Boer Goats

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I would like opinions on boer goats. Pros, cons, what kind of market is there for them? I am thinking of trying them on a small scale. I live in Ohio. Thanks.

-- Kathy (jubilant@ncweb.com), March 22, 2000

Answers

I would suggest researching the market in your area firt to see if there is a market and get the details. I just got an e-mail forward from a Muslim man who is planning on opening a slaughterhouse in Ohio. And another important point in raising Boer goats... a lot of folks do not feel that it is important to feed them no vacciniate, etc... as you would a dairy goat. A Boer goat needs to be fed good and get its shots too. We used to raise Boers but then the market here in the VA area fell... so we sold and just kept our Alpines. Then a group of us formed a cooperative for marketing them... that greatly improved sales and prices. Good luck... Hope this helps.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 23, 2000.

There is also cost to consider .Straight boer goats are expensive , even boer crosses are not cheap.Good luck , and research!

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), March 23, 2000.

I am also in Ohio, and would be interested in knowing more about the Muslim run slaughterhouse. My current market for meat goats has dried up.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), March 23, 2000.

Hi guys I know absolutely nothing about Boers. I just dropped by to tell you to check out www.onelist.com do a search for Boer goats. There's quite a few of them. I checked some out. Lots of info on raising, marketing, etc. Lots of knowledgable people.... Good luck! Sue

-- Sue Landress (Sulandherb@aol.com), March 23, 2000.

The real money in Boer Goats is getting other people into goats. Yes you could possibly have a real goat market near you, but you would more than likely have to find you own. Be leary of the: Some guy buys goats all the time, there is a slaughter house opening (shoot the San Angelo slaughter house took years to open) 4-H kids will buy all of your goats to show. And the very breeders you are going to buy from in your area are going to paint an even more rosy picture, Why? because they make money getting other people into goats!! Viscious little circle hugh? The most money in any breed of goats is full blood, registered show stock. It is the most expensive way to start and the most profit.*****Unless you are just interested for brush control, and selling a few goats here or there.***If you are talking about profit, starting with percentage does and a full blood buck will take you 3 or 4 seasons, where if you added up your expenses your right back up there with the original expense of full bloods. Find out all you can about confomation, genetic faults and the true direction Boers are headed in (the 2 teated, excellent feet and legged, show animal). Yes there will always be the by product of meat in boer. And yes there is the by product of milk, meat, semen from dairy. But the money is in getting other people into goats!!! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 24, 2000.


Kathy & Connie,

I have to track down the gentleman's e-mail addy. I forwarded the post onward and then deleted it. I do know for certain that the boer and meat goat industry is growing, but again you must research your area. I need to clarify something as well... I think the intrepertation of my comments pertaining to a slaughterhouse opening was misconstrued. I took offense that the terms leary and slaughterhouse were contained in the same sentence of a different post. Somehow I am intrepertating that to somehow be pertaining to my post. However... I am not going to, "split hairs" over the intrepertation. Yes... slaughterhouses can take years to open due to state and federal regulations. My intention in the post was to say... and I did not.. that, "There is a growing interest in meat goats in the Ohio area, enough so that this man would like to open a processing facility or slaughterhouse. This is not the full post.. I had to dig it out of the archives of a list I am on and therefore does not contain all the information, mainly his e-mail addy. and hence I shall paste here the post: I would also suggest contacting a Dr. Addrizzo in the NYC area.. I'll try to find contact information for him... he is a leading buyer of goat meat and needs producers to provide him with quality meat goats. he recently spoke at the annual NCSU goat field days. I humbly apologize for any deceptions in my post.. however, that was not my intent at all.

Message 7789 of 7821 Reply Forward View Source

From: Date: Wed Mar 22, 2000 7:09am Subject: Fw: Goat meat supply

Hi all. I got this e-mail last night and thought that maybe some of you that are in Ohio could help this guy out. I don't have the information that he needs, but I do know there are some of you that have the meat goats along with the diary goats.

Thanks,

http://users.1st.net/tspjael/

----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 8:55 PM Subject: Goat meat supply

> > My name is Abdi Aden and I am in meat business. > I am looking for goat meat for Columbus ,OH stores. > Your information about processing facility ,capacity and prices will be > highly appreciated. >

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 24, 2000.


Bernice, I am sorry! I did not at all mean you with your post. I was in fact talking about how we waited for the San Angelo slaughter house to open for several years, while folks kept telling new-commers how profitable it WAS going to be. I am so sorry! I try to answer the question from the first post and not try to say the posts above are somehow wrong! Kathy needs to look at all of the information on all of the posts and then figure out for herself what she is going to do. Once again, sorry. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 24, 2000.

OH... Vickie.... apology accepted... I'm feeling a bit sensitive today... been a long hard day.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 24, 2000.


I am very grateful for everyone's responses and honesty. Thanks to all. I have been getting a really great education on a lot of things since I discovered this forum. Bernice and Vicki, you guys have been a great help. - Kathy

-- Kathy (jubilant@ncweb.com), March 24, 2000.

Hi Kathy,

I came across this website while I was upgrading mine on agdomain.. this person raises boers and sanaans in Ohio. http://agdomain.com/web/bosaan/ Hope this helps.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 24, 2000.



Kathy, There is a market for meat goats and growing but you have to find the market. I remember when you could not give away a buck kid here in Kansas. Now people will stop at my house to ask about bottle kids for meat. I do not raise Boers, I raise my beloved Nubians which are the old style dual purpose ones. But I was herd manager at a Boer farm. They decided it was more profitable to raise breeding stock, cause you make more money per head. As mentioned earlier Boers require just as much care, and feed as any other farm animal. They do have a lot of meat on their bones but is it worth all the extra money they cost? Boer crosses are only as good as the does that are bred to them. I have seen some sorry crosses, but the does were tiny, skinny, pathetic animals I wouldn't have on my place much less use as breeding stock. An ad in the local weekly paper like Big Nikel or Good New will bring in buyers. karen

-- Karen Mauk (dairygoamama@hotmail.com), March 29, 2000.

The purpose of my starting into the business 2 yrs. ago was to provide breeding stock to my customers and market wethers for 4-H. My first breeding season was sired by a monster 350lb. Saanen buck (does). Starting about NOW I have 18 does due this month, sired by Shadow(Ubora,Kaptein,KD Hercules and Shaka Zulu bloodlines). These doe crosses is the least expensive way to get started with does. You can buy Commerical bucks or % bucks, if you just want to add meat yield to your kids. I would start out slowly. A lot has to do with how much land you have at your disposal and how much capital you have to start out with. E-Mail me, if I can be of assistance in any way.

-- Charlie Ash (charlieashusa@netscape.net), January 02, 2001.

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