Chat
07-12-2017, 03:45 PM
Dave and Nanno -
Thanks for taking the time to respond. Your feedback is very helpful and I will heed your advice. I guess I'm struggling with the ability to get a goat bred specifically for packing vs. a dairy goat that has genetics and confirmation traits that would help them become a good packer. Unfortunately, in my area, at least to my knowledge, there are not local breeders that specialize in pack goats. This means that I either have them shipped across the country (which I assume could be cost prohibitive) or visit a dairy farm with a keen eye, insightful questions, and deal with some unknowns.
If I understand you properly, you might say that a dairy farm kid could work if it has confirmation traits that would make a good pack goat. I may have access to some now that are about 4mos. of age. They were recently weaned from their mother and have been on creep feed and now just pasture. The farm says they are friendly and socialized but I can't imagine the bucks/whethers getting a lot of attention on a dairy farm. I could buy some of them now at $150 or wait until their next kidding and take them at day 2 or 3 for $25. I am leaning toward the latter to help ensure they can be socialized properly right from the start; plus it gives me time to see if I can locate a couple mature ones or a breeder that has more packing qualities. But I read about packgoats being upper 250# range or even more and I don't imagine that is being bred into a typical dairy goat. I assume that some of their size has to do with how they are fed from newborns to a year of age. Like a goat on steroids! Lol.
I want my goats to have the capacity to pack 25-30% of their weight (let's say 50-60lbs) for 7-10 miles on a given day. A few shorter (packless days) of 3-5 miles, and a 7-10 mile trip on the way out with the full load. This, to me, seems very reasonable with the right conditioning.
So is this pretty doable with the right dairy goat? Aside from the vacc testing results, are there real specific confirmational traits that I should look for? How much does the size of the dam or sire play (a lot, I assume)?
Thanks for taking the time to respond. Your feedback is very helpful and I will heed your advice. I guess I'm struggling with the ability to get a goat bred specifically for packing vs. a dairy goat that has genetics and confirmation traits that would help them become a good packer. Unfortunately, in my area, at least to my knowledge, there are not local breeders that specialize in pack goats. This means that I either have them shipped across the country (which I assume could be cost prohibitive) or visit a dairy farm with a keen eye, insightful questions, and deal with some unknowns.
If I understand you properly, you might say that a dairy farm kid could work if it has confirmation traits that would make a good pack goat. I may have access to some now that are about 4mos. of age. They were recently weaned from their mother and have been on creep feed and now just pasture. The farm says they are friendly and socialized but I can't imagine the bucks/whethers getting a lot of attention on a dairy farm. I could buy some of them now at $150 or wait until their next kidding and take them at day 2 or 3 for $25. I am leaning toward the latter to help ensure they can be socialized properly right from the start; plus it gives me time to see if I can locate a couple mature ones or a breeder that has more packing qualities. But I read about packgoats being upper 250# range or even more and I don't imagine that is being bred into a typical dairy goat. I assume that some of their size has to do with how they are fed from newborns to a year of age. Like a goat on steroids! Lol.
I want my goats to have the capacity to pack 25-30% of their weight (let's say 50-60lbs) for 7-10 miles on a given day. A few shorter (packless days) of 3-5 miles, and a 7-10 mile trip on the way out with the full load. This, to me, seems very reasonable with the right conditioning.
So is this pretty doable with the right dairy goat? Aside from the vacc testing results, are there real specific confirmational traits that I should look for? How much does the size of the dam or sire play (a lot, I assume)?