I assume you want a "dairy" breed for the milk. Mini's and Nigerians do not provide much milk and it is kind of similar to milking a cat :-). You might want to try and milk one of these breeds before you buy. They are cute, but depending on what you want the milk for, you might still consider one of the "other" dairy breeds, such as Nubians, or one of the Swiss Breeds. You might be able to find those breeds closer to your home and would be able to find a stud service closer as well. There was another thread on this forum about this same topic, it had some good advice. Look in the old postings maybe a month or so back. Good luck. Bonnie

What are you looking for a doeling or a little wether? Are you looking for registered or unregistred? We have Nigerians I live in Central La but I'm originally from Houma and go that way quite often. My children are coming up from Houma for the Easter holidays. Contact me off forum email address is laptitcolline@bellsouth.net. Here is a link that might be useful: La P'tit Colline

There are so many differing opinions on these issues and feelings can get hurt over them. Since Chivas posted some time ago, we received a young buck raised for six weeks on his mother. He was WAY far ahead of where our bottle fed kids would be, in terms of weaning, and never wanted a bottle once we got him. I had to see this to believe it. My theory is that the natural nursing does get the kid further/faster along towards independence. Having said that, we will stay with the bottle feeding, right from birth because of the things Patrick mentioned. We pasteurize both colostrums and milk destined for kids, in order to insure that there is no possibility of passing on CAE. Our goats are most likely CAE free, but they are not tested. I spoke with the president of our dairy goat association, after Chivas thread, some weeks ago. She is a retired veterinarian who does dairy goats full time now. She completely agreed with PatrickÂs comments on feeding. She believes that un-pasteurized milk is better nutritionally, than the pasteurized. But there is the CAE issue, which leads her to go with pasteurized. On couple of occasions IÂve seen Patrick give the advise that one should get a good book, like "Stories Guide to..." say in this case "Goats." That is excellent advice. You can see, even in this thread, how wide a range of advice one can get on the Internet. A trusted, published guide, can help greatly with both information and perspective. On the subject of goats, I've often counseled that a person, who is really interested in them, plug in with a club or at least someone who is doing it successfully. They will serve as a "sounding board." And, if they are doing well (over a period of years) then you probably won't go wrong following their example. Our friends, for instance, who let their kids nurse on the does, have a distinctly different approach than the dairy goat association we belong to. Yet, they're doing well. Lil_chick_lady, consider the disbudding issue and make a decision as soon as you can. The sooner you disbud the better it generally works out. No one here suggested "de-horning." But disbudding is widely practiced and recommended. I personally have never met a goat person that I ABSOLUTELY KNOW is successful, in the manner I mention above, who would recommend that you leave the horns on. Lisainclyde is right on about their tendency to getting stuck. But I disagree about leaving horns on. That GREATLY increases the likelihood of problems. I've been at other folks' places where they had a goat or two with horns, and in every case they said they wished that they didn't (have horns). On one occasion, just as they were telling me this, the goat stuck its head through the fence, to get to a weed, and couldn't pull it back through! We live in OK where it gets HOT. Most here disbud. I've never heard anyone complain that it caused the goat to have problems in the heat. Have a great time with your goats! Nubians & Dwarves... you might call one Mutt and another Jeff.... George Tahlequah, OK

Amy, Ok, what do you suggest for fencing? Also, regarding predators, can one drag a NDG OVER a fence? We have a chain link roof over our ducks to prevent predators from climbing over. Do these goats need a roof? Bear in mind, we're in suburban Long Island, so our predators are of the racoon/fox type. Thanks, Lynn