msjuris
Chillin' with the herd
I need advice from people who raise goats, breed goats, sell goats and love goats. I'm treading unfamiliar ground and am not sure how to proceed.
In March 2010 I purchased my first goats, two nigerian dwarf dairy goats. Despite the "breeder" having registered them with the AGS, neither were tattooed as required by the AGS. I was led to believe that they were tattooed and was very upset to find that they were not. Additionally, neither goat was actually bred/birthed by the breeder. The breeder had obtained them from other herds out of the area. Even though they were born within a week of each other, there was a big difference in their sizes. One was much smaller and was just getting over a cold. I named them Boo and Teeny.
They both did very well under my care and the smaller one (Boo)got healthy and finally caught up to Teeny in size and spirit. Not knowing another source, I returned to the same breeder for stud service in October. Each doe was to be bred to a different buck, whom I had selected to compliment the individual doe. I dropped the does off with the understanding that the breeder would call me when the deed was done. I checked in after 5 days and was told that "luckily" Teeny was bred to her buck, because the buck had just died that day (note that this was untrue, the goat had dies several days earlier). Another week later, I received a call saying Boo had been bred.
Here's where my concern comes in, when I went to pick up the does, the buck service record provided by the breeder (who was not present when I picked up the goats) indicated a date of service prior to when I dropped the goats off. The reason she did this was because the buck that died, died within 24 hours of my dropping off my goats. Also, when I picked up the goats, Boo was very sick. She had mucous coming out of her nose, she was weezing and goopy, cloudy eyes and lacked the energy and spirit she usually had. The breeder said it was normal, even though Boo was the only one who got sick. I incurred $180 in vet bills to treat respiratory and ocular infection in the one goat. Just to show you how she treated me in particular, I had driven an hour and a half, oneway to pick up the goats. She was not there, never called to say something came up and never showed up. I waited for three hours before making the 1 1/2 drive back home without my goats. When she finally called, her excuse was that she was called to pick up her sick sister from school and just didn't think she needed to call me to reschedule or let me know she wouldn't be there. So I had to drive back the next day to pick them up.
Since having the does home, Teeny has had two heat cycles indicating she is not pregnant, which is consistent with the fact that she only had less than 24 hours of exposure to the buck. Boo is today displaying signs that she is in heat including a discharge.
I'm not sure what to do. I don't know if I should even bother taking the goats back to this person because she has, in my opinion proven that she is untrustworthy and unreliable. Plus I don't want Boo getting sick again.
Do I have any recourse against this breeder? Should I chance taking the goats back, if the breeder even offers a second breeding? Should I just chalk it up as a learning experience and just wash my hands of this less than reputable breeder?
What are your thoughts?
In March 2010 I purchased my first goats, two nigerian dwarf dairy goats. Despite the "breeder" having registered them with the AGS, neither were tattooed as required by the AGS. I was led to believe that they were tattooed and was very upset to find that they were not. Additionally, neither goat was actually bred/birthed by the breeder. The breeder had obtained them from other herds out of the area. Even though they were born within a week of each other, there was a big difference in their sizes. One was much smaller and was just getting over a cold. I named them Boo and Teeny.
They both did very well under my care and the smaller one (Boo)got healthy and finally caught up to Teeny in size and spirit. Not knowing another source, I returned to the same breeder for stud service in October. Each doe was to be bred to a different buck, whom I had selected to compliment the individual doe. I dropped the does off with the understanding that the breeder would call me when the deed was done. I checked in after 5 days and was told that "luckily" Teeny was bred to her buck, because the buck had just died that day (note that this was untrue, the goat had dies several days earlier). Another week later, I received a call saying Boo had been bred.
Here's where my concern comes in, when I went to pick up the does, the buck service record provided by the breeder (who was not present when I picked up the goats) indicated a date of service prior to when I dropped the goats off. The reason she did this was because the buck that died, died within 24 hours of my dropping off my goats. Also, when I picked up the goats, Boo was very sick. She had mucous coming out of her nose, she was weezing and goopy, cloudy eyes and lacked the energy and spirit she usually had. The breeder said it was normal, even though Boo was the only one who got sick. I incurred $180 in vet bills to treat respiratory and ocular infection in the one goat. Just to show you how she treated me in particular, I had driven an hour and a half, oneway to pick up the goats. She was not there, never called to say something came up and never showed up. I waited for three hours before making the 1 1/2 drive back home without my goats. When she finally called, her excuse was that she was called to pick up her sick sister from school and just didn't think she needed to call me to reschedule or let me know she wouldn't be there. So I had to drive back the next day to pick them up.
Since having the does home, Teeny has had two heat cycles indicating she is not pregnant, which is consistent with the fact that she only had less than 24 hours of exposure to the buck. Boo is today displaying signs that she is in heat including a discharge.
I'm not sure what to do. I don't know if I should even bother taking the goats back to this person because she has, in my opinion proven that she is untrustworthy and unreliable. Plus I don't want Boo getting sick again.
Do I have any recourse against this breeder? Should I chance taking the goats back, if the breeder even offers a second breeding? Should I just chalk it up as a learning experience and just wash my hands of this less than reputable breeder?
What are your thoughts?
