"I have made some mistakes in my life" (On Buying Goats...)

[@kotomszczanka]

Thank you for great info. Wish I have seen it last year . I have end up with goat that needed LOT'S of extra care because I didn't look close enough. Drove 2 hours, little girl was selling her first goat etc. Then spent hours working on staph infection. Lesson learned. Now when we buy one I look them over very well.Owners who are proud of their animals will let you do it with a smile. Answer all your questions, show you the parents and siblings so you can see the whole line. Last one trimmed the hoofs to show us some tips, give us some of her feed so we can transition her slowly and stayed in touch after we got her home to make sure we were still happy. Yes, were still happy with her.

[@Homesteadyshow]

+fupa I love the point that owners who are proud of the animal will want to show it off. And it may be more expensive, but it's worth it in the long run. It sounds like you hit the jackpot with the last seller.Thanks for the personal experience.

[@vickymast8485]

Awesome help. Thanks from Bend Oregon

[@arenosofarms824]

I am still a market gardener, but growing up,we had a pair of goats, a pair of sheep, and 4 pigs. Thus far, I have chosen to have a few bee hives, and have a few bins of red wigglers, but I really appreciate learning more about how to choose and take care of these four legged little guys, thanks for sharing yall!

[@Homesteadyshow]

+Arenoso Farms we could learn a lot from you about what you're doing as well! Be sure to keep us updated

[@SawmillerSmith]

i have been given many animals that have been sick or had bad habits for free. ended up many times with a large herd that turned into a profit by accident

[@johnwayne2103]

Thanks for the tips. Been wanting to buy 1 goat to eat all of my wild backyard area.

[@behindtheblackstump2247]

I have around 250 goats on my property but they are all wild. Have had many as pets and you need to condition their behavior. Do not let them misbehave and discipline them if they are stepping over the line.

[@behindtheblackstump2247]

Annoying goats make good curry or mince...

[@thinkingofothers353]

I have been viewing your channel and enjoying the videos. I will tell other homesteaders to stop by and have a cool peek. I added your channel on and yes I hit the like button. GOD'S JOY.

[@bensw9402]

I wanted thank you guys for your videos! We are Navy family about to get out and start our homestead that we have planed since before we were married(almost seven years now). We see such kindred spirits in you two, in homesteading, to working online businesses from home and homeschooling young kids. We were truly blessed to have found your KZbin and then website. We wish you the best in all your plans. And thank you for letting us be apart of you lives.

[@Homesteadyshow]

+Ben Sw Glad you all are enjoying! We're married eight and a half years so we're not too far ahead of you. Keep us posted on your homesteading journey

[@jbach1738]

I appreciate this video so much! I happened to luck out on my first two dairy goats because a neighbor was transitioning to pure Nubian goats, and wanted to find good homes for a couple of very nice Alpines. However, when I wanted to expand my herd, I found a goat on Craigslist. She is a fantastic goat. She is a great mom and has incredibly wonderful milk, but she did turn up with an abscess, and tested positive for CL. Now I have to milk through instead of freshening, because she cannot be pregnant while she is getting her shots. Don't get me wrong, I adore this goat, and would not trade her for anything, but please please please be careful. You might get more than what you bargained for. Great video guys!

[@Homesteadyshow]

+Sara Jones Thanks for the words of wisdom, Sara. I'm sure reading your experience will help some other hopeful goat owners.

[@paintednumbers4713]

For some reason I was lead to watch your videos and I'm grateful I have. I love your guys' channel!! Keep doin what you do! :D

[@johnnywarrior5975]

Thanks we are looking at goats for our homestead you have been a big help to me and my family share it on Facebook !

[@Edgar-cy9wd]

Thanks for these videos. I can't wait to have my own homestead with my wife once the time is right. These videos are very helpful for us.

[@homesteaddiaries656]

Awesome tips!

[@johnnywarrior5975]

Thanks we are looking at goats for our homestead you have been a big help to me and my family share it on Facebook !

[@celiahogan4646]

my two does never shut up. you're not the only one!!!!

[@Ungovernable74]

I appreciate this advice. We plan on being on our new homestead within months and goats may be on the list. Thx.

[@Homesteadyshow]

+Off Grid Nation 👍glad to help!

[@diygardener4556]

Off Grid Nation - Look into Kiko goats, you'll be glad you did!

[@hardtogetnamehere]

DIY Gardener a Kiko is on my list of goats to get next. I currently have Boers.

[@robertjackson9601]

Folks looking to buy goats for the first time, this video is spot on with great information. Very good video.

[@stephaniemorrill4676]

such a great video. i have been thinking how cool it would be to have a goat. but these are really good things to know. thank you so much/

[@ddg2813]

thanks so much

[@joanreid2804]

Excellent points made. Thank you for sharing.

[@genevacrockett2818]

thank you this will help me tremendously

[@robertsylves8191]

very interesting many thanks

[@whitetiger7049]

Thank you very much 😎

[@thesecretsanctuaryfarm]

Great video. My wife and I love your videos. We have a small homestead too. We are in south east NC. We have owned goats too. But prefer only 2-4 and a dozen sheep. Now we are going to getting mini moos Was wondering why you did not get Dexter cattle? When we first found your channel you were reviewing Dexter but you chose to go Jersey. Can you say why??

[@MrsSoapPeddlersHomestead]

Your absolutely right! I raised Nubians for years now....I am going to downsize to Nigerian Dwarfs or mini Nubians....The big girls are great but we are aging homesteaders and smaller goats will be much easier for me to handle.

[@Homesteadyshow]

+Mrssoappeddler's Homestead That Nigerian dwarf was our favorite for personality and milk! All the best on the transition

[@zach9012020]

I went out and bought goats in literally two days and while I got good quality goats thank god! I wasn't ready for them and I'm driving with three goats in my car and I get half way home and think omg how am I going to get them out of the car without all of them getting out? Yea total nightmare I learned that day that goats can run fast and fortunately I can run faster. Always plan! I now take in the naughty goats from local farms I don't know how it became my thing it just has.

[@charelpint8724]

nobody sell his best animal

[@spidey-tron7827]

They sell their best when going out of business.

[@Pepper5655]

I went looking for info about milk goats, cuz my hubby and I have a one acre homestead, trying to garden, we do have some chickens, and want the milk. I buy like 15 gals of milk from the store every month. I want us to be more sustainable & independent. I am 61 yrs old, so not a spring chick anymore and feeling it. But want to try my own dairy goats, and for meat as well. thnx for sharing, I subbed you to follow n keep tabs on what ur doing.

[@theaspiringhomesteader760]

We just bought our first goat this past weekend. ..and broke every rule you mentioned. Good thing I learn best the hard way.

[@Homesteadyshow]

+The Aspiring Homesteader 😂 sounds like us. All the best, let us know any interesting stories that come of your goat ownership

[@kaisenji]

I only went for registered, well bred stock this time even as a first time goat owner. Paying the money for them and hoping one lady has an older milker from her dairy string to sell when it comes time to pick up the kids. It has been a long, five year research building saga but worth it. I'm nervous but confident that we will do okay. A well bred goat especially in milk, will cost you the same as a poorly put together doe in milk especially in terms of feed costs. Only one of them will be useful, the other should be made into sausage.

[@MRL1ZARDZ]

we have a got (he's a bit of an escape artist, our grass grows like crazy so we got a billy goat to control it) so the first time he escaped he just headbutted the door of the shed we were keeping him in at night down so we moved him into a medium-sized outdoor dog bed we found (the little shed one) and put a chicken run outside it just to be sure. the next morning when we come to let him out and put him on his lead, he's gone, he headbutted the door off of the dog house AND the chicken run. So then we just kept him out on his leash and moved his house nearby, this worked fine for a day until he somehow worked out how to uproot the stake we had in place (he got it tangled on some bricks and couldn't get it out. next day the same thing happens, I go up to put it back in, but there's no stake, I didn't understand, it was clipped on with the same thing you use for dog leads, and the end of it that was supposed to be clipped to the stake was fine, we have tied him to a post (he'll probably find some way out of that) temporarily as we're trying to figure out what to do with him, we're thinking of getting him a little lamb to keep him company, any other tips?

[@DaybirdAviaries]

It's raining here and I'm about to go get a goat. However, it's a four month old Nigerian buckling. We're trading three guineas for it. Hopefully we'll be okay.

[@barbaramurphy5606]

a little word from Australia - get him castrated asap!! he will make a good butchered animal later if you want to go that way.

[@ElenaCarvajal]

I was extremely lucky with my first two milk goats!

[@ahandmadehomestead]

You are right on. I made the mistake of falling in love with a goat and overlooking the fact that she had never been milked before. I didn't notice she was also on the small side. Once I got her home and milked her, I found she had ridiculously tiny orrifices which made it sooooo hard to get milk out. My arms burned after my 45 minute milking session and I got maybe a cup of milk. Not only that, but she kicked and laid down on me. We had a rough start, but after a few months (no joke) it got better. Always milk the goat first. Always. And yes, taste the milk. Thankfully ours tastes fine. Another tip - get a disbudded goat, and if it has a baby, disbud it by someone who knows what they're doing. My poor baby got disbudded 3 times by someone who had never been successful - and the goat now has horns and isn't afraid to use them.

[@Homesteadyshow]

+Nikki (Journey Through Love Farm) we all have to learn something the hard way in farming, don't we? Thank you for the tips on disbudding. Some popular breeds (Nigerian dwarfs) are also notoriously hard to disbud and not have scurs, so an experienced teacher is a plus! Has your goat gotten any easier to milk or have you just gotten faster?

[@ahandmadehomestead]

Homesteady she did get easier to milk, and I got faster. She and her daughter are both currently pregnant, so ideally this next freshening goes better. I am hoping her daughter didn't inherit her tiny orrifices.

[@mascatrails661]

Here's another: THERES NO SUCH THING AS A FREE GOAT! When we went to pick up our first two lady goats, we were offered a third goat for free! He was their brother, raised to be a pet (neutered and dehorned). Though we knew he was of no use to us on the homestead, we agreed to bring him home anyway... we'll he was that troublemaker that led the bleating chorus and ate as much as his two sisters combined. Luckly a couple weeks later we were able to locate him a new home as a pet.

[@hardtogetnamehere]

Masca Trails I would have located him a new home... right in the freezer...

[@mascatrails661]

hardtogetnamehere lol that was plan B

[@kimstevens2445]

Buy your goats from a good breeder. Pay the money for quality! Find people who have been breeding towards improving a breed and have spent money on good stock themselves. It's worth the money in the long run!!!

[@Homesteadyshow]

+kim stevens yes! We agree wholeheartedly with you. Then you have a sort or mentor as well,

[@ishansiewdath9735]

How about goat farming for meat production

[@soapsoilandsunshine3241]

I've just subscribed and you guys are so funny. I'm tossing up between a Dexter and a few goats (we have 8.5 flat acres). Aaarrrrhhh, I don't know. I don't want/need the large quantity of milk and prefer the handling of goats (we've had two before but never had a cow but I've had horses). Just wondering if your white dog is a poodle. Is he/she a substitute LGD?

[@10yearvet]

Thanks, excellent advice. A few I would have naturally figured out but much of it not! I did, however, learn a long time ago (not goats) that if there are multiple "items" in a location and only one is for sale then there is very likely something wrong with it. A question.... What is wrong with "a few too many teats" and how many should they have?

[@Homesteadyshow]

2 teats only, others can be a problem, and are a sign of bad genetics.

[@ronaldstout1390]

Bad genetics? Not really. The extra teats are present at birth and can/should be nipped off right away. They likely won't even bleed. You are still pretty green to be giving advice about dairy goats but I like you and will give you a 'pass' because your heart is in it! jajajaja

[@Homesteadyshow]

ronald stout Thanks for the comment. We have had goats as a couple for five years, and my wife owned goats for years before that. While we don't know everything there is to know about goats (that would take many more years!), we do know for sure that an extra teat can be environmentally caused or be genetic and they are a major flaw in a dairy goat. If you are breeding high quality dairy goats, you would not want to be breeding an animal with an extra teat or two.

[@Homesteadyshow]

Interesting read when you get a chance Ronald, the book we first read when we decided to get goats, stories guide, mentioning the teat issue and not to breed any bucks with the genetic trait of multiple teats.... books.google.com/books?id=q--xtCie-z4C&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=storey%27s+guide+to+goats+extra+teats&source=bl&ots=732wGPt1B9&sig=NF4cqirwnRyD04GDq6mzMdI1A6w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9qb3KpZvSAhUl94MKHRviCpAQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=storey's%20guide%20to%20goats%20extra%20teats&f=false

[@squatchfamilyoutdoors9041]

Do you find it to be a good idea to buy a registered goat with clean bill of health and background or can they have problems too? We’re wanting to get 3-4 (Kiko male and 2-3 female dairy goats) Then we can use them for dual purpose meat and milk.

[@meganmatheny3276]

great advice! for what it's worth CL is not passed on to the baby's unless they nurse the CL mom. that's probably why that farm had all bottle baby's! they still Should have told you, since I would personally still look at lit as weak genetics, but for a family milk goat a bootlegs CL baby isn't always a big problem.

[@Homesteadyshow]

+Megan Matheny We saw those abscesses and freaked out. We left the farm and drove around for an hour googling whether we should risk getting one of the kids or not. We had terrible cell service and finally decided against it to err on the side of caution, but I would just advise that others do some research on CL before starting their goat shopping. Thanks for commenting!

[@theweekendhomestead]

How long do goats live, what do you with the goats you don't want anymore?

[@Homesteadyshow]

Put them back on craigslist, which is where many of ours came from. We then make sure they are going to nice farms and family homesteads. Our last girls went to a kids petting zoo, wich was awesome!

[@lesliesadler8524]

That sounds so much like myself.

[@purple_leaf5770]

thanks for this very informative video. another helping step in the right direction for us. question: do goats do best free range or in an enclosed area? I know they are good to be in with chickens.

[@Homesteadyshow]

+franceska counts On a small homestead, it's generally safer to keep the goats in a rotational pasture setting. It's easier to monitor what they're grazing on that way. But we would let our goats out to play and free range with us when we were outside to supervise.

[@purple_leaf5770]

Homesteady thank you as always. have the children learned to milk yet or are you waiting? husband thinks that'll be the tricky part, milking her and hurting.

[@Celestes_Nest]

Two milk teets?? Ah geeze!!! I'm so confused.

[@Ryan00055]

ever have a kid that stands on buckles instead of hooves?

[@Ryan00055]

knuckles

[@Homesteadyshow]

+Ryan Daniel we never had. It might be a selenium deficiency. Have you tried supplementing?

[@Ryan00055]

Homesteady we have supplimented the adults feed, and even the kids when there older but this one was hours old. we ended up helping it walk a bit and then in the morning all seems to be well! we'll keep an eye on her though.

[@dreamingofbeingfree1217]

Do you live in Florida?

[@Homesteadyshow]

No, CT

[@user-vl2zh6bj6x]

awesome video thanks for sharing your knowledge. :-) it is greatly appreciated :D I am thinking on getting a single goat along with a new two-story Penthouse chicken coop ;) any thoughts suggestions or for warnings to keeping a single goat on a dog style chain leader comma it will run about 35 feet and 15 to 20 ft in either direction. it's next to a creek (2-4 feet wide steady flow year round) with lots of lush green grass and common native weeds, wildflowers, blackberry patches. I will be purchasing it at a local farm animal auction at White's farm near Brookville Indiana period I will definitely be asking locals and other potential buyers questions and advice too ,of course ; ) the farmers market is this Wednesday at sunup thanks for your advice and feedback keep up the quality style of life : D truly DDD (CINCY-INDY)

[@pauleverest]

same advice applies to a wife.

[@twominifarms4471]

I have a question, how many acres do you have?

[@Homesteadyshow]

10

[@twominifarms4471]

Homesteady thanks

[@peterasbjrnhansen2834]

Sounds like a meat goat.

[@ghostmoon94]

"I'm just KID-ding" ha

[@alexisfishinhuntinandfarmi2923]

but you don't own a scape goat?

[@alexisfishinhuntinandfarmi2923]

lol jk

[@bigvisk1125]

im thinking of nigerian dwarfs next year. hmmm.

[@jeremystewart6199]

Dang click bait, I thought this was going to be about the Pontiac GTO, "goat".....just kidding...

[@Homesteadyshow]

+Jeremy Stewart lol I love it.

[@cactusforever7198]

Goats are funny

[@Homesteadyshow]

+cactus forever true!

[@nidohime6233]

cactus forever Until they started to attack you.

[@cactusforever7198]

hhhhaaaaaa

[@tkjarrard]

You know Aust, there IS a reason Satan is portrayed as a goat! Goats are evil! :)

[@dunestaniszewski2300]

He’s portrayed as a snake.

[@Pepper5655]

hahaha

[@tjkmaram2528]

Come to the point to much talking Tell the character

[@MississippiDevL]

Feel sorry for his wife ... he comes across as heartless n money grubbing.

[@Homesteadyshow]

+MississippiDevL Don't feel sorry for me (the wife). I can say with all honesty, that Austin is one of the most generous and loving people I have ever met. He is a wonderful husband and father. He provides for us by working all day and late into the night, and many of our subscribers are really interested in how to make a farm or homestead profitable. That may not be what you're interested in, but there's no need to accuse someone who don't know of being heartless. That is the last word I would ever use to describe my husband.

[@iwantosavemoney]

said the devil i put no stock in that the the devil says ever and it is not for you to judge but you will be judged for doing that to others. have a good one

[@harrietemett4233]

iwantosavemoney lmao