# New here and new to goats a few questions



## sphynxcrazy (Apr 16, 2012)

Hi! I am new to goats and have some questions. I have been looking for calves and doing a little research on them. I read you can you goat milk. I started to look into goats and I found one with 2 buckling for 200. I was thinking sell the kids and use her to feed the calves.

Anyway, she is 3/4 alpine and 1/4 Nubian first time fresher. Here is the add
http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/2947947190.html

Is it a good deal? Approx how many calves could she do? I would milk her my self as u read calves can hurt them.

When should she be re-bred?

Would I most likely get alot of milk off her?

If I started milking before the calves and froze the milk would it still be good to re-heat for them?

Any other info about what you think of her and anything would be great thanks!!!!!


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## sphynxcrazy (Apr 16, 2012)

Sorry also about posting it on this forum, It wouldn't let me register in some forum and I could find any very good ones.


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

why go to all the trouble of milking the goat to feed your calf
there is too much danger of bacteria infection you got to clean the bottles and nipples really good. or you will lose the calf.
skip the work and the danger to your calf and build a milking stanchion that is height adjustable and let the calf suck off the goat. as the calf grows you raise the stanchion up. so the calf can not but the doe so hard.
a calf needs about a gallon of milk a day and that is what one goat produces.

right now i have 48 lambs and kids sucking off 11 does.
It works great.

$200 is about average for a goat in milk. the kids will nearly pay for the doe.
the goat in the photo looks like she is not being feed correctly.
you will need to turn on the feed when you get her.
Do not skimp when it comes to feed for your goat. 
the junk you find in the store dumpsters though it may be green will not meet the nutritional needs of your goat.
a rule of thumb is the darker the green the better the feed.


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## sphynxcrazy (Apr 16, 2012)

I guess I could do that. Although I might end up getting 4 calves depending. I guess that meant more goats!!

I thought she looked thin


I found an lamancha with a yearling doeling for 125 obo. Seems like a better deal. 

Do lamanchas produce a lot? Which is better producer alpine. Or lamancha? 


Thx for the reply.


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

all my does are Lamacha they are easy to work with. give good milk
alpines are knot heads--- but my pack goat is an alpine and i love him


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

there is more to this than you are thinking.

Not all does (female goats) produce the same 
amount of milk. Especially first time freshners.

For example: My very first time goat doe gave
me a cup of milk per milking.. Yep only 1 cup.

My second doe. gave me a half gallon per milking.
These are not does that were bred to give 2 gallons
per day. Just your run of the mill first time freshners.

Goats are also judged in shows on how long they
will milk. 2,3,4 6,10,12 months. 

It is not an exact science. Depends on the goat.


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

I have three first time goats right now and they are holding three + lambs each. that is better than three quarters of a gallon.
also don't expect the milk all to be there as soon as the kids are born some times it takes two weeks for the milk to come in.

what bugs me with goats is that they have been breed for MILK. Most kids are pulled from there mothers at birth and bottle feed. the does have not been chosen for mothering ability,kid vitality, birthing ease. because i keep the kids on the goats I have to baby the new born kids for 36 hours after the kids are born. with my ewes it is less than 12 hours 

as a side note i have my name on a list to get a baby yak next year. I plan on using the goats to feed the yack. that will bond the yack to the sheep and goats. when the yack gets older it will defend the sheep and goats from predators.


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## sphynxcrazy (Apr 16, 2012)

thanks for all the replies. this lamancha seems to be the best deal around if it is healthy. there are lamancha alpine cross doelings for 100, and i can get 2 for 125. hers the link to it http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/2949624782.html

i guess i will call and see if it has been dewormed ever, what is has been feed, etc any thing else i should ask about?

i hope it works out with the calf, i really want a goat(s) but it has to be useful for something.

maybe once the kids weaned if i don't have calves yet i could start freezing the milk to use later for the calves?


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## sphynxcrazy (Apr 16, 2012)

I bought some fresh raw goat milk. It wasn't much different from cow milk. A little creamier but know like after taste.


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## sphynxcrazy (Apr 16, 2012)

Here is the one I am thinking about. What do u guys think?
http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/2959593199.html

Or there's this one.
http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/2941107860.html


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

Boer goats are not good milkers I do not think they will work for you. I would jump on the Lamacha pair.


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## sphynxcrazy (Apr 16, 2012)

Well it is a 3 hour round trip to the lamancha. It's only around 50 bucks cheaper, I think I might go looknat the first one I posted in the other post.

The details on it are, it is 1-2 years old, probably it's first kids. They don't know what kind it is, or what it was bred to. They got it 2 months ago and the other goats are hurting it, and it is not very tame and it is traumatized. It was getting tamer though.

I wil either get another doe, depending if it has a doe and what kind, or a wether for it.


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## sphynxcrazy (Apr 16, 2012)

Well they said they thought it was a bora, I think they ment boer.

So maybe no it then. Here are the other choices.

1.http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/2950510258.html

2.
http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/2929668405.html

3.http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/2920677478.html


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