# Confused by goat pricing: Help me learn!



## kachikachiyama (Dec 19, 2013)

Hey all!

I have purchased 3 goats and sold two kids over the last two years... and I still have No Idea about fair pricing. All of the goats I have owned/ purchased have been registered and 2 have been "show quality" but not shown themselves.
Why are some goats $450 and some $150? 
How do I start to tell if the $450 one if priced fairly? 
...or the $150 one for that matter.

I want to buy another doe soon, and I really feel lost about fair price point.
I am also hoping to sell more kids this spring, and I don't feel like I know what is a fair amount to ask for them. Is there a formula I can apply? 
Thanks in advance!

I should also add that I am stumped by breeding fees: one goat owner charges $75 for driveway service, and another will board does for a week for $15. My instinct is that you get what you pay for, but I feel at a loss to verify this...


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

What breed of goat?


----------



## goatgirlzCA (Mar 9, 2011)

I think it depends on your area, breed, and the quality/bloodlines. And also just on fairness of people. Where we are I have been able to find good breeding deals because my daughter is in 4-H, and a lot of breeders discount for that to the kids. Other people charge a lot no matter what, because of the bloodlines and show quality of the animals. 

The prices on CL or at sales depend of the buyer's need for the sale, and how many buyers are competing. I have seen some great goats get sold for cheap because there weren't a lot of buyers at a sale. Other times I have seen goats get sold for a ton because of who the breeder is.... 

While I would love to sell animals for big money, when I have sold wethers to show kids, I price them down because I know its hard for them to make any money at fair time. And when they are sold relatively young, I don't have a lot into them either. For fullblood does I kind of average my price around those around me, keeping in account that our herd has not fully developed into the great bloodlines, we are still building up .


----------



## kachikachiyama (Dec 19, 2013)

I paid $450 for a Nigerian Dwarf (my first goat) She was priced higher because she was supposed to be bred, but wasn't. At this point it looks like she may be infertile (5 breeding attempts over 2 years)

I purchased a companion Nigerian Dwarf for her for $125. She was unexpectedly bred before we got her. 

I the acquired a Nubian doe for $150. She is lovely and had twin mini nubian bucklings last spring who I weatherd and sold as pets for $75 each. 

Good prices? Bad deals? I want to get another Nubian doe... how to I determine a good price to pay?

Also, selling kids this spring, how do I determine a fair price for them? (more first gen mini Nubians)


----------



## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Generally, the better quality the goat, the higher the price. The nicer quality buck, the higher the breeding fee.


----------



## kachikachiyama (Dec 19, 2013)

KW Farms said:


> Generally, the better quality the goat, the higher the price. The nicer quality buck, the higher the breeding fee.


Like most things in life!

Does it vary a lot breed to breed? From my understanding my $150 Nubian has about the same show potential as my $450 Nigerian Dwarf


----------



## OakHollowRanch (Jun 6, 2013)

It definitely depends! I have paid anywhere from nothing for our doe from our 4-H leader (which was extremely nice of her) to $300. I sold Our registered Nubian doeling for $175 this year because we were having trouble finding buyers so late in the year and there was a $25 4-H discount. Our buckling went for $125 due to a lack of interest, and the people were very nice. I have also paid nothing, $50, and $75 for breeding fees to three quality bucks. I know someone who sells each kid for $1200 and someone else with similar quality animals who sells kids for $500 max. The difference is that the first breeder has constant demand from everywhere in the U.S., and the second breeder is not as well known. I personally try to keep prices for my animals under $400.


----------



## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

kachikachiyama said:


> Like most things in life!
> 
> Does it vary a lot breed to breed? From my understanding my $150 Nubian has about the same show potential as my $450 Nigerian Dwarf


Yes, it does depend on breed and conformation quality.


----------



## lahomesteader (Dec 18, 2013)

Just my two cents, people can also charge what they feel their "products" are worth. People could sell at cost (the amount that it requires them to "produce" it) and slightly above (for a profit), or they can sell what they feel their goat is worth to them. It's up to the buyer to figure that one out.

This goes against things like "market value", but one just doesn't have to sell or value something because somebody else says its worth something else. Long post long, its OK to not quite know the "right" price (there is no right, or fair price), so long as you're not defrauding somebody by saying this goat is more than what you think/believe it is.


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

The two biggest factors are pedigree first and confirmation second. Then things like linear appraisal and milk test records. Show placings in larger shows, proven bucks and or does, negative test results for CAE/CL/Johnes and so on. Breed doesnt usually play to much into it as each has market. The show placings depends more on the show. A animal that wins or does well as a state fair would up its value a bit in that state. An animal that wins or does well at the National show would up its value across the entire country. 

A few things to keep in mind when trying to price. The buck. If you went out and tracked down a buck from top bloodlines from a top breeder and pay 600, 800 or 1200 dollars, then you are not going to sell his off spring for cheap. Unless of course they are awful. Also, anyone can register just about any animal. Just because someone says they have papers, doesnt mean the animal is worth buying. If you are looking to increase your herds value, do research into the top blood lines for your breed. Determine what are some major things you would like to see fixed or changed with your animals over all and buy accordingly. 

Here we use pretty good blood lines that have lots of National champions in the pedigree. We are 100 clean and free of diseases or other health issues. Confirmation is good and milk production is great. Our breeding program is coming up on 20 years old and we have had some outstanding results. So for us our prices are 275.00 for kids and 350 for bred or milking on average.


----------



## FreckledFarmer (Oct 27, 2012)

I'm no expert but from my experiences I have seen prices vary because of age, how their parents have performed (milk wise, show wise, breeding wise, etc), and in the case of nubians whether they are American or Pure Bred (both can be registered). 

We did driveway breeding this year and we paid $2 a day per goat for boarding and $35 per goat once they were bred. The buck we used throws amazing kids. I think that this is normal price for our area.


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Well I still have not figured out how to price either lol that's why I love the sale no thinking  For pricing your kids.....I made a thread a few years back with my papered kids for advise on how to price them. Someone posted a good idea that I'mgoing to use this year on my kids. Get the price of mother add the price of father then split in half. So ssay mother was $200 and father was $600 that would give you a $400 kid. Now I know that may not be a great way to do it and seems maybe a little high but you can always lower it. I also think a well known name plays a part in it as well. This lady sells OK looking Boer does without papers for $400. If I were to have that same doe I would only get $150. Right now color is a factor here as well. Here people are paying stupid prices for dapples. I looked at a little dappled buck one testicle was smaller then the other had split teats and a parot mouth....I passed but he still sold him for a high price.


----------



## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

Jessica84 said:


> . Right now color is a factor here as well. Here people are paying stupid prices for dapples. I looked at a little dappled buck one testicle was smaller then the other had split teats and a parot mouth....I passed but he still sold him for a high price.


This is why I absolutely hate seeing someone say "I want such and such color, or this color eyes, or..." We get so hung up on color, we forget to look for good conformation, etc. I base my price on market value....whatever I can get at the sale barn is what I charge. Unless....I have something that is better than average and then I'll charge a bit over market value. It also affects how much I will actually pay for something. I don't have a problem paying for something super nice, but at the same time if something happens and I can't use the animal (won't take when bred, gets hurt, etc) I absolutely HAVE to be able to be able to recoup at least a portion of my cost. We ran into the problem last year of needing a 4H goat...and the only ones we could find other than sale barn were $250 and up! That might not seem a lot to some of you, but when the average price for goats sold at the fair was $150???? That certainly doesn't teach my daughter about good business practices now does it? LOL


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

For any doeling that we feel just isnt of the quality that our breeding / management program should produce, we factor in one thing. Cost. Here without pasture, each goat averages 1 ton of dairy quality alfalfa per year. Thats 200-250 dollars per. As we believe each animal should cover its costs, the lesser quality animal will command a price of at least the lower side of the cost to keep its dam. Any other way is a loss in regards to cost and income. Now sense goats usually have twins the sales of a twin doe kid or a bucking can lower the price on the lower quality animal. Now this is a guide line we like to follow but its farming and things are never set in stone. If you need to take a loss now to save on resources later, then you do it.


----------



## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

If I was wanting to buy a dairy goat, I would highly consider TDG.


----------



## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

As far as the goats you have already bought, I think you got took (not to sound harsh, I've had it happen to me too) on the $450 doe. It sounds like the people may have already known she wouldn't breed, but sold her as "bred" anyways. Have you told them that she wasn't bred? Any good breeder would exchange the doe if it turned out that she wasn't what they said she was, unless of course you took her home and starved her (which I'm sure you didn't but some people will buy a nice high priced goat, not feed it, goat turns out not bred and they blame the breeder). If the doe was truly bred then $450 sounds like a good price for a Nigerian if she comes from good bloodlines. If your Nubian is registered around here $150 would be a STEAL for a nice registered doe.

The price that you will pay for a goat really depends on what you want to pay. Do you feel the animal is worth that much? Are there any guarantees with the animal? Is she bred? Has he/she ever produced any kids before? Has he/she ever been shown? Milk records or Linear Appraisal records? Herds with does in the Top Ten and goats scoring very high on LA will sell for more than herds with does with average production or does not on DHIR. The person selling the animal can ask whatever they want but whether they get that price for the animal is a different story. If you feel the animal is worth that price, then you pay it. If you don't you move on and find a lower priced animal or wait and see if they lower their price.

I've bought some higher priced animals and sold their kids cheaper. Part of it is that I don't have the name that the breeder of the doe has, I don't show as much as some breeders do and I wanted to move the kids quickly so I had less work. I base my kid prices on the does pedigree, her milk records, her show records and how well her kids do at shows. For example, I have a doe whose dam was in the Top Ten for 2013, she also has a half sister (same dam) who received her Superior Genetics this year. My doe will be on DHIR next year and will be Linear Appraised. Her kids are worth more based on her pedigree than another doe I have whose dam doesn't have the milk records that hers does and doesn't have any half sisters, or full siblings that have any records. I also won't be selling her kids for less than what I want because I feel that pedigree is worth something and you couldn't buy a similarly bred goat for less.


----------



## Scottyhorse (Feb 11, 2013)

ptgoats45 said:


> As far as the goats you have already bought, I think you got took (not to sound harsh, I've had it happen to me too) on the $450 doe. It sounds like the people may have already known she wouldn't breed, but sold her as "bred" anyways. Have you told them that she wasn't bred? Any good breeder would exchange the doe if it turned out that she wasn't what they said she was, unless of course you took her home and starved her (which I'm sure you didn't but some people will buy a nice high priced goat, not feed it, goat turns out not bred and they blame the breeder). If the doe was truly bred then $450 sounds like a good price for a Nigerian if she comes from good bloodlines. If your Nubian is registered around here $150 would be a STEAL for a nice registered doe.


I agree... Had this happen with two of my does. They weren't sold bred, but I wasn't informed of it either. One never comes into heat, and one is cystic.


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Well and as a buyer we need to know nothing is for sure with a goat being bred unless there are ultrasound results. They are not like a cow and can go in and check if she is bred how far along and such we simply go off of if they were mounted.....and as we know doesn't mean the doe took. Any doe that I think is bred even if I'm sure I word my sale as exposed or has been running with the buck to cover my butt. So any doe I look at buying even if they say bred I look at the doe herself and don't even take being bred into consideration on the price.....so I guess this is a buyer beware post lol


----------



## kachikachiyama (Dec 19, 2013)

ptgoats45 said:


> As far as the goats you have already bought, I think you got took (not to sound harsh, I've had it happen to me too) on the $450 doe. It sounds like the people may have already known she wouldn't breed, but sold her as "bred" anyways. Have you told them that she wasn't bred? Any good breeder would exchange the doe if it turned out that she wasn't what they said she was, unless of course you took her home and starved her (which I'm sure you didn't but some people will buy a nice high priced goat, not feed it, goat turns out not bred and they blame the breeder). If the doe was truly bred then $450 sounds like a good price for a Nigerian if she comes from good bloodlines. If your Nubian is registered around here $150 would be a STEAL for a nice registered doe.


The breeder did try to do some things to make it right, but the end result was that we didn't end up with a doe we could use. I like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but that being said, I would have handled the transaction differently if I had more experience. I am just considering it part of the learning process at this point.

I *think* the Nubian was a steal: long tome 4her going to collage and liquidating her herd. I have had several experienced goat owners comment on how nice she is. I am really happy with her, she has a lovely temperament too.


----------



## boermama1 (Jun 24, 2013)

How much are boers worth?? Doe?nanny?buck? In texas


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Good way to determine locale prices is craigslist or any other locale classified news paper


----------



## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

Depends on whether or not they're registered, and if they're show quality or not.


----------



## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

I've seen Boers around me sell for anywhere from $100-$5000 depending on bloodlines and if they are registered or not. Also depends on if they are from more of a "show" herd or a regular herd. There are lots of breeders around me that have Smokin Hot Ruger bloodlines and those goats will bring a premium.


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

This has been something that had been a big question on my mind... I don't show, but I want good milking stock and good quality animals, so I'm not certain if I should spend the extra money on registered stock, but I don't see the registered stock selling here in W. WA very well either...


----------



## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

I tried getting into registered goats last year but decided it wasn't worth it. To really make them valuable you have to buy more expensive breeding stock, and show them, which makes for much higher expenses. Then you have to list them for a lot more to make up for those expenses and it can take a long time to sell them at that price. Might be worth it in the long run if you're running it as a business but as a hobby I don't think it is. I was finding unregistered goats I liked better than the low quality registered ones, and I can sell fairly quickly with a low price and not worry about it because I didn't pay much in the first place.


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

zebradreams07 said:


> I tried getting into registered goats last year but decided it wasn't worth it. To really make them valuable you have to buy more expensive breeding stock, and show them, which makes for much higher expenses. Then you have to list them for a lot more to make up for those expenses and it can take a long time to sell them at that price. Might be worth it in the long run if you're running it as a business but as a hobby I don't think it is. I was finding unregistered goats I liked better than the low quality registered ones, and I can sell fairly quickly with a low price and not worry about it because I didn't pay much in the first place.


Yeah, that is what I'm thinking... Since I don't wanna show, I just want milk, and I'm hoping I can end up butchering some too.


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

We usually take off 50.00 or 75.00 off our price for people who dont want papers.


----------



## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

See, I don't like that thinking. With a background in horse rescue I hate to see a registered animal without papers because there's a better chance of them ending up in a bad situation, when papers could have kept them out of it. Any registered animal I've owned has been sold with papers and valued at what I think it's worth.


----------



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

TDG-Farms said:


> We usually take off 50.00 or 75.00 off our price for people who dont want papers.


Good to know, since I'm considering your stock come spring;-)


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Well we have 25+ Does to sell every year and there is only so many that sell to those looking for not only the quality but the bloodlines. So selling without papers opens up a bigger market for us. The only other option is the sales and that is something we refuse to do. Now you wanna talk about a bad situation, that would be it.


----------



## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

I'm sure some of them end up there sooner or later. Are you saying these people wouldn't accept the papers if you sent them with?


----------



## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

No what I am saying is, its a bad business decision to sell papered animals at a lower price then they are worth. This is an active working farm and these are not pets (even though we may treat them as such). These are top bloodline goats that didnt get that way without a significant amount of cost and effort on our end. And if someone wants to be able to use the fruit of our labor, they are going to pay what they are worth.

On the flip side, those that are not looking to show or use the pedigree to help increase the sell ability of their own animals, but instead are just looking increase the quality of their own herd, dont need papers. This in no way means they will care any less for their animals as you are suggesting. Papers do not equal the quality of care a animal will receive.

In the end we sell animals to help cover the costs of the ones we keep, so selling them is the main focus. We cant say for sure if they are going to a good home regardless of papers. The best we can do is get a feel for who is buying them and go from there. We have refused sales to people who wanted papers and didnt want papers alike. But they have to be sold one way or another. And to be perfectly honest, it would be a better life in someones back yard then in a commercial dairy in California. Many of them are horrid at best.


----------



## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

I'm not saying the people who buy them from you won't care for them, but if they change hands down the road they might end up in a situation that papers would have kept them out of. I know goats are different but I've seen it with horses over and over.


----------

