The Poultry Keeper

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7140 Location: isle of lewis

i'm sitting here really quite upset ,as some or probably all of you know i keep goats ,the whole idea is that i keep my 2 or 3 for milk for the house
breed one goat every 2 years ,which will probably give me 2 goat kids per year boys in the freezer after 6/7 months running with the herd ,playing in the field ,and maybe 1 goat a year to sell to a vetted home with advice and rehoming here if need be
well unfortunatly a few people here are breeding twice a year from their goats ,running billy's with nanny's all year,not castrating billy kids if they are not to be used as a stud goat,which has caused such an influce of goats
,most being given away even nannys in milk that nobody wants to pay for goat kids ,even if they have been vacinated and drenched ,taught basic manners ect breed from the best billy i can find ,after all a billy is half your herd
it looks as if all mine from now on are going to have to go to town Sad

i do have homes for 2 Confused

,one of them i'm not sure of as she told me friday she might be able to get free ones
it means one of the main reasons why i always wanted to smallhold has gone ,because people are being given them a lot are being passed on ,
it puts me in the same position as dairy farmers where in a couple of years ago Sad

i don't even want to cover my costs ,for raising them just a bit towards their keep , Crying or Very sad

sorry to have a rant just wanted to tell someone Embarassed

mcleod-girls · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:59 pm Post subject:

ooh, that sucks Sad

Is there any point trying to explain why yours cost money and others don't? Confused

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7140 Location: isle of lewis

i tried that ,there are 6/8 nannys in milk free on lewis at the moment ,not that many people want goats ,that's with out counting mine which are 70 pounds each a goat can live for 16 or over years and give at least a couple of pints of milk a day (suki's mum used to give me 12 pints a day)for twelve years apart from a few weeks just before they kid ,heptivac is 17 pounds per bottle ,and you need 2 bottles to vacinate ,like puppies ,with out drench ,colbolt ,vits ,or food i now understand why compition goat kids are put down at birth ,not going that way though ,even if it costs me,well just have to eat nanny kids as well ,but it's the same as eatting hens ,before they can lay even if they are a rare breed

Itsybitsy · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 1349 Location: Leicestershire

Feel free to rant away, can't offer anything other than a ((((hug)))) though.

Itsybitsy

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7140 Location: isle of lewis

thanks you to both for listening ,and sorry for ranting Embarassed

there's nothing i can do ,just grit my teeth ,keep my herd small and weather the storm ,

Gilly C · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 2472 Location: South Cumbria

crazy world we live in !! try to keep smiling

CP · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 1:58 am Post subject:

That's awful Suz. Mad

Why do they let them breed willy-nilly & then just give them away? (or whatever) Confused

Doesn't make any sense & is very irresponsible.

nigel · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:38 am Post subject:

just my 2 cents worth

if people can't breed responsibly and be take responsibility for rehoming/finding a market for any unwanted offspring (usually males) be it goats, chickens whatever. They should not be breeding in the first place.

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7140 Location: isle of lewis

they'll just go into the freezer,going to town is one of the better things that can happen to them ,i'm not going to enlarge on that ,im just going to have to explain to the vet when they go though Wink

he will not be happy ,culling under a year old nannys ,goat meat is expensive ,it just a shame,the little nannys are great nonies been working on the handling side of things so they would be a doddle to milk
that's the problem with dairy animals all of them have to kid ,calve for there to be milk ,but you can get it down once from each nanny every 2 years is an ideal ,it gives the goats time to bring up the kids provide milk for the house and get condition back and recover before they kid again ,feel a bit better than yesterday ,i was asked to become a commitee member for lewis and harris oeg ,just a shock after digging around end of last week ,and it looked like i was going to cop flack flying in all directions the messenger always seems to get shot Rolling Eyes

first,so i'm bowing out ,just keep my 2 nanny's and billy (who has his own shed ,he can see and talk to the girls ,he has a shelf he can lie on and things to kill Wink

)and send everything to town Rolling Eyes

George · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 5661 Location: London

So sorry Suz, sadly there are people out there who have no concept of the realities of a smallholding.

Thinking of you

tuzo2k · Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 179 Location: charente sw france

We keep pygmy goats, sheep and chickens amongst other things and have had various enquiries as to whether we have orphan lambs to give away. I'm sorry but we obviously have to feed the ewe sheep throughout the year at no little cost, together with the cost of medication etc, and if they abandon their lambs or even die for one reason or another, we have to be prepared to spend the time and effort to bottle feed the lambs ourselves. We cannot afford to just give them away. As most of you know smallholding is hard work - enjoyable - but hard work.

debcat · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:04 pm Post subject:

here it makes more sense financially to put my lambs in the freezer than to sell them on for fattening
I get my OH's orphans to bottle feed, he hasn't got the time
to do it himself
any goat kids I have from next will go to town as well Confused

Spineytoad · Joined: 07 Jun 2007 Posts: 49 Location: yorkshire

I'm sorry Suz, That really sucks,.
Anyone who breeds should look into the realities first, and breed responsibly. They are not helping themselves either, the nannies will be worn out with repeated kidding, less milk for the breeder and more homes needed for the over produced nanny kids. We understand the need for billy kid meat for the freezer, but when sensible small producers end up having to do it withquailty nanny kids, as I said it sucks. Real mad

IrishLass · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 21 Location: Ireland

Can't you send the surplus goats/kids to an animal rescue/sanctuary or even to a pet farm instead of killing them?

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 7140 Location: isle of lewis

i'm afraid i'm not a veggiterian and we raise our own meat so i know the welfare standards that they are raised under ,and what they eat ,it just normally well breed goats are fairly easy to sell