# Herd Size



## ArborGoats (Jan 24, 2013)

So I searched to see if this had been discussed recently and hit December of 2016 and still hadn't found anything...so thought I'd go ahead and see what I got as responses... 

I was curious what various people's personal optimal herd size is, compared to how many goats they actually have, and on how much acreage they keep their goats. I'm also curious as to what makes that size their optimal. Is it ease of chores? Shelter size? Pasture size? 

Currently I have 10 goats, 2 will be bred for spring babies, and I'm still trying to figure out how much my little farm can handle in the long run. Currently the 10 goats live in 3 little "pastures" each 1/3 of an acre or so, and the horses are in the other acre "pasture". That was all the fence I could handle this fall...Digging posts by hand is not a huge amount of fun! Neither is putting up 5 foot 2x4 "horse" fence by hand with a boatwinch... lol. Next spring I will fence in the other 8 acres which is on the other side of the house and they will actually have somewhere to browse/get to explore. I'm thinking 20 goats total (Only counting Does, Keeper Doelings, and then Bucks/permanent wether friends - not sale kids or wethers for the freezer).


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

My hubby says our optimal herd is 2. (My hubby is SILLY!). Right now we have 7, but our pen etc. works best if we have 4. I have almost 4 acres of land, but our goats are relegated to a smallish dry lot and one stall.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

This last Summer, my little herd was at it's peak, at 29. I felt I was drowning, because I was having such a rough year (unrelated to goats, but still impacted by goats)

A goat friend asked me (because we were discussing herd size limits, pens, buck/doe ratios.... You know, the usual) what my herd limit was. I said, "My husband and I agreed on 10 last time we talked about it. I won't go over 10.

There was silence at the other end as my friend tried to be kind.

I said, " Yeah, that isn't working out....But my limit is still 10"

Then she realized she did not have to worry about my feelings and started laughing.

I'm currently down to 18, and am breathing easier.


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## cbrossard (Oct 4, 2014)

Ooo! Interesting thread! I have 5 acres right now and 6 goats. The goats probably have 2-3 acres divided into a smallish buck (and wether) pen and then the rest is for everybody else. I don't want to have too many more goats, but I could see maybe getting up to 10 over the next few years. At my last place we had the goats on about 1/3 of an acre and I only had 3 goats at the time and after 2 years, it was all dirt! Ideally I want there to always be browse available, so my herd size is dependent on how many I can keep and still have browse, and how many does I can handle kidding in a year. I only have 3 stalls in my barn so basically I can only have 2 mamas kidding at once.


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## wifeof1 (Mar 18, 2016)

I thought 30. Because the more goats I have the happier I get. 
Reality is 22. Of which 3 are walking food banks. However, that all changed recently when I tallied up my goat addiction expense. Running around $500 a month. 
Now I do get meat, milk, cheese, soap, and veggies for trade from the local farmer, but not compared to the cost.
I have a total of 15 acres, but since we live in the high dessert, it is only around 3 months outta the year. So I buy lotsa feed.
I reevaluated this and decided to stop taking in rescuses. Rehome the ones I have. Cull all mixes, and go with registered stock, which will hopefully produce better milk yields, and sellable kids. 
My main focus will be on the Guernseys and Togs. So at any time the numbers pass 15 again, the LaMancha are first to go, then the Obers.
OBTW, just spent $250 on seed to make a 1.5 acre pasture.


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## Jaeih (Sep 27, 2017)

We currently have six goats, and we think one of our does might be pregnant. We haven't decided on our optimal herd size though.


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## BoulderOaks (Sep 24, 2014)

I actually just was thinking about this yesterday! I decided to put my "cap" at 40 does. 10 Nigerians(currently at 10), 10 Nubians(currently at 4), and 20 LaMancha/LaMancha program does(currently at 25). Then 2 Nigerian bucks(currently at 2), 2 Nubians bucks(currently at 2), and 2-4 LaMancha bucks(currently at 3). I have 50 acres, but use about 2 acres for the goats. Everyone is in dry lot pens since this is the desert, there is no browse for them except the 4 weeks of the year some grass tries to grow in the shade of the sagebrush. Unfortunately, that means it costs about $1,000/month to feed these boogers. Less now that I dried up all but 4 so I'm going through less grain. I may reduce my LaMancha cap to 15 next year, but we'll see.


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## ArborGoats (Jan 24, 2013)

SundewFarms said:


> I actually just was thinking about this yesterday! I decided to put my "cap" at 40 does. 10 Nigerians(currently at 10), 10 Nubians(currently at 4), and 20 LaMancha/LaMancha program does(currently at 25). Then 2 Nigerian bucks(currently at 2), 2 Nubians bucks(currently at 2), and 2-4 LaMancha bucks(currently at 3). I have 50 acres, but use about 2 acres for the goats. Everyone is in dry lot pens since this is the desert, there is no browse for them except the 4 weeks of the year some grass tries to grow in the shade of the sagebrush. Unfortunately, that means it costs about $1,000/month to feed these boogers. Less now that I dried up all but 4 so I'm going through less grain. I may reduce my LaMancha cap to 15 next year, but we'll see.


Just out of curiosity, do you have the 2 acres split up in some way? I've already made my 2 acres in an interesting pattern but am interested in how else it could have been done. =)


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

I think I have 143 goats at this moment. DH thinks 2 would be good! I'm milking 55, the rest of the herd consists of 14 bucks, 8 pet wethers (anyone want a couple?) 28 yearlings and the rest kids. 

After a rough year, (family wise) I'm going to sell some kids and try and whittle down the buck population. ( or not on the bucks).

I do everything myself, so sometimes it almost seems too much. They do get outside but are mainly dry lotted.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

Goats Rock said:


> I think I have 143 goats at this moment. DH thinks 2 would be good!


That is a big difference of opinion...


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## BoulderOaks (Sep 24, 2014)

ArborGoats said:


> Just out of curiosity, do you have the 2 acres split up in some way? I've already made my 2 acres in an interesting pattern but am interested in how else it could have been done. =)


Honestly, it's kind of hodge-podge. It started with just one pen and expanded from there. Every time I built I new pen, I thought that would be the last one I needed, so there was no planning for making it easy to add expansions/new pens. There are 3 pens in one area that my stanchions and milking equipment is next to, so I use those for my milkers. This winter, I'll be building a 4th milkers pen(approx. 10 goats per pen) and a kid pen(for DHIA milk test days) down there. Then in a separate area of the property is what I refer to as the Big Pen, which is where my kids currently are. Next to it is a little pen my baby bucks are in. And nearby is the buck pens. This winter, I'll be building 2 new, bigger pens alongside the Big Pen, one of which will be for mature does, the other for yearlings. I'm working on planning to make things easy as far as feeding/moving animals/catching/etc. I also know now to make sure I build with the future in mind, and will be building plenty of fenceline feeders for however big I could possibly ever want to go.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

mariarose said:


> That is a big difference of opinion...


It's ok. I had goats when we got married. We are both older. (He's late 60's, I'm not). He knew he was marrying a farmer. 
He keeps busy with his blacksmithing and I am busy with the goats.

It works pretty well.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Well right this very moment I have 62 does, 4 bucks and 2 retired pets. My limit is 3 bucks till the old favorite kicks it then down to 2 and 70 does lol
Over the years my limit has gone up, 10 to 25 then to 50 and then I've been at 70 for the last few years and I like that number. It's easy for me to handle and I don't cringe too bad when I have to buy hay for them lol. 
Ok the space is kinda odd. So their actual section is probably about 7 acres, honestly I don't know but it looks bigger then my brothers place which is 5 acres. BUT when they are not nursing kids or being bred they have access to 800. If I can get the backs down to 2 then I could rotate them but well that just doesn't seem to happen lol and I keep them locked up while they have kids because I had issues with coyotes snagging kids and taking off with them. Which seriously if you watch kids bouncing around playing all the time from a coyotes view they are just asking for it. So I don't risk it any more.
Everyone's place is going to be different on what the animals can support per acre though. Some people have permanent pasture, or only get rain at certain times or the year and some just flat out dry lot them. I say if you think you can handle more and your set up can handle more just add slowly. This is coming from someone who jumped from that 25 limit to 50 limit in one purchase  thinking of 50 now I say no big deal, looking back at how over whelmed I was at the time and I'm honestly surprised I didn't sell out


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

At peak, I've had over 30 goats. But for my finances, property (9 acres), etc, 10 or less is best.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

My optimal herd size is 2 does, 1 buck, and 1 wether. I currently have 4 does, 1 buck, and 1 wether, but 2 of the does will be leaving soon. So I'm actually doing pretty well :7up:

I like 2 does because that's about the right amount of milk for our family, 1 buck for breeding, 1 wether to keep him company. Also 4 is a pretty easy number to manage.

I think I have 1/2 acre more or less fenced, but I let the does out a lot to browse.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

So disciplined!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

mariarose said:


> So disciplined!


Lol. I was up to 13 last year


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I use to run 16 does, but I downsized, which is a lot easier for me. I have 11 breeding does, 3 young doelings and 2-3 bucks. The girls get 8 acres, the boys get 1 acre.


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## LizWiz (Sep 12, 2017)

I really need to down size - I am at 12 goats when I should be at 4 breeding does ! No bucks - too smelly. AI only.


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

LizWiz said:


> No bucks - too smelly.


I only wish I still felt this way. I completely adore bucks. I would pair them off 2by2 if I could.

My longsuffering hubby thinks this is excessive...


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I don't like the smell either, LOL.


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## goatblessings (Jan 6, 2015)

I am building more pens in the next two weeks. For some reason I keep adding to my limit! Right now I'm at 7 - but I've set a limit to 10. I have 20 acres, so lots of room, BUT running the fencing to rotate and separate can be quite expensive. Trying to be disciplined, but so far it's not working!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

LOL, I know the feeling.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

For me, optimal herd size would be 2 or 3 does and a buck, all of the same breed. I have end stage arthritis in both knees and both hips, need them all replaced, plus I need to have internal surgery to have parts repaired when I got hurt at work by an out of control psych patient. (work will not cover it, either). I am doing this alone, struggling some days. I have a full time off farm job, 2 part time off farm jobs (to pay for hay) and the farm. However, son will be home next year to help out until he ends up back in prison. All but the doeling will be bred this fall for next spring.

What do I have? 3 bucks, 13 does and 1 doeling. 1 Oberhasli, 6 Nubian, 7 Lamancha does, a Nubian buck, a Lamancha buck and a Nigerian buck. I plan to get 2 Nigerian does for the buck as soon as I can.

My farm is 1 acre. I have the goats, 2 horses, 10 or so laying hens and a roo, 1 Great Pyrenees, 5 Alaskan Malamutes and an Alaskan Husky. I am adding to the goat pens as I can afford to buy cattle panels. Obviously my animals are all dry lotted.

Why? Insanity, maybe????? I do someday want to sell cheese and milk, maybe soap. I dunno when I will have time, maybe when I retire in 10 years.


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## CrazyDogLady (Aug 9, 2014)

Hmm, ideally I'd like to find a work from home job then my numbers will be more. I had 11 in milk this year, and that was a lot. I work an hour and 20 mins from home, and I work 5 days a week. 

I have 16 ND does, 2 doelings that won't be bred until next year, one minimancha doe, and 2 standard lamanchas. I have 5 bucks, one of which is for sale, and three wethers I'm going to butcher in the next couple of weeks.

I don't know how I'm going to do when everyone kids and is in milk.


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## wndngrvr (Dec 10, 2011)

I love to see the amount people have - I thought I was the one with no discipline. I have 19 girls. Three are spring babies I want to sell. 3 bucks. I had the magic no. -10 but never seems to work. I can't stand to sell my mature girls. It is a lot of work, they have a good size pen and access to a nice pasture. We take walks in the woods daily if weather permits as I don't let them go there alone. Preditors are in that area more often as it is beside a river. My biggest problem is keeping up with the milk supply. Cheese making helps. I think the work keeps me younger and healthier though. I am 75 and can still do it and see many my age that can hardly get around. 
This fall I am only going to bred 3 dry girls and try to milk some through. Not sure how that will work with Nigerians but will see.


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

My original plan was 7, 6 does and a buck, sticking to the Boer goats. Now my goal is 12 does and two bucks. I'm at 5 does, 3 bucks( one up for sale), and a wether. Don't ask me how he snuck into the plan ‍♀And two Pygmy does.

We are now adding Nigerians and Pygmies to the mix. My mom loves the goats but I feel the Boers get to big for her and she doesn't handle the no keeping wethers and bucks part so well-she gets super attached. So we want to start her off with some smaller goats that she can have fun with and sell the wethers as pets a bit easier. So the goal for that is 3-6 does and a buck.

I'm sure over the next few years are numbers will go up. Our goal right now is to get them self sufficient and then hopefully one day have them start paying for other things.


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

Great discussion! I don't know what my ideal herd size is but for me the limiting factors are fenced pasture/browse and barn/shelter size. 

My current herd is 26 goats. That is: 2 bucks, 3 goats for the freezer, 16 breeding does, 4 replacement doelings, and 1 pathetic wether (pet? I have no idea how this happened). We also are currently hosting an additional 4 does for breeding, but they go home next week 

We have about five acres fenced pastures. We have much more land that could be fenced, but cost & labor are limiting. The other tricky thing is that the goats strongly crave to return to their barn each evening rather than sleep out on pasture. I have a hard time moving them out to pastures not connected to the barn in the early morning before I leave for work. When we are home, the doe herd does get to roam free on the farm a significant amount for browsing. But my 5 acres of pasture are certainly overstocked and promoting parasites with the current size herd. 

For shelter, the doe portion of the barn is 16x32 but with only one eight foot entrance. And my doe herd is catty! So the 2-3 meakest does will not risk using the shelter except in the worst of weather. 

As far as breeding, selling the best kids as breeding stock, retaining a few breeding animals, and having enough for meat sales and our own freezer, the current size of the herd is GOOD. But as far as pastures & shelter, I'd say that 12 breeding does would probably be more appropriate.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

We have a whole whopping 2 acres. We raise Boer goats, and currently have 10, but had around 17 over the summer. My kids show most of their babies and usually a couple of yearlings. This year I think they showed off/on all but 2 of those goats. After show season they sell anyone that we aren't keeping. We try to aim for about 8 goats through the winter - usually 5-6 bred, and 2-3 that are young does we grow out for the next show/breeding season.

We plan to keep 9 through the winter this year, 8 does, 5-6 bred, and 2 young does. Our biggest issue is making sure we have plenty of shelter space when kidding season starts in late January. So... we're working on that. We'll eventually have to separate the buck as kidding season nears, which means we'll have to buy him a little buddy.


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## wifeof1 (Mar 18, 2016)

I currently have 19. 3 bucks are keepers. 4 wethers cause I had a buck year. and a dozen Does. 4 in milk. 3 due to kid in June July and August. 
I would love to be at 15 now but there are so many goats for sale right now I haven't had any buyers. 
I have a farm stay Air B N B and the guests kids love running the pasture with the boys, so it's ok till they get a few months older.


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## shoafplantation (May 18, 2018)

I have 28 does, and 3 bucks. All Nigerian. 3 grass pastures 1 acre each. 8 girls on each pasture. I put a buck in one pasture with the girls that I want bred. Then move him out 3 months later. Repeat the process all year long, with each pasture so that I have about 16-18 babies born about every 3 months. March, May, August, and November. Don't want any freezing weather babies!!


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## Goat_Scout (Mar 23, 2017)

What an interesting topic! 

We currently have 6 does, 2 doelings and 3 Nubian bucklings (1 or 2 will be kept as breeding bucks and the other(s) sold). Ideally I’d like to have 6-8 does and 2-3 bucks. Next spring I am planning on selling the Mini-Lamancha and the Alpine, both of whom were 1st fresheners this past January. I don’t need to sell them now as they aren’t costing much at all (we are drying off both). 
I want to have 3-4 Nubian does (we have only 2 right now, but will retain at least 1 doeling from each next year), 1-2 Kiko does and I can’t sell my two favorite minis, Hildy (FF) and Dipity (3 month old orphan from my best doe).
So, I’d need a Nubian buck, a Kiko buck and I’ll just buy a mini buck each year (unless I find a super duper nice one, LOL) nice NDs are fairly easy to find around here. 

Right now, the does’ pen is almost 3 acres in size maybe? And I’m planning on sectioning 1/3 of it off for the bucklings once they get older (right now they are in a smaller grassy pen). We also have an adjoining pasture/wooded area of about 8 acres (the goats have access to way more than that each day, but don’t stray very far - when I think about it, they actually only go on barely 5 acres of it, because I sold the bossy gal who would lead them deep into the woods, and now that she’s gone they lost confidence). 
All in all, we have 53 acres and are in the process of putting up mesh on one of the 3-board fenced-in cow pastures, so that the goats can rotationally graze. Having the cows graze after/with them should help keep the parasites a little more at bay I think.


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## Dwarf Dad (Aug 27, 2017)

We have a Pygmy doe, so we were told, two ND wethers and two ND doelings on approximately 1/2 an acre back yard. We go outside the fence every afternoon to eat let the goats browse kudzu. This seems to be a good number of mini's for living in town. 
I would like to breed the two ND doelings later to try milking and milk products. I have a year and a few months to think and plan for that. We will have to reclaim our patio for humans before that happens.


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## 15WildTurkey (Apr 13, 2015)

This is a great thread. I have just 2 girls that I would like to breeed this year and try milking. We have around 5 acres but lack fencing. They are dry lotted when they can’t be brought out to their electric net pen. 2 and then a few freezer babies is a comfortable number for me. My kids are 3 and 18 months and suck up all my time. The eventual dream is, in a couple years, to get a horse too. When fencing $$ and time will allow. We also have a big old dog, 5 (8 til recently ) hens and a jerk of a rooster.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Right now we have 63 with all the kids.

My ideal would be around 25-30 does and 2-3 bucks. Right now we have 18 does, 3 bucks, 10 yearling does, and the rest are kids from this year. (planning on keeping 10 of the does again).

By fall we should be around 37: 2 bucks, 15 does, 10 yearlings and 10 doelings.

The does are on 15 acres, but half of it is also spring fed. The bucks are on probably 1/2 acre. I'd love to have more but I'll be at my pastures max at 30 does. Plus I work fulltime so kidding season is a bit of a juggle.


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## Nigerian dwarf goat (Sep 25, 2017)

At the moment, I have three does, ( want to get rid of two)
Three doelings,and I'm looking for a buck....
My herd limit is ten,and I have them on 2 1/2 acres but the highest I've ever had ( when I was little) was 47... My family raised boer goats for the county show

I don't mind the buck smell either, I can barely smell it!


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

At this moment, we have 2 bucks and a weather, then 3 does, and 4 kids. The kids are all pre-sold so they'll be going to homes end of August. We have 11.5 acres but they are in a couple small pens near the house. We are working on fencing in a few acres for them. 

Ideally, I don't want more than about 4 bucks (my Nigi and then the rest mini-nub) and no more than 10 does/doelings (1-2 standard Nubian and rest minis). Once we get our stock how we like it, we might pare down to about 6 girls and a couple bucks. That will be a while. We'll prob gave our weather for a while as my kids love him haha.


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## WhiteFeatherFarms (Jun 29, 2017)

Right now we’ve got 4 LaMancha wethers aka: lapdogs, 1 fainting buck, 1 fainting wether, 2 fainting does & 2 fainting doeling kids. My husband would say we’re over our max, buuuut I’m not so sure about that! We also have 26 hens, 3 jerky roosters, 3 dogs & 3 cats. 10.5 acres, so room for a few more some day!!


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## ETgoatygirl (Mar 23, 2012)

I will have 10 Nigerian Dwarf goats by the end of the summer. 7 Does, a retired doe, a whether, and 1 handsome buck. It's going to be a little tight with these numbers in my current space, but I plan on one day having at least 10 acres for the little munchkins. Imagine how many Nigerians I could fit on 10 whole acres


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## Ashlynn (Oct 1, 2017)

The most I have ever had was 27. It was way too many. If they were all beautiful champion does and a buck maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad, but we had 9 bucks 9 for crying out loud. They were kids that we never got around to selling and now they are almost a year!!!! We currently have 17 but are trying to get down to 13. But right now we have 9 does and 8 bucks soo. We have a little over 4 acres the goats are on 2.5. I want 6 show goats and 3 bucks but that won’t happen for a while as I have some beloved unregistered girls who I’m keeping till death do us part as they were some of our first goats. Sorry for poor grammar or my sentences not making sense lol it’s late at night.


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## Mossyrock (Mar 21, 2017)

Great thread!

I live on 8 acres. I have NDs, and currently have 4 adult does, 6 kids from them this year plus one is due any day now. I also have a 4 month old doeling who I bought recently, and I'm bringing in one more. 3 bucks and 1 wether. So I guess at this moment 15 goats on site!

I'm going to be selling one of my does for sure, and the wether as well. I'm retaining at least 3 doelings this year. So I will be breeding 8 or 9 does for next spring.

I am not sure what my limit is!! Probably around 10 does and I think the buck pen is full at 3. I just got goats last spring, so I've filled up pretty quickly! I'm going to be extremely picky about what stays here. 

The doe pen is maybe an acre, and the buck pen a bit smaller. The does have access to browse in their pen but they don't really touch it - spoiled girls like their alfalfa apparently. I plan to goat-proof-fence my horse area which is a couple of acres so that I can put groups in there to browse (mostly the bucks I think as they are basically dry lotted as it stands now).

A doe barn expansion is definitely in order, ASAP, before kidding next spring. I don't know what I was thinking when we built it...that I was just going to keep 4 does!? Silly silly.


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## Miller'sLostGoat (Apr 26, 2018)

Our optimal size is 8 does and 1 buck. We currently have a half acre, with 7 does and a buck. However, we keep them on mostly dry lot. Our goats are for homesteading and 4-H club goat purposes. We have Nubian and Nubian cross does we breed to Boer bucks. We do milk a couple does at a time to provide our own dairy and meet products, sell the kids mostly as club project goats, unless we keep a replacement doe or two. As we both work full time, this size herd works for us. We are able to break even or make a small profit, fill our freezer, and have fresh dairy. However we use to have a large herd or 100 does and 2-4 bucks on my parents farm.


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## CrazyDogLady (Aug 9, 2014)

I did get my lovely work from home job, and I have 8 in milk right now. I'm milking twice a day, doing DHI. I have 5 bucks, 14 adult does, 6 keeper kids this year (5 doelings, 1 buckling). 2 that are pets, 3 being raised for butcher.


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