Is buying at an auction ok?

[annabelle333]

Hello!
I have been a member here for awhile and posted several years ago in a wishful thinking time...but now I am truly ready! We have a 5 acre spot in Oklahoma that is heavily wooded and I am going to get 2 Nigerian dwarf or pygmy goats in the next week or so to help with clearing and as milk producers for our family. I am completely overwhelmed in looking at breeders and have recently heard about a goat and sheep auction close by. We are not looking for papered animals but do want healthy and productive milkers. I grew up with cattle and horses and feel I know obvious sickness signs and can spot a healthy animal vs. a sick one...but have heard to never buy from an auction. The problem is all the local farms that raise goats are show goats and honestly we are not looking for papered animals. What are y'alls opinions about auctions? What specifically should I look for if we decide to buy from an auction? Any insight would be helpful!

Thanks!

 

[Southern by choice]

With goats there are many diseases that you would not want in your herd and unfortunately most of the time you cannot always see evidence of these diseases. CAE (Caprine Arthritic Encephalitis),
CL (Caseous Lymphadenitis- Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, the bacterium that causes the disease) and Johne's (pronounced "Yoh-nees"- which is a wasting disease) are three that many breeders will test for. You do not know about these animals at auction. Truth is many that go to auctions have problems and that is why they are there. Some auctions are high end with lots of info but many aren't ... depends on the auction.

Keep looking there are many people out there that have goats that don't show and may have goats more in your price range. If you want family milkers then you will need to ask the right questions. A registered or unregistered goat does not guarantee a good family milker. Some Nigies are soapgoats and pets, some milkers. If you need production than you will need to look for goats that are either proven which generally would be registered and the breeder doing milk tests or stock from tested starred dairy goats or a breeder that can show you the goats production.

I say this as we have had both unregistered and registered goats.
We have had registered goats that produced fair, some great. We have had unregistered goats that produced well but had short lactation. Others like our "Millie" (she is a lamancha) is unregistered and is nothing but a milk machine and outshines them all LOL. Her daughter is a mini (slightly taller than a dwarf and 60 lbs) that produces 1/2+ gallon or a little more on her FF with a single. 2nd freshening she will do 3qts a day. We mostly have registered goats now as we are doing different things with our herd... but there are good goats out there.

Give thought to how much milk you will need. What you will do with it... like cheese, soap, drinking, yogurt etc.
INVEST in goats that can provide what you need. It cost the same to feed, treat, care for, vet etc on a goat that produces well as it does for a goat that produces poorly or barely at all.

Pygmy's have great milk so I am told but are not going to produce what a dairygoat can. Some cross pygmy's/Nigies and they are great little goats for sure but keep in mind the milk you will need.

I know your question was more about auctions but I would steer clear. Find a breeder that can also support you and be there to help and or mentor you. If you have never had goats before you will need help along the way. Look for those that test... CAE, CL, and Johnes.

 

[annabelle333]

Awesome advice! Thank you! you are right I like the idea of a relationship building opportunity with breeders.

 

[alsea1]

It would be worth it to get a goat that you know will produce.
If milk is what you want then shop for a goat from high producing lines. You don't want to waste your time on a mediocre animal.
Auctions are a great place to buy a headache.

 

[Ridgetop]

Auctions are where people dispose of problems. Goats with diseases, goats that don't produce, goasts that don't settle (get pregnant) are all to be found at auctions. Even if the goat is healthy when it goes to the auction it can pick up something there. Don't become attached to an animal that will cost you vet bills. Like Southern says, it costs thesmae to keep a good animal as a poor one. Actually it costs more to keep a poor one because of the vet bills.

A good milker is an investment. She should give about a gallon per day and a healthy goat will live about 14 years. For 10-12 of those years she will continue to produce milk and kids. If you want milk, I would go with a standard size dairy goat. The little ones are cute, but those teensy teats are harder to milk. If you are normal height, leading goats to the stanchion and milking is easier on a full size goat. Your back will get a work out as it is with trimming hooves, etc. I prefer not to have to crouch too far over since it hard on the back.

Taste the milk of any goat you buy, before you buy it. Some have delicious milk, others have ok milk and others have bitter milk. If you are drinking it everyday, go with the delicious. If you want to produce sharp cheese, the bitter is ok. Some people will disagree, but over the years our family preferred Nubian milk, followed by LaMancha. It is most like cow's milk in flavor and richer than Alpine. Stay away from Toggenbergs - sorry Togg owners - if it is mostly to be table milk. Also have the owner show youi how tomik and try ot before pourchasing the goat. Even if you have to make another trip at milking time, some goat teats are problems to milk. For a first time milker (you) you want easy milkers so you can enjoy it.

Get goats that have been tested for the diseases listed by Southern. CAE is a crippling disease that can kill,and is passed from doe to kid through unpasteurized milk. try to buy from someone who pasteurizes all the milk they feed their kids. (It is not necessary to pasteurize goat milk for human consumption.) If you avoid bringing disease in from the beginning, you will have a much happier experience with your goats.

Call your local 4-H office and get some names and numbers of goat project leaders in your area. A lot of them are also breeders on a smaller scale. The end of the 4-H year is coming and a lot of 18 year old 4-H dairy goat project kids will be graduating from 4-H. Most of them will sell their animals to finance college. Since these have been kids' pets they will be docile and used to being handled. Many of them will be good milkers - ask for records because in a 4-H project the kids have to keep records - and if the kids were showing which 4-Hers do, they will have papers. Having papers doesn't mean they are expensive, just that they are the breed you think they are. If no 4-H kids are selling their goats, they are a good source for breeders. Breeders which work with 4-H kids are used to helping teach newcomers and will be a great source of information.

Once you have your goats identified and chosen, invest in a proper milking stanchion. You can find patterns inall the books to make one (the double ones are best because soon you will be milking at least 2 LOL) but you can order metal ones on line. Stainless steel pails, filters and strainers, etc. all can be ordered on line. The right equipment and the right goats make milking and raising goats a real pleasure.

 

[annabelle333]

This is great advice. Thank you all for your thorough responses!

 

[Southern by choice]

allright @Ridgetop now that is not fair to all of us that do Nigies! Many work very hard at developing great Nigie mikers!

Nigies are all over the map as far as milk production but (1 1/2qts -2 qts) is good on a good Nigie!

I breed Nigies, mini's- Mini manchas and mini nubian (only one Nubian though)and Standard breeds---- and their production is more than the Nigies (talking minis and standards)

A mini may give 1/2 gallon as FF but by 2nd/3rd f 3qts -1 gallon is not unusual... the 3qt (6lbs) is more norm.

I really believe people should look at what they need. 1 gallon a day could end up being way too much for a family of 4 yet for other families maybe perfect.

I love my standards as we have moved more in that direction but the mini's are probably the best as far as family milkers. They do give more than a Nigie, worth milking... but the small size IS advantageous. Less feed less hardship on the land especially for small farms and easier to handle. A 60 lb goat is far easier to handle and trim hooves on and clip than 100-160 lb goat. Easier to transport if emergency vet trip is needed as well.

As far as milking - the Nigies can have awesome plump teats!
For best production 2x a day milking is going to give your best yield. The standards, even though many do 1x day milking it can be an issue with real heavy producers and there is more risk to them with mastitis. We have one that cannot go to a 24 hour fill - no way no how.... the Mini's do quite well on 1x day milking without losing much by way of production and really don't have issues with mastitis.

If a family goes through 2 gallons of milk a week but they also want to make cheese a standard breed is going to be too much milk. Our lamanchas give 1+gallon a day but average right at the 1 gallon mark... our Nubian is giving 1 1/2 gallons a day.
That is 7 gallons a week - 10 1/2 gallons. Most people cannot utilize it and depending on state laws they may or may not be able to sell it. We don't bootleg but many do in NC.

1 gallon - 1 1/2 gallons to make 2-3 lbs of cheese; 10oz to make a batch of soap; + drinking or yogurt etc should be considered.

NOTHING worse than pitching milk! Now, if you have feeder pigs that can utilize the extra milk and whey then the "extra" milk will be well put to use.

We utilize 3 gallons a day. But we aren't the "norm". When I get behind we send our milk over to our friends that are raising 3 feeder pigs. Yeah... we benefit from that one big time.

 

[Ridgetop]

Milk production aside how do you handle leading them bent over? I think they are adorable and have been secretly considering getting one but with my bad back wouldn't it be a problem?

 

[Ridgetop]

Raising our 4 human children we went through a gallon a day with no problem! They loved goat milk and I also used it to cook with. We didn't have too much until we were milking 15! Then we started feeding calves for the cattle auction.

 

[Southern by choice]

I don't know what you mean by leading them. We open the gate they run to our milking area jump on the stand and that's it. Our goats walk on leads well and we do hooves on the stanchion.... big goats we do on the ground they are awful ... some better than others but several it takes 2 people to hold them.

Wouldn't trade my big girls for NOTHIN!
I honestly didn't think I'd ever have standard goats.

Started out with Nigies but we reduced and now only have our best 3. I love the personalities of our Lamanchas best and the Nubian and Alpine are great! The minis are a real joy.
Only reason we still have any Nigies is my daughter (they are her goats and she loves them) I like them but after going to minis and standards well there just ain't no going back.
Nigies are great little goats and are very enjoyable I think out of all our goats though they definitely are more on the snotty side. LOL I say that in an endearing way not a cutdown... they act like prima donnas!