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RE: Lesson Learned - Homestead LIVESTOCK Mistake CORRECTED!
We went through the same thing with goats. We wanted to be big goat farmers so we bought a semi load of nannies from Montana (we live in Kentucky) with in 3 months over half of them died. They were not accustomed to the humidity and different parasites here. It has taken us 8 years but we now have a very low maintenance goat herd of about 100. Great post. Thanks for sharing.
@bowentroyer We are homesteaders in Kentucky too. What breed of goats are you raising? We started with Nigerian Dwarf goats and then started the switch to standard size dairy goats. in 2016 we lost half our herd in one week due to some random parasite, despite the goats being on a good dewormer regiment. We had to go to the vet's office and get two different dewormers (Cydectin and Valbasin - not sure if I spelled it right) to save the rest of the herd. We ended up selling the entire herd and were goat-free for six months. My husband hates goats for this reason. However, he did let me purchase one buck and two does because goats eat a lot of the stuff sheep don't eat in the pasture and he wants milk during the timeframe when our cow is dry. I'd be interested to hear what breed of goats you are raising. Also, if you ever have any for sale let me know as we may be interested or know someone who is. :)
@bowentroyer I should add that we have had great success raising sheep here in Kentucky, which is why that has been our main focus. We feel confident in raising goats now too, but that was one heck of a learning curve!
Goats have been a big learning curve. We have tried Boer Spanish and Kiko. Our herd now is all Kiko. It has taken us about 8 years but we now have a kiko goat that we can leave out with our cattle year round. We only worn them once a year when we get them all up to wean the kids. We currently have about 100 does. We sell our doeling in August/September. We have not tried sheep yet we have heard that they cannot eat the same mineral as our cattle due to copper in it. Thanks for finding me on hear. I love talking goats and sheep. Have a great day
Time and experience. The learning can be hard at first.