Meat Goats

[Rob-bee]

Not wishing to hi-jack another’s thread, I started one on soliciting the opinions on meat goats. I obviously live in the south eastern part of the country, and realize the climate can and does affect the health and growth of different breeds of goats. I have in the past, had a small herd of percentage Boers. And they were a decent breed of goat, but very high maintenance as well. I have been reading about what is called a Kiko goat. They are being promoted as a breed that would do well in the south-east. Anyone have any opinions or experience on this breed of goat?

[dragonfly]

I don't know anything about the breed you mention, but Nubians are a fairly good breed for southern climates. They seem to be resistant to health problems in general, and they are decent for eating (if you like goat, which I don't). That's the only breed I have personal experience with, but they are generally pretty stupid animals, thus you have to make sure your fences are going to keep them in, but the wire has large enough openings that they don't get their heads stuck. I found goats to be more trouble than they were worth. The worst tendency I saw with Nubians, and it may have just been the particular genetic stock of the ones we had here, is some of the females were lousy mothers, and I ended up raising more bottle-fed goats than I wanted to.;)

[mike haney]

milk goats only here. not raised/kept any for a while due to my poor health(getting old sucks) but sure do miss 'em.

[MapMan]

Saanens here - milk. Although, you can have some of my bucks - too many of them born over does this season. Looking at the Kikos, they appear to have some good characteristics - seem to outperform wethered Boers:

http://www.kikogoats.com/performance1.HTM

Try a couple, what do you have to lose? Hope it all goes well.

MM

[Sunshine]

We've got myotonics -- the Tennessee "fainting" goats -- which seem to do well here in South Carolina. They're smaller than boer or kiko goats, but larger than pygmies. They are MUCH lower maintenance than my other goats. They're calm and gentle, don't jump over or tear down fences (except for one buck who also took down some beehives), parasite resistant, and very few hoof problems even in wet weather. We give does and growing kids a little supplemental feed to keep them fat and glossy but the bucks and wethers tend to stay in good body condition on hay and forage alone.

[jellybeen]

Duel purpose goats, cross between a Nubian and a pygmy. We have a little milk herd. Great for meat too. High feed to pound ratio. I highly recommend this breed.

[Aspera]

The Boers are a good way to go for meat goats, although Nubians are sturdy animals. I say this because the Boers have good carcass traits. You could also contact the local meat packers and verify that this is true in your region. Commercially, I suppose that it is practical to cross a more maternal line to Boer rams than to pure breed.

[beegee]

Rob-bee, call your extension livestock agent in Wayne County. Here's a link to the NC State meat goat site:
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/an_sci/extension/animal/meatgoat/ahgoats_index.html

I have a friend who was raising meat goats in Johnston County for the Mexican market. She did pretty well with it, but got out. Lenoir County has a meat goat club, don't kno wif they have one in Wayne county of not.