Hello from California!

[Heather Law]

Hey all! I found my way here from BackyardChickens when I started thinking about goats. I live in town but have a big yard and our county laws allow goats because they are considered pets. The goal is to get two Nigerian Dwarf does for milking. I’ve done my homework but reasearch can only prepare for the basics. Haven’t pulled the trigger yet. My wonderful hubby wants to build a good fence and shelter first and I would like to have all supplies collected first. I’m still a little afraid I’ll be biting off more than I can chew.

 

[babsbag]

Welcome to BYH from CA. Happy to see another Californian, I am up by Redding so how about you? Northern CA is a BIG place...
You will love goats and the Nigis will be perfect for your town living. If you buy them and don't like it you can always sell, but goats are addicting. I went from 3 to about 50 in 8 years. Be careful, the first time they have kids you will start looking for a house in the country so you can have more goats.

 

[Southern by choice]

Welcome to BYH!

For a backyard set up that is great! Your DH is right, fencing first!

 

[Heather Law]

Welcome to BYH from CA. Happy to see another Californian, I am up by Redding so how about you? Northern CA is a BIG place...
You will love goats and the Nigis will be perfect for your town living. If you buy them and don't like it you can always sell, but goats are addicting. I went from 3 to about 50 in 8 years. Be careful, the first time they have kids you will start looking for a house in the country so you can have more goats.

I’m near Roseville. Not terribly far from you.
And yeah, we are remodeling our house so that we can sell and move out to the country. Took about 2 weeks of town living to decide that the country was the place for me. That was 15 chickens and a duck ago Hey, thats only 4 birds over the legal limit. That means I’m doing good right?

 

[Heather Law]

Welcome to BYH!

For a backyard set up that is great! Your DH is right, fencing first!

My backyard is about 2,500 square feet. Minus the 50 my veggies use and the 150 my chicken coop takes up and what is left is fair game. How big should we shoot for in a goat pen and any suggestions for setup? If you could start over again anything you would do to make it better? We are starting from scratch and hubby is a carpenter so the sky is the limit. Most wood is free for us as long as we are creative.

 

[Pastor Dave]

Welcome from the Hoosier state
I don't have goats, but you want a place to store hay to keep it dry. You will want an area to milk, an area for quarantine or any reason to separate one that's sick or a new mother, etc. You will want an area for a buck unless you want to breed offsite. And, it helps to rotate pastures or paddocks, so a way to divide or separate areas for regrowth.

Alright goaties, how did I do?

 

[Southern by choice]

2500 sq ft is a 50 x 50 area.
You are using (guessing here) 10 x15 for chickens
5x10 or 7x7 roughly for garden.

Can you do a diagram of your set up now? You are not working with much space.

LOL

If you could start over again anything you would do to make it better?

Well, starting over means moving to expand. Which we will be.

 

[Heather Law]

2500 sq ft is a 50 x 50 area.
You are using (guessing here) 10 x15 for chickens
5x10 or 7x7 roughly for garden.

Can you do a diagram of your set up now? You are not working with much space.

LOL

Well, starting over means moving to expand. Which we will be.

Yeah like I said, I am in town and only have a backyard, though for a lot in a subdivision it’s actually pretty big. My garden, as you mentioned is in fact 7x7. Its all I can manage right now but its only hubby and I and a baby. The chickens have a sideyard fenced. The rest of the yard is mostly a rectangle (about 55x30) plus an extra piece along the north side of our house that is 35x5. We were planning on fencing an area that includes most of the yard and that side yard for the goats. Is an area roughly 1300 square feet big enough for two Nigerian does to live happily?

More info:
We plan on taking them off site to breed. Buck services were cheep and plentiful when I looked. Lots of registered bucks to choose from.
We plan on adding a removable section of fence with a separate shelter for a kidding area.
The milking stand would go on the porch near the entrance to the goat area.
We plan on storing feed in the garage and buying in reasonable quantities for two goats. Good hay is readily available in my area as are feed stores for minerals and any other goat supplies we may need. There is also a livestock vet 15 minutes away.
I figure we can use the garage for quarantine if we really had to but the vet boards sick animals for a reasonable price and they get 24/7 care so I was thinking that would be how we handle any emergency quarantine situations. The vet has an awesome setup.
I have goat friends willing to teach me to milk so thats a plus.
The plan is to get two young does from decent stock and breed one as soon as possible and the other a few months later, so I won’t be trying to train two at once and milk two when I’m just learning. I realize that means we would have to wait 5 months for milk amd that I would be training a new milker being one myself but it sounds better than buying a used up doe who may or may not milk.

If this sounds like a feasible plan let me know. If there are major flaws I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance for all the help and knowledge you are willing to share amd for putting up with a clueless newbie.

 

[Southern by choice]

For 2 does it will be ok. You aren't going to be able to keep any more though so keep that in mind.
As far as

but it sounds better than buying a used up doe who may or may not milk.

There are lots of great does that are sold in milk or mature that have kidded that are not used up.
We have alot of goats and we retain many kids for the first 2 years, we want to see the udders etc. Sometimes a breeder will make "cuts" where they need to decide who they will retain and who they won't, sometimes numbers just get too high. For us, we need to keep does that will most benefit moving forward in our breeding program. Sometimes it may be because the productivity doesn't meet the breeders standards. Such as if I have a Nigie and she is a 2nd or 3rd freshener and she isn't producing as well as our 4 other does than she would be sold... it doesn't mean she isn't a good milker but maybe not up to my standards. Maybe the attachment isn't as good as it needs to be to show that goat but the goat milks like a dream and has great productivity... there are many reasons. Just keep an open mind and deal with honest people.

Your FF often do not produce very much with Nigerians, so don't get discouraged. Personally we don't base much on FF.

Also keep in mind the buck services. Your goats should be tested and you want any buck you use to also be tested.
Breeders want to protect their herds so most breeders will never stud their buck out. We only allow a breedback to does bought from our farm, that have gone to their new homes where there are no other goats, no other livestock. And that is only the first breeding, after that they have to find their own buck.

 

[Heather Law]

For 2 does it will be ok. You aren't going to be able to keep any more though so keep that in mind.
As far as

There are lots of great does that are sold in milk or mature that have kidded that are not used up.
We have alot of goats and we retain many kids for the first 2 years, we want to see the udders etc. Sometimes a breeder will make "cuts" where they need to decide who they will retain and who they won't, sometimes numbers just get too high. For us, we need to keep does that will most benefit moving forward in our breeding program. Sometimes it may be because the productivity doesn't meet the breeders standards. Such as if I have a Nigie and she is a 2nd or 3rd freshener and she isn't producing as well as our 4 other does than she would be sold... it doesn't mean she isn't a good milker but maybe not up to my standards. Maybe the attachment isn't as good as it needs to be to show that goat but the goat milks like a dream and has great productivity... there are many reasons. Just keep an open mind and deal with honest people.

Your FF often do not produce very much with Nigerians, so don't get discouraged. Personally we don't base much on FF.

Also keep in mind the buck services. Your goats should be tested and you want any buck you use to also be tested.
Breeders want to protect their herds so most breeders will never stud their buck out. We only allow a breedback to does bought from our farm, that have gone to their new homes where there are no other goats, no other livestock. And that is only the first breeding, after that they have to find their own buck.

Thank you! Darn, wish you were closer. I’d love a couple does from you. Any tips on being sure I am dealing with someone who is honest? I dont feel like I know enough to not get fooled if somebody is trying. I’ve read up on the breeed standards so I feel like I sort of know what to look for but it is hard without experience.
As for buck services its maybe a bit rude but I would go in with a whole slew of questions for the owner before I would hire their buck. Some people in my area make a lot of money for very little effort selling breeding services but some are very picky about what does they will breed to. If that doesn’t work out the vet offers AI. Its just more expensive.