I am sure this has been covered before, but I am just hoping that some of you will answer me anyway!!! What do you get for your extra weaned bucklings? Is it better to just give them away at birth to the closest taco stand? I appreciate your feedback!

-- Dreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), July 21, 2001

Answers

Dreen, We keep our bucklings and castrate any that we cannot sell for bucks (which at this point in our third year of breeding has been none). We have had no trouble around here selling weaned wethers for $60 as pets. Ours are Nubians. Many people around here enjoy having a couple Nubians just for pets, or they may only want one doe for milk and want a wether for company.

We have had several bucklings whose pedigree and conformation were good enough to warrant keeping them intact, but with no buyers, they get the knife. We would sell a buck of this quality for $250 to $400.

-- Skip in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), July 21, 2001.

Hi, Doreen, you might want to check the local papers and Thrifty Nickels to see what people are asking in your area. I used to sell my weanling wethers down there for $25--$35, sometimes $20 if I was in a hurry to sell. On the other hand, I always sold them by placing only one ad in Thrifty Nickel, so maybe I could've gotten more, but I just didn't really care. You know mine weren't registered or anything special, although they were disbudded, of course, and tame. Some I sold as pets, some went as barbecue. Most I took off mom and sold by two months or so, so I didn't have much in them.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), July 21, 2001.

Thanks guys....I posted this on a Vicki's goat forum, the Goat Shed....it explains a bit of the quandry I have, and also the conversation carried over to the Christian site.

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I had a phone call from a fellow inquiring about my bucklings. He wanted them for meat, which is fine, then he asked if I had any 'nannies' for sale as well. He backed off on the bucklings because they aren't off the bottle quite yet although they are close. Anyway, he explained to me that he hadn't had any luck with the two 'nannies' he had before and that they both died and had hard udders and wouldn't nurse. I tried to explain to him a teensy bit about CAE and nutrition, and he told me he had them on really good pasture and fed them good hay. He just thought they were spoiled for mothering because they were bottle raised...After a prolonged attemopt to explain some things about goats to him, I just gave up and told him I didn't think I had what he wanted.

Now my question is this, do you knowingly sell any animal even for meat to someone who doesn't even want to know what to do to raise them up to be healthy? I WILL NOT sell this man a doe even if I have to eat beans for three months solid. What do you all think? I don't mean to cause controversy, this just really bothered me. Thanks for your answers! §

-- Dreen (bisquit@here.com), July 21, 2001.

I don't blame you I would not sell him a doe either .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), July 22, 2001.

Hi Doreen, didn't even dawn on me it was you who posted on The Shed. When I sold milk and colostrum bucklings who weren't pre-depostied as breeders will killed at birth. $20 for colostrum and $75 in milk for a 12 week weaned buckling, simply made anything but the very best bucks simply not worth keeping. I also offered a $50 soaking wet kid buck sale, in which folks could pic up a buck/registered for $50 as long as they got him as he was born, I would colostrum feed him but that was it. Now that I am just showing I will offer the $50 sales, they are bucks born out of first fresheners, but still am against making wethers, in the 15 years of being in goats I know of only one wether who got a forever home. Now whatever that isn't sold is simply put into the freezer as I run out of milk to raise them, I never take milk from the doelings lambar to feed wethers! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), July 22, 2001.

Well if I am blessed with any more bucklings I am going to try the $20 wet deal....I just put together a flyer to trim off my excess animals here, and frankly, I have some trepidation about it.

Patty!!! I'm really happy to see you here! I have been meaning to email you for awhile and ask you to stop on in whenever you want! Thanks for reading my mind!

-- Dreen (bisquit@here.com), July 22, 2001.

Thanks Doreen , just been real busy .I have been here alot just not posting much anywhere.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), July 24, 2001.