Or I can sell them to final customers, mostly on Italian market for Easter for $11-$15 per slaughter weight.


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## Calfee Farms (Oct 10, 2017)

mcompton1973 said:


> I know that not everyone has access to giant pastures to raise your babies without supplemental feed etc. But I am curious as to how many do, and what kind of growth you see. I saw some earlier posts about half pound a day gains, but then I saw they were feeding grain.
> 
> I am also interested in what that ideal weight to sell is. The "conventional wisdom" is 50 lbs-ish Seems to get the most per pound (at least locally) around $2.50 per pound live. But holding on to them till 100 pounds gets you only $2. per pound....but more money per animal. So if you have minimal expenses to get that other 50 pounds....worth it. If you are adding grain etc, or wormer again, hoof trims etc....maybe not?


I sell my kids at between 40-45 lbs. to buyers looking for breeding stock. We put our pregnant does in a pasture up close to our barn and house. The does kid out on pasture and in the woodlands. Once the kids get 3 months old, we move the does out in another pasture and start the weaning process. This is the only time we ever feed any feed at all. We want to make sure that our kids get off to a good start and can easily adapt to either a feed intense operation or a grass fed operation or somewhere in the middle. Our kids are fed a special mix twice daily as well as having pasture and goat specific minerals available 24/7 until they leave the farm.


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## cathy page (Nov 16, 2017)

mcompton1973 said:


> I know that not everyone has access to giant pastures to raise your babies without supplemental feed etc. But I am curious as to how many do, and what kind of growth you see. I saw some earlier posts about half pound a day gains, but then I saw they were feeding grain.
> 
> I am also interested in what that ideal weight to sell is. The "conventional wisdom" is 50 lbs-ish Seems to get the most per pound (at least locally) around $2.50 per pound live. But holding on to them till 100 pounds gets you only $2. per pound....but more money per animal. So if you have minimal expenses to get that other 50 pounds....worth it. If you are adding grain etc, or wormer again, hoof trims etc....maybe not?


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## cathy page (Nov 16, 2017)

My baby goats start getting creep fed at about 4-6 weeks old, they go to market at about 80 days of age, last year I got 3.00 a lb, year before I got 3.20 lb, my goats pasture all year except when they are in stalls to kid, and worst of winter, we have 30 acres and several cross fences for changing pasture


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