Chat
06-03-2020, 12:10 PM
Hi Trevor from a fellow Washingtonian (I'm in Selah which is just outside of Yakima in Central Washington). Welcome to the wonderful world of pack goats and to this forum.
I'm relatively new to goats and pack goats having purchased 4 bucklings (wethers) from Dwite Sharp back in March of 2019 and 4 doelings from him in July 2019.
I would echo Taffy's comments. If I were to make a suggestion it would be that you consider adding 2 kids now or next spring to raise and train to build up your string. At the same time you could be looking for proven packers in the 3-4 year old range to fill the gap in age between your yearlings and the 6 year old you already have. Keep in mind that it is tough to find proven pack goats that are adults so if you find them at a reasonable price, buy them, but the price might be steep given the time, investment, and value of a proven pack goat. It is a good idea to spread the ages of your goats out so that your string is constantly rotating new younger goats in as older goats age and eventually retire from packing.
I hope to breed at least 2 and possibly all 4 of my girls to Dwite Sharp bucks (or perhaps one or two of them to high quality Ober buck with a history of producing pack prospects) this fall and have kids next spring. I pan to keep 2 boys from those breedings and will sell the other kids that are born. This way I will have four 2 year olds and two kids in training. I started with 4 boys so I had enough goats to pack a bit of weight in their 3rd year and full packs in their 4th year (if needed). By my 6th year in pack goats I will have 6 goats that are able to pack full loads which is probably enough in most cases but I will continue to keep and add 2 wethers from my breedings every other year (unless I get too attached or really good prospects in "off" years) to build my string with varying ages of goats. I can't imagine really ever needing more than 8 full grown pack goats for myself and my brother for hunting, hiking, and fishing but I expect that I will probably keep a herd consisting of at least 4 girls for breeding and up to 10-12 wethers as they get older, move from trainers to full grown packers, and as full grown packers into retirement.
I never thought I would have goats much less as many as 16-18 goats at once but that's my plan right now. I really never thought I would start breeding goats but when the opportunity to buy Dwite's stock came up I realized that the investment was probably worth it and would mean that I shouldn't ever have to "buy" another goat if I don't want to. I'll breed my own, keep what I need, sell what I don't need. I'm not saying this is the best route for everyone but its what I hope will work for me.
Best of luck to you!
Chris
I'm relatively new to goats and pack goats having purchased 4 bucklings (wethers) from Dwite Sharp back in March of 2019 and 4 doelings from him in July 2019.
I would echo Taffy's comments. If I were to make a suggestion it would be that you consider adding 2 kids now or next spring to raise and train to build up your string. At the same time you could be looking for proven packers in the 3-4 year old range to fill the gap in age between your yearlings and the 6 year old you already have. Keep in mind that it is tough to find proven pack goats that are adults so if you find them at a reasonable price, buy them, but the price might be steep given the time, investment, and value of a proven pack goat. It is a good idea to spread the ages of your goats out so that your string is constantly rotating new younger goats in as older goats age and eventually retire from packing.
I hope to breed at least 2 and possibly all 4 of my girls to Dwite Sharp bucks (or perhaps one or two of them to high quality Ober buck with a history of producing pack prospects) this fall and have kids next spring. I pan to keep 2 boys from those breedings and will sell the other kids that are born. This way I will have four 2 year olds and two kids in training. I started with 4 boys so I had enough goats to pack a bit of weight in their 3rd year and full packs in their 4th year (if needed). By my 6th year in pack goats I will have 6 goats that are able to pack full loads which is probably enough in most cases but I will continue to keep and add 2 wethers from my breedings every other year (unless I get too attached or really good prospects in "off" years) to build my string with varying ages of goats. I can't imagine really ever needing more than 8 full grown pack goats for myself and my brother for hunting, hiking, and fishing but I expect that I will probably keep a herd consisting of at least 4 girls for breeding and up to 10-12 wethers as they get older, move from trainers to full grown packers, and as full grown packers into retirement.
I never thought I would have goats much less as many as 16-18 goats at once but that's my plan right now. I really never thought I would start breeding goats but when the opportunity to buy Dwite's stock came up I realized that the investment was probably worth it and would mean that I shouldn't ever have to "buy" another goat if I don't want to. I'll breed my own, keep what I need, sell what I don't need. I'm not saying this is the best route for everyone but its what I hope will work for me.
Best of luck to you!
Chris