Does anyone in Minnesota breed goats?

[mama2cntrykids]

We're starting to research goat breeds and which would be best to breed and sell the kids. I was thinking of a dairy breed. Is there a particular breed that sells better in MN than others?

 

Thanks!

[katemary63]

I'm not in MN but: Good quality meat goats are in high demand everywhere and have a much broader appeal then dairy goats. If you raise dairy goats, your customers will want info on the goat's milk production (or it's genetic milk production potential) as well as blood test results for certain diseases, etc. Do you plan to milk them? When you breed dairy goats, you breed them based on how good of a dairy goat they are or come from. If you don't milk them, you won't know. Also, most dairy goat breeders bottle feed all their kids from birth. If you don't, your market will be smaller. It's a huge pain in the rear.

 

Meat goats are bred for muscle and growth. The proof is in the kid. They appeal to other breeders, 4H kids and people who want a butcher goat. We raise registered Boer meat goats AND registered Nubian dairy goats. We love both types. But meat goats are easier for newbies IMO.

[mama2cntrykids]

I'm not in MN but: Good quality meat goats are in high demand everywhere and have a much broader appeal then dairy goats. If you raise dairy goats, your customers will want info on the goat's milk production (or it's genetic milk production potential) as well as blood test results for certain diseases, etc. Do you plan to milk them? When you breed dairy goats, you breed them based on how good of a dairy goat they are or come from. If you don't milk them, you won't know. Also, most dairy goat breeders bottle feed all their kids from birth. If you don't, your market will be smaller. It's a huge pain in the rear.

 

Meat goats are bred for muscle and growth. The proof is in the kid. They appeal to other breeders, 4H kids and people who want a butcher goat. We raise registered Boer meat goats AND registered Nubian dairy goats. We love both types. But meat goats are easier for newbies IMO.

 

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of selling the kids rather than the milk/cheese. I'm really new to this and that's why I'm trying to gather as much info as possible.

 

With raise goats for meat. Do you raise it until it's full grown and then sell it to the customer to have it butchered? Or do you sell them as kids? Any other info is apprecited. I do remember reading on the internet that goat meat has to be shipped from over seas as there is too much demand in America for goat farmers to handle it.

[katemary63]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of selling the kids rather than the milk/cheese.

If you don't milk your goats, what will you feed them? As I've said, Dairy goat people bottle feed the kids to prevent a disease called CAE. You have to milk the goats, pasturize the milk, then bottle feed it to the kids. It's a HUGE pain. It's also heart breaking to take a newborn kid away from it's mother before it even suckles. I don't do it. But I do the blood test for CAE before I breed the doe. Then I let the kid nurse the mom. The blood test is a pain and expensive to get done.

 

 

With raise goats for meat. Do you raise it until it's full grown and then sell it to the customer to have it butchered? Or do you sell them as kids?

 

We start advertizing the kids at 2 months. Bucklings need to be weaned at 2 months. Doelings can stay on the doe to 3 or 4 months. I sell my unregistered wethers at 2 months of age for $75, mostly to 4H kids. If one doesn't sell, I will continue to feed it till it does and eventually increase the price to reflect the feed. We never have any left that are butcher size (about 80lbs.) But some ethnic groups like to eat the smaller kids and they will buy them younger for butcher. We sell all our doelings for breeding. They are registered and good quality so butchering them would be a waste. We get from $125 to $200 for them depending on quality.