#6 Cash

#10 Goats are not like cows. I am not going to pretend I know anything about cows except I know they taste good. However, we have met people who have bought goats and just "put 'em out there" on their farm and they did not watch them or check on them and the goats did not last very long. If a goat gets sick it goes down hill very fast. I think they have a very small will to live. You need to lay your eyes on your goats, yes all of them, twice per day. A lot can change for a goat in twelve hours and quick reaction on your part will make all the difference in your herd's health. We do not believe goats are sickly animals as many people do, it is up to you to create a clean and balanced environment in which your goats can thrive. But goats are prone to colds that can develop into pneumonia quickly and other illnesses too. If you check on them twice per day your success will be much greater than if you just "put 'em out there" on your farm and hope for the best.

#12 Big Bucks and Responsible Breeding. Big Bucks are really not much fun to have around. Many people just leave their bucks in with their does all year round which makes for a happier buck, but the result is constant breeding and sometimes even inbreeding with their offspring. We do not like this plan for our goat operation. Our buck lives with our mature does only during breeding season beginning mid-May. We only breed our does once per year, even though they are capable of kidding twice per year we feel that drags the does down and compromises their health. Not to mention the time involved preparing for kidding season and managing the increased herd once the kids arrive. We only have the energy for kidding once per year and our herd benefits as a result.

#11 Cheap Goats. We have heard you can get good cheap goats at the stockyards but we don't believe it. Animals run through a stockyard are subjected to every disease or illness that has walked through there. We would not want to risk our herd by bringing home a "cheap" goat to infect everyone else. There is a reason that animal is at the stockyard and it is usually because something is wrong with it and someone wanted to get rid of it while it was still on its feet. You can buy reasonably priced goats from a reputable farmer and benefit from the knowledge of seeing where the goat came from and learning about its history. We have never bought a goat from the stockyard but we have sold there. We had a doe that would not breed and we sold her at the stockyard and made it public knowledge that she would not breed. There are not many people that are honest enough to tell you why that animal is at the stockyard and why they could not sell it otherwise. We have known people who have bought "cheap" goats at the stockyard only to have them die immediately or they had to dump a bunch of medicine ($$) into the goat to try to save it and also infected their herd. This is not a good plan.

#9 Goats require maintenance. When we purchased our first two does, as we were picking them up from the breeder, they mentioned (almost as an after thought) that we would need to trim their hooves. "WHAT?" was my initial reaction. I did not know they would need their hooves trimmed quarterly. It's all right there in Gail Bowman's book but I had been so caught up in preparing our facilities I guess I just didn't let this part sink in. The breeders showed us how to do it and we thought "that looks easy". WRONG! Trimming goat hooves takes practice, patience and a strong back. And it really does need to be done quarterly. You need to be able to trim your own goats hooves, there is not a hoof trimming service available that you can afford if you want to make a little money in your goat operation. This is one of those things that should be a deal breaker for you if you do not want to do it or are unable to do it. Learn it and do it regularly. Trimming hooves quarterly is almost a guarantee that you will not have foot rot and limping goats at your place. It is critical for the goats overall health and will ensure the goats make it to the feeder, out to the pasture, get to the water, be able to mount to breed, be able to stand to be bred, be able to kid on a solid foundation and possibly escape predators. You must be committed to learning hoof trimming and committed to doing it to your entire herd four times per year. Hoof trimming is a good gauge to use for how large your herd should be. Just ask yourself , "How many goats can I trim in a day?" or "How many goats do I want to trim in a day?". Bill and I work as a team, we can trim 60 goats in a day, we prefer to trim only 25. Therefore our foundation herd never exceeds 25. Goats also require regular deworming, vaccinations, ear tags, tattooing, and castrating. All of these things can be combined quarterly so the work gets done at once. We keep health records each time we "work" our goats including their estimated weight by use of a weigh tape, how much dewormer, quantity of vaccinations and condition of their hooves. This makes it easy to manage our herd and their needs and follow up on any problems that may be determined for a specific animal. If I had to work goats by myself, I probably would own only two.

#6 Cash, Checks and Credit Cards - Goats will take them all. I swear you could swipe a credit card across a goat's back end and it would work. This could be what people mean when they say, "there's a lot of money in goats!". Goats can quickly become very money consuming. For example the first winter I had goats I put a feeder in the barn, in their stall at the time, they had a door in the stall so they could go out and graze and then return in the evening. I quickly realized they were never leaving the barn, they did not need to leave to go out and eat because they were getting constant feed in the barn. This was not healthy for our wallet or for the goats. They were not getting any exercise and we were lifting 50 pound bags of feed every day. The goats were getting too fat which is dangerous for them and the mess they were making in the barn was really nasty. Many people may tell you it takes a lot of money to feed goats, and it can if you feed with a bulk feeder or don't offer pasture. The key is to put your money into fencing so you can rotationally graze your goats, the more they get to eat in the pasture the less you have to feed from a bag, and the healthier your goats will be. You can supplement with goat feed and free choice goat mineral. We supplement with feed six weeks before we begin kidding in November and continue through April. We offer free choice goat mineral all year round. We feed hay for long stemmed fiber from November through April. Our goats rely solely on pasture from May to end of September.

#2 Start Small

#8 How many goats per acre can you rely on for stocking rate? - This is a trick question. This depends on the forage available in the pasture and whether you are continuously grazing or rotating. The answer for this will be different for every farm and every herd. At our place we use a stocking rate of three goats per acre during the grazing season May through September. In the winter when we have kids on the ground it will be about 5 goats per acre but we are feeding hay and supplementing with goat feed to maintain the balance. Also little goat kids do not eat as much as mature goats so in actuality it most likely averages out to a constant three goats per acre. If someone tells you six goats per acre is the stocking rate, you should ask yourself "six goats per acre of what?", not six goats per acre of grass because goats eat grass as a last resort and it is not the healthiest forage for goats. In our opinion six goats per acre would work if the acre was four feet high in a variety of nutritious weeds and brambles.

It's ok to start small, start with a few goats and learn all about them. We started with two does, and then we got carried away and bought a buck. We did not need a buck that soon and it was pretty silly in hind sight. We would recommend starting with two or three pregnant does and waiting to get a buck later. If you know a farmer who has good healthy stock and a great buck it would make more financial sense to work out an arrangement to borrow or lease than to have a buck around to breed two or three does. I can remember when I joined the county goat association and during the first meeting I attended they went around the room canvassing farmers about how many goats they owned. Everyone in the room called out numbers like "60!", "80!", and one puffed up gentleman exclaimed "over a hundred and still counting!". When they reached me at the end of the table I sheepishly held up my three fingers. And I came home feeling kind of silly, but shortly thereafter I realized my goal is not to compete in numbers, but to raise quality animals and increase my knowledge. I learned to be proud of being a small producer and it has worked to our advantage at Rebel Ranch.

#3 Read Gail Bowman's Book "How To Raise Meat Goats for Profit". We bought this book before we bought goats. I found it at the bookstore when wandering through the Farm book section. Gail has done a wonderful job supplying all the information you need to get started and maintain your herd. We still use her book today. It is the most thorough authority we have found for raising meat goats and it is very readable. We have put Gail's advice to use and believe it is a critical component to our success. For example, when we read about the fence requirements for goats, we spent three weeks fencing BEFORE we even brought our first goats home. We paid for our first two does and the previous owners held them for us for three weeks until we were confident we were ready. Very good advice. This is a must read and must keep on hand at all times for quick reference if you really want to raise goats and be successful at it.

#1 Goat ranching is a lot of fun, and a lot of work. Goats are truly trouble makers, but given the right environment - goat proof fencing, and plenty to eat - they are very enjoyable. We bought goats as alternative livestock six years ago. It has been a good experience and taught us many things - including patience - ha ha. Goats can be very friendly and they are a lot of fun to watch - especially baby goats hopping around a field. Goats are very herd bound, so if you are thinking of buying a goat, please at least buy two. Lone goats do not prosper, they need companionship, they do not like to live alone and become depressed. Goats and horses are natural friends, it would be ok to have one goat if you have a horse to go with it.

#4 Visit many goat farms. It served us well to visit as many other goat farms as possible. Every goat farmer we have come in contact with has taught us something whether they intended to or not. Visit around, make contacts, ask questions, check out what works for others and what doesn't work. Learn from their bad experiences and don't repeat them at home.

#5 Goat Fever - Beware, this is not a goat illness, this is a goat farmer's illness - this happened to me after our first goat kids were born. I picked the babies up and held them close to me and announced, "I want a thousand goats!" and the scary thing is at the moment I meant it. My not-so-silent partner Bill said "NO" and it was a good thing. It is easy to get caught up in wanting a large herd with a big variety of color, size, and style, but remember that goats multiply quickly. If you have six pregnant does and they all kid with twins you suddenly have 18 goats and so on. It can be very overwhelming, especially for your wallet. Take your time and rely on your not-so-silent partner to temper those sudden urges to buy everything you see. Just because you go visit a goat farm does not mean you need to buy anything or everything as the case may be. Do not feel obligated to anyone to make a purchase just because they have shared time or advice. You are going to be the one stuck with the goat later at your house and it will be your problem. Don't let anyone pressure you into buying a goat. Take time, if you know it is the right animal and you had planned on purchasing a good addition for your herd then do it. But if the goat does not measure up to your full expectation do not spend the money, just keep shopping. It is unlikely that you can take a goat home and turn it into what you want it to be. If it is not right from the time of purchase, don't throw money at it just trying to fix it up.