Project Goat WA

[Nanno]

Since Steve is purebred Alpine, he will definitely keep a beard and probably some of the back hair and trousers, but they won't be as long and full. Nubians hardly get any long hair even as bucks, so my Alpine/Nubian crosses lost almost all of their long hair the summer after they were wethered. It's kind of sad, but at the same time they look so sleek and sharp with short hair, and you don't have to worry so much about tangles and burrs and overheating.

[GoldenTreePackGoats]

Yay! I'm so glad he was given a new chance at life. It looks like he's doing great in his new home too.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Sorry, had not come back to this thread in awhile. Great to hear you picked him up Mike and that he wasnt nearly as bad as the lady said. I figured it was more of the boy being let to be the dominate one. Even a friendly goat will be mean if you let them rule you. But it sure didnt make sense to me on my end. He was such a sweet boy.

More info on him. He was a single huge boy. And literally "crashed" outta his mama lol. His mom was a very large doe. Sire was a great dairy buck but nothing to large or spectacular in terms of pack goats. The nice thing with our lines, we maintain our size regardless of the bucks we use. Not sure how we are able to do that. As for his current size, there are two factors in him being well under average size. First and foremost, they didnt care for him correctly. To give you an idea of the difference in sizes, Legion was that size at 12 months old. Now not all of our prospects have that kind of growth rate, but this boy was a close relation to Legion (cousin) and the size he was when he left here, he was on pace to get that big. Another factor would be him being a buck for so long. Just being a buck isnt a big factor, but if penned close to does where the buck can ignore food and run the fence line, they can drop a lot of weight during the rut. So thats 4-6 months a year were they run themselves so hard, they get no growth.

I will see if I can rustle up some pictures of his mama

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

Talked to Tracy, and she again jarred my memory. They took him before he was weaned. Which would also account for him being on the smaller size if they didnt keep him on the bottle or feed him right. Looking at some of the pictures, he is down on his pasterns quite a bit. If you havent, get him a good loose mineral mix. If you can give him some copper boluses and zinc pills, that would be good as well. Some bo-se or multi min 90. If you havent, check out this page on my site:
http://trinitypackgoats.webs.com/howtopackgoatcare.htm

Nanno is right about the hair. The reason for his large horns and hair, testosterone. But with him being a buck for so long, you should have much less of a worry for UC.

[Mike]

Dave,
Thanks for the info.  After you had said he was 2 and a half I started thinking he was maybe a little small.  I took him in to get his weight at Petco when I first got him.  He was a 134#.  I have put thefood and mineral to him, all good Payback stuff.  I am going to take him in again soon.  Its not a huge deal if he is smaller.  If he hit 150# at 20% of his weight thats 30#, minus about 7 # for the saddle that gives me about 20# of gear he can haul.  All I really need him to take is 2 kid sleeping bag, 2 sleeping pads, maybe some extra kid cloths.  If he can do that then I am a winner.

Picture of Steve in Petco.

[Taffy]

I love the photos! What was the reaction of store folks and other customers when Steve visited? I'm SO happy Steve found his forever home.

[Mike]

The petco people where super about it. I asked first before I got him out of the back of my truck. The other pet owners in the store where a little taken back. Ots of question. After people figure out I am serious about Steve being a pack animal for my kids they think its cool. All the vet techs at thd store wanted pictures with him. Pritty fun

[Nanno]

So cute!