More Goat Questions, Starting a herd?

Ridgetop

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For info on Kiko goats, go on line to White Clover Farms in New York. Ulf Kinzel breeds and sells White Dorper sheep but several years ago he brought in Kiko goats as an additional resource. He sells both lambs and goat kids commercially for a living. He has multiple articles available n his website, most about his sheep but also some about the goats. If you are interested in raising Kikos for meat, I suggest you talk to him since he is raising them commercially on pasture at this moment and making a profit. Many breeders only make a profit on selling breeding animals but Ulf's articles are all about how to have a profitable meat operation.

I have learned a lot from his articles on many aspects. He also writes articles on setting up both lambing and loafing sheds, as well as making chutes and lambing/kidding jugs yourself.

As far as finding a good breeder, I had to do a lot of searching by phone (before the internet) before lucking into that Nubian breeder. Learn all you can about the different breeds in which you are interested. also learn all you can about goat diseases and what can be transmitted, what tests are available for them, and what is commonly recommended for prevention.

In my day the most common disease was CAE and the way to eliminate it was not to allow the kids to nurse but to bottle feed them pasteurized milk. CAE is a disease specific to goats and not transmittable to humans so no one had any problem with consuming milk from positive goats. It was only dangerous to the kids when drinking CAE milk. We blood tested the herd anually, and removed the kids before they even got colostrum in order to avoid them contracting it in any way. You have to heat treat the colostrum and pasteurize the milk before feeding the kids. These days, a lot of the various breeders (particularly of the mini or dwarf breeds) allow their kids to nurse. Since goats can contract CAE any time during their lifetime from infected goats an annual blood test is not sufficient to guarantee freedom from the disease. That is one reason that I recommend only buying kids from a "clean" herd that have been bottle fed on heat treated colostrum and pasteurized milk. We may have been fanatics, but we still had a couple cases pop up, mostly after sending a goat out to be bred at a supposedly "clean" herd. One was DS3's favorite and best doe. We immediately took her to the livestock auction. Which is why I always tell people who want to breed animals not to buy at an auction since that is where most of the unwanted and possibly diseased animals end up.

If you have all the information at your fingertips, you will be in a better position to ask questions and judge the responses when talking to various breeders to find what you want.
 

chanceosunshine

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For info on Kiko goats, go on line to White Clover Farms in New York. Ulf Kinzel breeds and sells White Dorper sheep but several years ago he brought in Kiko goats as an additional resource. He sells both lambs and goat kids commercially for a living. He has multiple articles available n his website, most about his sheep but also some about the goats. If you are interested in raising Kikos for meat, I suggest you talk to him since he is raising them commercially on pasture at this moment and making a profit. Many breeders only make a profit on selling breeding animals but Ulf's articles are all about how to have a profitable meat operation.

I have learned a lot from his articles on many aspects. He also writes articles on setting up both lambing and loafing sheds, as well as making chutes and lambing/kidding jugs yourself.

As far as finding a good breeder, I had to do a lot of searching by phone (before the internet) before lucking into that Nubian breeder. Learn all you can about the different breeds in which you are interested. also learn all you can about goat diseases and what can be transmitted, what tests are available for them, and what is commonly recommended for prevention.

In my day the most common disease was CAE and the way to eliminate it was not to allow the kids to nurse but to bottle feed them pasteurized milk. CAE is a disease specific to goats and not transmittable to humans so no one had any problem with consuming milk from positive goats. It was only dangerous to the kids when drinking CAE milk. We blood tested the herd anually, and removed the kids before they even got colostrum in order to avoid them contracting it in any way. You have to heat treat the colostrum and pasteurize the milk before feeding the kids. These days, a lot of the various breeders (particularly of the mini or dwarf breeds) allow their kids to nurse. Since goats can contract CAE any time during their lifetime from infected goats an annual blood test is not sufficient to guarantee freedom from the disease. That is one reason that I recommend only buying kids from a "clean" herd that have been bottle fed on heat treated colostrum and pasteurized milk. We may have been fanatics, but we still had a couple cases pop up, mostly after sending a goat out to be bred at a supposedly "clean" herd. One was DS3's favorite and best doe. We immediately took her to the livestock auction. Which is why I always tell people who want to breed animals not to buy at an auction since that is where most of the unwanted and possibly diseased animals end up.

If you have all the information at your fingertips, you will be in a better position to ask questions and judge the responses when talking to various breeders to find what you want.
Thank you for the site for the Kikos. I’ll be sure to check it out. I wonder if Kinders can be raised on pasture and still thrive...

I recently listened to a podcast about Kikos raised on pasture and that they are resilient to parasites but they said that even though they are resilient they find that there can be a very high parasite load left behind by the Kiko even though they seem less effected according to FAMACHA (if I wrote that right) Scores and other signs...which of course would/could greatly affect your other breeds.

I’ve never heard of bottle feeding PASTURIZED milk before to avoid CAE. That’s a first for me! Thanks for the info!

I will definitely be buying from reputable breeders and not from auctions or even CL unless someone has a lot of proof to back up Health and pedigree claims.
 

Ridgetop

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Check eith any breeder about parasite resistance. Mike and Theresa have been breeding for parasite resistance in their Katahdin herd. Baymule is also going in that direction.
 
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