Friday, May 4, 2012

Helelelelp, Helelelelp

That is the sound the goats made when I loaded them up in the truck last night.

The friend of a friend of a friends goat deal I wrote about a few days ago came though. I was skeptic because of the price he was selling them at was really low, but there were no hidden costs, tricks or misunderstandings.

For some of the newer readers and even for some of the old ones who cannot remember me posting about goats (I won't say names - sista), I have dealt with goats my whole life. When I was young I showed goats in 4-H and on the farm we had a huge milking operation that was part of my chores. Mom would make cheese and soaps with the leftover milk being given to us kids to drink. It wasn't till I was older that I went back to cows milk and I did not like it at all.
After I was married and built my house in the woods on the farm, the first animals I called my own were goats. As soon as we moved out here to the Mini Farm we put goats in the pasture as well, but this time I went small. We started out with Pygmy goats, but now have a nice herd of pure bred Nigerian Dwarfs.
Last summer when the AC went down I sold off close to thirty for the cost of repairs and kept just six of the smallest ones. We have been looking for good deals to build our herd back up to around twenty five, but the goat prices are out of this world.
Last month I went the sell and sat there in shock shaking my head at the prices. The same goat a year ago that was going for $25 dollars, now was selling for $60 to $75.
The higher prices have cut out the profit margin to say the least. Last year we ran around seventy five goats through the Mini Farm and so far this year only about four. If I cannot find them cheap, I don't buy.

This deal last night was a long shot that paid off. I got five nannies and six babies ranging from two weeks to four months old. Some of the nannies are already bread back so that is money in the oven.
The bad part of the whole thing is they are not Nigerian. With the old saying that beggars cannot be choosers, I will take what I can get. Two of the older does are Spanish and the others are Pygmy mixed with Nigerian. Like I said, a goat is a goat and this was a great investment. I could take them to the sell this Tuesday and almost triple my money but I will let them drop what kids they are bred back with to hopefully do even better. That is if the market stays up.

I do not milk them because number one, I do not want to take that butt kicking again and number two, I do not have the time to commit to it. I would rather buy my Goat Soap from sista. I already have her soaps on display in the Solar Bathhouse. They are too pretty to use.

I don't know if I told y'all this or not (maybe once or twice), but the oldest girl BEB will be home from collage tonight for the summer. Good times

My day tomorrow has changed up some, I still plan to make the run to the old farm to scavenge the tin off the walls but in the morning I will be going over to my dad's house for a good old chicken killin. I have four or five roosters ready for the knife and he has about twenty. We will be using his home made chicken plucker and kill station.

Until tomorrow,   
 
    

22 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update it was gggrrreat to hear. BEB is home for the summer already ?? Wow I thought it would be at lest 2 more weeks. Enjoy your time with her home.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Enjoy the time with your daughter home. :) I agree with you, the goat prices are crazy. Congrats to you on finding a deal!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just sold a BOTTLE baby for $80! They are like gold, I tell ya! Those Spanish goats are being sold up here for $250 for a doe. Goat meat is a huge seller! Good luck with the goats. I'm glad you got a good deal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks SFG.
      Eighty bucks for a bottle baby, amazing.

      Delete
  4. Thanks for the plug on the soap:) I guess I am just wary of a really good deal on goats. Seems like ya always gotta look for the reason someone is selling them so cheap. Can't believe the prices though. I use to sell my weathers for $75 each and that was at least 5 or 6 years ago. Our daughter doesn't get out of school until mid June. She will be getting her two year degree this year and going onto her last two years at the U.W. It went so fast.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This Ol'boy wants big goats so that was the reason he was selling these. There are more there to buy but I am out of money.
      This completed BEB's first year of many.

      Delete
  5. P.S.- I'm making strawberry goat milk ice cream as we speak! YUM!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congrats on the new goats:) And I hope you show pics of the chicken process...would love to see the homemade plucker.

    ReplyDelete
  7. those goats are gorgeous buddy! i would love to have some goats for milk....can't say i would know the first thing about milking them but i could always learn. i love reading other people's posts about all of the antics that their goats get up to - always makes me laugh!!! say hi to BEB when she gets home and i am glad that you will have such a helpful "worker" for the summer - teehee!

    your friend,
    kymber

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congratulations on the great deal you found on your goats. I know some chicken that are not going to be to happy this morning, lol. Don't work to hard on the chickens and the walls at your old place.
    It's great to have kids come home for the summer from college. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  9. goats, pigs, cattle-price on all of them is waaaaaay up. the last chicken killing party i went to and participated in was about 38 yrs ago, and it was bad. not that i felt sorry for the birds, but the process and smell turned me off chicken for a very long time..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anony, I guess it is all you do it. The wet chicken feather smell is the worse part of it for me.

      Delete
  10. nice goats!!

    the more the merrier i guess - they look pretty cute!!

    good luck on the siding - gotta love scavenging!

    cheers buddy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jam, I think it's the little treasures you did not expect to find when scavenging is what makes it all fun.

      Delete
  11. Good goats are hard to find. I, too, am shocked at the prices of goats. I actually no longer register my Nigerians and sell them for reasonable prices just to give new farms/homesteads a chance to get started with dairy goats. It's a win/win for both of us. I sell my kids at 6 weeks so I am not feeding extra and they get a great goat for a deal. But $250 for a miking do is the going rate around here and I can't believe it!!!! Stevie@ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stevie, thanks for the comment.
      I tried selling the higher dollar registered ones but the customer base is just not there. I can sell them as pets ten times faster.

      Delete