Ok here it is im clueless!! went to a farm and ended up coming home with 5 "rescue" goats. i say rescue cause she was gonna slaughter if she couldnt find a new home as they were on a petting farm closing for winter. anyway if i post some pics could anyone enlighten me as to what breed they might be?

"Rescue goats", sounds a little AR to me. Meat goats, yes. Probably the best use.
If they are milk goats, you can milk them. A cow usually furnishes too much milk for a single family. However, a good milk goat comes closer to meeting family needs. Goat milk is higher in butterfat than cow's milk, and you can gain weight on it.
If they are meat goats, often the best use they can be put to, besides eating, is a what we call "brush goats". Goats to clean up badly brushed over areas. If you are going to eat them, make sure that the males have been cut (altered, nutered). Goats are not hard to castrate.
I would bet that your County Agent would come out, look them over, and identify them for you if you gave him a call. The County Agents I have had in the past have been great help.

Later,
45/70,

thanks!!! this lady ran a petting farm/ pumpkin farm said she got goats every yr and only kept them for 3 or 4 mths then either slaughtered or sold them. the guy at the feed mill told me they was nubian/cross but all the pics ive seen online dont look anything like these. they are great with my kids as they are used to being hand fed. and this may sound stupid but what is a county agent?

I'm fairly familiar with most goat breeds. Post a pic and I'm sure someone here will know what they are.

ok im gonna go get my camera lmao i know im ignorant for not knowing before i brought them home but its hard when u have a 4 yr old screaming cause he wants goats!! can we say SPOILED!!!!

Me too got. A county agent is kind of a government ag teacher.

Look up your County in the 'phone book, and then look for County Agent. County Agents are gov't employees hired to give advice and help w/agriculturial problem solving at no cost to the County farmers. You do not have to be a farmer to get help. Give them a call. They'll help you with the ID or tell you who can.
Later,
45/70

Here is your local county extension agent.

http://www.extension.purdue.edu/jefferson/

http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr140/hoosierwoman/Trapping%20and%20Hunting/kids09086.jpg






here they are any thoughts?

They look like Saanens, they are a dairy breed. very large breed. I have enclosed a pic for comparison

http://www.grit.com/uploadedImages/GRT/articles/issues/2008-11-01/Wallace_saanens.jpg

Hope this helps!

I'm sure they are part nubian. The ears give that away.

They are nice looking young goats. They will make great pets (but can be a nuisance, LOL). If you chose to, you could milk when they got older and had kids. Or you could use for meat, even though they arent as meaty as some of the meat breeds.

Good luck and have fun.




After seeing the other breed pic, they do resemble them, but the ears look bigger and floppier. Maybe a saanen/ nubian cross?

very large?? uh oh i told jason they would stay small LOL

you are right must be a nubian /saanens cross they are dead ringers by looks

I raise meat goat and can say from experience MAKE SURE your fences are TIGHT!...they are Houdinis and if there is a way to get out they will find it!

If you are planning on milking them, make sure that they are females......!

LOL ive got 3 females and two males but if they get 140 lbs i guarantee jason wont let them stay on this farm

They make good milk for anyone. Thats what i was raised on. Just remember if it can't hold water it can't hold a goat.

I know a couple guys, that Im pretty sure,like to try and breed goats.

Got P.

I don't think they will reach 140 maybe 64 to 75 lbs...so hope this gives you some relief.

I had goat milk once.... Cleaned me out good. Everyone else was fine, but sure didn't seem to agree with me. I can drink cow's milk all day long and be fine though.

i vote for saanen/nubian cross. like the others said the key to living with goats is a good fence. the old joke goes-"know how to keep a goat from jumping the fence? lean a board on it so they can climb over it." they'll strip your trees & shrubs & vegetable garden & be standing on top of your new car to greet you. i used to have a small dairy herd. mostly nubians. i sometimes put them on a dog lead tied to a tractor tire. but then there can't be any low fences nearby or they could jump over it & hang themselves. if you're not going to milk them, eat them they are truly a handful.

If they are a true Saanen/Nubian cross, they will get to 140# for the females and close to 200# for the males. If they don't reach those weights, there is likely some pigmy or Nigerian dwarf mixed in. Everyone is right, a fence is just a "suggestion" to a goat. Electricity inside a cattle panel fence is pretty sucessful. GOOD LUCK Scott

Nubians are a dairy goat. They are from Eygpt, Sudan area. They are higher testing goats with long floppy ears. If they are crossed with other dairy goats they would be milkers than. If crossed with meat goats I don't know what the F1 or hybrid off spring would do or perform at.
Goats are browsers and don't graze grass very well. They do good on dry long stem hay and small amounts of grain.
Goats milk is naturally homoginized. An average dairly goat will probably milk 4-6 lbs per day for 240-300 days if they are bred back to kid say roughly in a year or so.

Bryce

One feller up in East Tennessee I knew kept a large herd of milk goats, and supplied several markets in the vicinity of Knoxville/Oak Ridge. He fences in a way that I have never seen anyone else use.

He used 4' hog wire, which any grown goat can jump w/ease. However, over that he stretched a hot wire. Again, any grown goat can clear the hot wire. So he put about 5 feet of swing porch chain (double loop, like what comes on most new traps) around each goat's neck and the other end draging on the ground. He told me that he never had a goat try and jump his fences more than once.

Later,
45/70

I have a goat in my back yard now. I don't have a fence. I made a 30 foot cable stake and put a collar on the goat. Works good! lol

I personally have never seen the folded ears on a Nubian... I believe there is at least a little Boer in there... Maybe Half Saanan and 1/2 boer or boer/nubian cross. Either way... Eat the boys and keep the girls for pets, milk, meat or what have ya.

Not too shabby looking goats.

well its like this next time i will ask the experts ( yall ) before i take on any more animals!!! these are gonna prove to be more work than the chickens

I agree its hard to ID crossbreds, but 1/2 boer usually have some color.

how old are goats when u slaughter? again i know im CLUELESS!!!

Agreed, my father raises boers and the few crosses he had always had red on the front end with most looking like pure boers. That boer coloring seems to be dominant.
My guess on the breeding would be nubian from the ear, and yes I have seen nubians with the folded ear tip. The white would more than likely come from sanaan or possibly boer if it were far back. JMO, but I doubt the parents were pure anything so judging the breeding of those would be a guess and nothing more.

I want some pack goats. It looks like your would work for that.


Pack Goats - For Elk Hunting

Very little Saanan in those goats. Wrong ears, face and legs. My GF has raised purebred Saanans for 30 years. (And them ain't even close)

When you cross a Sanaan with a boer, you most often get a white goat.(I used a Boer on 4 saanans and out of the 9 kids NONE had the boer coloring) White is dominent in goats. Like black in cattle. So the AA White dominent would override the Aa White/Red of the boer.

We butcher goats at about 6 months.

The best pack goats are imprinted at birth so they follow you like a dog.. His might work.. but it could be a disaster..

i tried to call the county agent today and got an answering service!! such is my luck anyway hopefully they will come and give me so info like how old they might be and possible genetics either way only 2 girls are gonna stay....the rest well who knows i might call the butcher and see what he has to say ;>

check with PETA...hahaha

Kiko. Hard for me to tell in the picture but do they have a little bit of grey tipped hair on the top of their heads? If so they are for sure Kikos. They look too beefy for Saanens. If they are Kikos they won't give much milk. When they reach 80 to 90 pounds they'll be great meat though.

Them are the ones my grandpaw called hard headed goats, he claimed ya needed a long rifle to get them ready fer the pot as opposed to a short.