# I’m going into the meat side...



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Those of you that know me, know that I get attached to my animals, thus it’s hard to let them go to butcher, unless they are mean and are turning aggressive.... it hit me though, I sold most of my kid crop this year, 12 out of 15 all are going to pet homes..... a lot want smaller goats, like ND’s and pygmies, but that’s too small for me... Eventually the “pet” industry will vanish here unless you have the smaller size...., and apparently no one wants dairy goats in milk, because I’ve had 4 for sale for a few months now and nothing... it’s illegal to sell raw milk here in WA, so right now until I can get bottle calves, I’ve been dumping milk.... So reality hit me, that even though I love my goats, the meat market is probably a bit more profitable, not that dairy really is here in WA with it without a grade A dairy license..., and not that I’m expecting a huge profit with meat goats..., but I’m guessing it’s less work, and at least I know the ones going to slaughter had a nice and happy life here at the Fritz Farm..., instead of a pet home, that may end up being passed around, and or at the auction anyway... I can have fun with the kids, get attached to my producing/keeper does and bucks.... I’ll have my 4 dairy does in milk for awhile, and 2 I’m probably not breeding them again.... I’m looking at getting some Kiko/Boer mixed bred does and keeping my Nubian buck around for meaty off spring, he was the one I used this year, and some of those kids got huge quick... Then next year get a boer or kiko buck? Good idea, bad idea, thoughts?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Sounds like a good plan. You may want to keep a dairy doe or two for milk in case you have bottle babies.


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## TCOLVIN (Sep 22, 2014)

ksalvagno said:


> Sounds like a good plan. You may want to keep a dairy doe or two for milk in case you have bottle babies.


I would love to be able to comment but I can't post for some reason.


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## TCOLVIN (Sep 22, 2014)

TCOLVIN said:


> I would love to be able to comment but I can't post for some reason.


What??? After 3 weeks it posted. May it's fixed???? Any if it post again, it sounds like a plan.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

ksalvagno said:


> Sounds like a good plan. You may want to keep a dairy doe or two for milk in case you have bottle babies.


My 4 will be sticking around, and I'm keeping a couple of Bella's daughters, so I'll still have milk


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

TCOLVIN said:


> I would love to be able to comment but I can't post for some reason.


I'm sorry, maybe you can comment on my reply? Maybe?


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

I test yearly or every other year at least for CAE, CL, and Johns, should I add anything different to the meat crew? I’ll be adding a few extra tests for the dairy crew....


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I believe that would be it for meat too. Many don't bother testing.


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## TCOLVIN (Sep 22, 2014)

Why can't I post and upload?????????


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## TCOLVIN (Sep 22, 2014)

Help!!!!


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

I'm reading your replies, so I'm not sure...


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

No most breeders who are strictly meat don’t test. 
But the awesome thing about meat is there is a pretty big verify that you can sell for. You can check out when your fairs are and sell wethers. I THINK it’s the same for kikos but with boers if you have a commercial doe and breed to a registered buck you can sell kids as 50% registered. That off spring would be 75%, then 88%, 94,97,98,99,99.9. And you know what? If the registered or the show wethers don’t sell? Sell them as meat! I slowly built up my percentage and do it this way. Or stick to your plan and go for it! Just wethers and registered you can usually get a bit more money


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Jessica84 said:


> No most breeders who are strictly meat don't test.
> But the awesome thing about meat is there is a pretty big verify that you can sell for. You can check out when your fairs are and sell wethers. I THINK it's the same for kikos but with boers if you have a commercial doe and breed to a registered buck you can sell kids as 50% registered. That off spring would be 75%, then 88%, 94,97,98,99,99.9. And you know what? If the registered or the show wethers don't sell? Sell them as meat! I slowly built up my percentage and do it this way. Or stick to your plan and go for it! Just wethers and registered you can usually get a bit more money


I'll be skipping the registration part I think... I'm allergic to paperwork, literally... I have several I could register in my dairy herd, just haven't done it.... I think I'm more of a back yard farmer...


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

nothing wrong with that! I sell a lot of registrable kids that never get the papers done on them. Another thing that was in my mind and I never mentioned lol was if you don’t want to do wethers and just stick to meat try and figure out when high prices are. If you have a local auction that has a market report just keep track of what prices are during different times of the year. For here, and it very much differs from area to area, January threw March are the highest prices. Easter and other holidays really are no different because the market gets flooded with kids. After may first prices DROP! They will pick back up where it’s not quite so say in October depending on when we start getting rain. Even if you plan on shipping kids direct it will still to a point go off of that market report


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Jessica84 said:


> nothing wrong with that! I sell a lot of registrable kids that never get the papers done on them. Another thing that was in my mind and I never mentioned lol was if you don't want to do wethers and just stick to meat try and figure out when high prices are. If you have a local auction that has a market report just keep track of what prices are during different times of the year. For here, and it very much differs from area to area, January threw March are the highest prices. Easter and other holidays really are no different because the market gets flooded with kids. After may first prices DROP! They will pick back up where it's not quite so say in October depending on when we start getting rain. Even if you plan on shipping kids direct it will still to a point go off of that market report


That's a good idea.... I'll do that as well... I'm getting a couple bread boer does next week it looks like... so I'm excited, just need to sell some of my crew now... Thank you Jessica


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## ISmellLikeGoats (Oct 4, 2017)

I do both meat and dairy. We can sell raw milk from the farm in OK though. It's nice to have milk and products like cheese for my family so they are somewhat profitable by the time I figure in how much milk and all we go through, it's cheaper to feed a goat - but we have a huge family.

If you don't get attached to the wild little boogers, it's not so bad. I don't really handle anything that has a good chance at going for meat, except my kids show wether and only because he needs to be handleable.
I like them to be gentle enough to work, but they don't have to be pets. That keeps the separation of feeling bad when they sell for meat for me.

The market is about the same here, up until Easter, prices are good. Right now, they are crap. OK hasn't gotten nearly as much rain, especially my area, as we usually do and a lot of people are offloading for their feed bills sake. Now is a good time to pick up decent goats at a rock bottom price if you're willing to feed - at least here.
Prices should return to normal in the fall as long as we continue to get rain. It just started getting rain in the last week or two here - we should be lush with grass by now but we aren't.
Lamb prices are under $1 a lb right now (according to the San Angelo TX report since our reporting sale barn burned to the ground about a month ago), from my last meat sale on a doe, it was $1.20/lb. Pathetic really but she had to go.
The $1.20/lb doe was direct ship to slaughter. They base their prices off market reports and give fair market value. Good place, just a bad time to sell for sure. The nice part about that is even if it's way undervalued, they will take just about anything - old, young, skinny - whatever. It's my go-to place to offload anything I need gone fast. That doe had a suspected CL abscess and didn't take when she was bred = useless. I know "useless" is a cold term to use, but if they don't produce, they have no place on a farm if they aren't going to be a pet.


Most folks don't bother with testing. It's an added expense, and CAE, CL, Johnes doesn't really matter that much for something going to slaughter. Different ball game if you're interested in raising show stock or registered stock that will be used for breeding, but all the same, if you have a doe that pops up with CL or something, she can go to the slaughter plant too.


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