We keep our goats as milkers and pets; they supply us with milk, love and affection. We did not get into goats for the sole purpose of making money and I would never advise someone to get into goats for the intended purpose of making a profit from them. If you are lucky, after years of work, you might break even. The best reason to get into goats is because you love them and you want them to be a part of your life. To get milk from goats, you need to have babies. When you have babies each year, you need to sell goats or you will soon be overrun with 100s of goats. We are vegetarian, the only dairy products and eggs that we consume it that which we produce here on our own farm from our own well treated and loved animals. We will not sell a goat for meat or meat related purposes, period. People have written to ask me about what we do with our extra boys and how we can sell our goats, when we say we will not sell goats for meat related purposes. How can we sell our extra wethers (neutered males) and be sure they won't be eaten? It takes a little bit of extra work, but to us, it is well worth it to know our goats are all going to good homes. You need to be a responsible breeder and a responsible seller. Our does are sold as milkers to individual families or small humane dairies, and also as companions and pets. Our wethers are all sold as friendly and loving pets and companions. Bucks are sold for breeding purposes, to help improve milking herds; we never sell bucks as pets.

Nedra, from WV, comes to pick up Bernie, her new pet wether. She's greeted by Monty and Bernie.

Also See:

Another Way Of Farming...You can raise livestock in a kind and humane manner

 

Paper vs. No Papers - One Breed vs. Mixed Breeds

I get people emailing me, asking in they should bother registering their goats. People will say their main purpose for having goats is milk or as pets, so they do not care about breeds and paperwork. I understand where they are coming from, we were there once as well, but we do very much believe now that it is important to register our goats. When we started out we thought we didn't care about paperwork but quickly realized why it was a good practice. It takes just as much time, effort, money, love and care to raise registered goats as non-registered goats, yet registered goats are worth more. I will explain why this is important in a moment (and it isn't about making money).

I also get asked how I feel about "mixing" breeds. We didn't care about this when we first started out either, but have since learned that a actual breed goat is again, worth more than a "mutt". Now let me explain why this is important.

We tend to stick with keeping within a breed, as the does and bucks can be registered and thus worth more and can be sold to better homes. (Wethers are not registered since they cannot breed). Though it sounds "about the money" it isn't, I always take into account the eventual welfare of the goats and "papered" goats usually (I know not always) end up in better homes.   We always try to "breed up" and not breed "mutts".

If all you have is one breed and you want another, you can "breed up". For example: you can breed up to an American LaMancha (or any dairy breed) by breeding the doe to an American or Purebred buck of the desired breed.  Then the does kids from this breeding would be a first first generation 50/50 (50% American LaMancha). Then breed the 50% doe kid to an American or Purebred Buck and her kids would be 25/75 (75% LaMancha). Now breed this does kids to an American or Purebred buck and her kids would be American LaMancha. The American will be worth more "on paper" than the "grades" before her.

Registering always helps when selling goats. We really do not do not sell locally at all.  I would not sell to most "locals" where we live because I do not trust them to care for the goats.  We take care of registering and getting the paperwork for every doe and buck we sell. We pay for the paperwork ourselves. Every doe and buck born here is registered. This is our gift of insurance to them.

Because our goats are registered as well as of good breeding, healthy, friendly, we have built a reputation as a quality herd. We sell all our goats via the Internet and mostly out of state.  We have people drive 14 hours (or more) one way to get goats from us.  Most people would not drive that far for unregistered goats. (Though, we have had people drive 4 hours one way to get wethers from us for pets.)

This is why we register all the doe and bucks we sell for the buyer, whether they want papers or not. We know they may not care at the time they are buying the goat, and hence not register the goat, but later on they will have wished they did.

We are not being elitist by registering our goats or by sticking within one breed, we are looking out for our goats best interest and their futures and hope that the effort we make to make them "special" will pay off, not financially, but pay off in ensuring the goats a better life when they leave our farm for their new homes.

 

 

Selling Goats - How we sell our goats:

We keep 21 does and 2 bucks. We do not breed every doe every year, but usually breed about 16-18 does. Selling goats is very hard for us emotionally and we work hard to make sure the goats we sell go to good homes. We have gotten very "picky" about who we sell goats to. There is no worse feeling than having your "children" go somewhere where they end up mistreated, or worse.

When we first started out we worried that we would not sell all the goats we needed to sell, especially the wethers (because as responsible breeders we neuter all but a few of the very best boys each year- and those must be sold before they are three weeks old, or they get neutered as well.). Now we have learned not to worry. If our goats sell, they sell, and if they don't, we will keep them. Interestingly, they always eventually sell. But also, we are not large producers with hundreds of goats to sell. We price our goats reasonably and fairly. It is important to us that everyone involved in the transaction be happy with the outcome. After years of building a reputation, we are able to sell all the goats we want to sell via this web site and the Internet, mostly out of state. We like this because if people are willing to spend reasonable money and drive an appreciable distance, you can almost guarantee the goats will be taken care of.

Discussing Bernie before he leaves for his new home. I always take as much time as necessary to answer any questions a buyer might have.

To insure good homes, we try to "place" our goats. We try to spend time talking to potential buyers. We like to ask people what they want a goat for: why they want them. We make sure they get what they need; as opposed to trying to sell them whatever we have. If people get what they need, they will be happy with their goats and it will be less likely they end up getting rid of them (or eating them). Many times, people who think they need a "billy & a nanny" really would do quite well with two pet wethers.

We specifically breed for friendly, healthy and pretty goats that are good milkers, loving companions and/or friendly pets. We have worked hard to build a reputation as reputable breeders. We only keep the amount of goats we can manage (more is not always better). We give each of our goats individual attention every day.

We stagger our breeding so that we can make sure we are able to give one-on-one attention to the all our moms and kids. We breed only three does in a "batch" and have at least two weeks between batches. This way, the babies have playmates, but we are not so overrun by babies that we couldn't possibly give individual attention to them each day. By giving each kid individual attention and love every single day, we can make sure they are friendly and healthy.

By placing friendly, healthy, loving goats in good homes, it is our hope that the new owners fall in love with them and we can feel safe in knowing they will probably live out their lives as happy pets and companions.

 

end note: I ask you to please be responsible breeders and sellers as well. Please wether (neuter) all the "best" of your boys. We all should all work together to improve our goats, and just because the goat has a penis does not mean he should be used for breeding. The world doesn't need as many bucks as does, and many bucks end up being treated cruelly, which is how bucks in general have come to have a bad reputation. It is kinder to the male to neuter him humanely and sell him as a pet, then to sell him as a cheap buck and to send him to a life of being chained up alone and uncared for. Yes, it is easier to keep a male a buck because you do not have the neuter him, and you may not make as much money when you sell him if you wether him, but there are more important things in life than money and you need to think of the well being of the animal.