Raising Nigerian Dwarf Goats for Meat

[@Kathleen67.]

Great info, thanks!

[@DeborahNiemann]

You're welcome! ~Abby

[@julieannestark7078]

Deborah, do you have a particular type or brand of scale that you recommend?

[@DeborahNiemann]

We use different scales depending on how big they are. For adults, you can pick them up, stand on a scale, and subtract your weight. For kids, I use a digital kitchen scale. thriftyhomesteader.com/6-reasons-homesteaders-need-kitchen/ And here's a video on how to do it. kzbin.infoJVtboWbRO94

[@julieannestark7078]

@@DeborahNiemann thank you!

[@krysannethemum]

We eat all bucklings, they get whethered around 4-6 weeks and we eat them around 6-9 months old. Delish!

[@sandiejohnson4699]

What are you using for a scale?

[@DeborahNiemann]

Deborah using a kitchen scale. Here's an article about it. ~Abby thriftyhomesteader.com/6-reasons-homesteaders-need-kitchen/ And here's a video on how they do it. kzbin.infoJVtboWbRO94

[@kellywickham1756]

This is the first year we are sending our nd wethers to freezer camp, thank you so much for the wonderful info❤

[@sueannchism1128]

Wonderful Information that I never considered. We haven’t started growing out our ND for meat but we are weighing that option considering the price of meat & the fact we always have kids that don’t sell. Thank you for the video

[@DeborahNiemann]

You're welcome! We're glad to hear you the information helpful! ~Abby

[@Bentleys1Mommy]

Thank you for talking about this! Many people don't realize how delicious goat meat is and how versatile this animal is. 12 month to 18 month old Nigerians give about 16 lbs of meat (off the bone, bone-in is more) and it's very very good. If you Have them on milk in the spring and pasture during summer there are very few inputs. Easy to process at home.

[@DeborahNiemann]

We get that much meat by 8-9 months if we let the wethers keep nursing, which is almost 0 purchased inputs.

[@mysticalcat713]

Do you have any butchering videos? We had 15 babies this year from 7 Does. Our 2nd freshener Doe had quads. I have been weighing them daily, and she is doing a good job keeping them all at about 1/4 lb average daily gain. The smallest doeling did start to fall behind just a little, so I did start to supplement her with a bottle of about 10 oz per day. I would also put mom on the milkstand and let the 2 smallest doelings nurse while she was eating. All of the kids are doing great and growing like weeds, especially the 2 that were single kids.

[@DeborahNiemann]

Congratulations on all the big, healthy kids! Sorry we don’t have any butchering videos. I am concerned that it might violate KZbin’s terms of service.

[@mysticalcat713]

@DeborahNiemann Thank you. I am glad we are having success with our goats so far. This is our 2nd year raising them. I understand about YT TOS. I have seen a few other butchering videos. They just don't show the killing or removal of innards. I think everything else is OK to show.

[@Bentleys1Mommy]

Do you still give BioWorma?

[@DeborahNiemann]

I have never used Bioworma. We don't need it because we do pasture rotation.