Getting Started with Meat Goats
Before purchasing any meat goats, one must look at pastures, fences, and shelters available to determine how many goats one can start with. How many goats can be kept per acre? This is a question that can only be answered after trying to raise goats on a given acre of ground. The answer depends on climate, type of soil, the fertility of the soil, the type of vegetation, and the steepness of the ground (steep ground doesn't hold moisture as well as flat ground.) It is best to be under stocked so one doesn't have to purchase much feed. Start with just a few goats, and gradually increase the size of the herd as the pastures are improved. An area of trees and brush, that has recently been cut, will put out a lot of sprouts for a few years utilizing energy stored in the roots. In northern Arkansas sprouts have a short growing season, late spring to early fall. Spouts make good summer pasture for goats, but cool season grasses and legumes are needed to get the goats through late fall, winter, and early spring.
Purchasing a Starter Herd
Decide whether to raise registered breeding stock or commercial meat goats or both. Cattle and sheep producers have been able to achieve hybrid vigor by crossing different breeds. Most of the breeds of meat goats, available in the United States, are composite breeds of very recent origin. Composite breeds are developed by crossing several diverse types of goats. Because these breeds are of recent origin they have very diverse genetics and do not breed true for the most important economic traits. Very little line breeding has been done within any of these breeds. It is doubtful whether any hybrid vigor would result from crossing them. Genetic differences for important economic traits are far greater within these breeds than they are between them. When deciding which breed to purchase, you will do best with the breed that that appeals to you most, but only if you select animals within that breed for the most important traits.
From an economic perspective, the most important traits in meat goats are hardiness, fertility, mothering ability, and resistance to internal parasites (stomach worms.) Unfortunately, these traits are difficult to measure by looking at goats. They cannot be measured in a show ring or a sale ring. Performance testing under pasture conditions might be the answer, but goats, which do well on pastures in the dryer climates of the western regions of the United States, might not do well further east where more humid conditions would cause greater parasite problems.
It is best to purchase goats directly from the breeder who produced them, and to buy them at their farm. Avoid purchasing at livestock sale barns because that is where breeders get rid of their culls and animals that won't breed or produce kids. When buying an animal at a sale barn, one usually has no way of knowing which herd the animal came from or why it is being sold. When purchasing at the farm, one can see how they were raised. Purchase animals that are raised on pasture with little extra feed because that is the most economical way to raise meat goats. It is the only way to raise them if you want to make a profit.
Many producers worm their goats every thirty days. If one worms goats too often, the worms build up a resistance to the worm medication. One is actually breeding superior worms instead of better goats. Look for producers that worm three times a year or less. Many herds of meat goats have lost their their fertility, and their mothering ability. Some producers put their does into embryo transplant programs before they know if they are capable of having offspring naturally. Their kids are raised by foster mothers, usually dairy goats. The growth rates of these kids have no correlation to the milking and mothering abilities of their biological mothers.
From an economic perspective, the most important traits in meat goats are hardiness, fertility, mothering ability, and resistance to internal parasites (stomach worms.) Unfortunately, these traits are difficult to measure by looking at goats. They cannot be measured in a show ring or a sale ring. Performance testing under pasture conditions might be the answer, but goats, which do well on pastures in the dryer climates of the western regions of the United States, might not do well further east where more humid conditions would cause greater parasite problems.
It is best to purchase goats directly from the breeder who produced them, and to buy them at their farm. Avoid purchasing at livestock sale barns because that is where breeders get rid of their culls and animals that won't breed or produce kids. When buying an animal at a sale barn, one usually has no way of knowing which herd the animal came from or why it is being sold. When purchasing at the farm, one can see how they were raised. Purchase animals that are raised on pasture with little extra feed because that is the most economical way to raise meat goats. It is the only way to raise them if you want to make a profit.
Many producers worm their goats every thirty days. If one worms goats too often, the worms build up a resistance to the worm medication. One is actually breeding superior worms instead of better goats. Look for producers that worm three times a year or less. Many herds of meat goats have lost their their fertility, and their mothering ability. Some producers put their does into embryo transplant programs before they know if they are capable of having offspring naturally. Their kids are raised by foster mothers, usually dairy goats. The growth rates of these kids have no correlation to the milking and mothering abilities of their biological mothers.
