Wirerat there are a few things to pay attention to when getting into packgoats.Originally Posted by wirerat123
1. There are 2 diseases that you need to watch out for. CAE and CL. CAE is a goat arthritis that is passed from mother to babies thru the milk. I would ask your goat sources if they test for CAE. A lot of serious dairies do because CAE will cripple a goat in it's adult years. CL is something I don't know much about but it's pretty awful. Goat dairy people should know about it and have something to say about it.
2. You want your little goats to be bottle fed not "dam raised" (nursed on their mothers). That's because they need to be comfortable with, and bonded with, people rather than with their mothers. Dam raised kids are wild. You don't want that. If you can get them as babies and bottle feed them yourself that's best. That way they will bond with you.
3. You don't want bucks that have been neutered at a young age. Most dairies put a castration band on their little bucks very young. That's because they are most likely going to be sold for meat at a young age and if they don't do it when they are very small then it's a much bigger deal later. Packgoats are going to live a long time, but one of the hazards is urinary calculi (stones) that can plug up their urinary tract and kill them. To make this less likely packgoat people wait until their little bucks are 6 or 7 months old and then have a vet neuter them. That's so their urinary department matures fully and they can pass possible stones better.
4. Packgoat candidates need to be big, long legged, and strong. Look at the father of the babies. You don't want a chunky or scrawny father. Look for goats that will grow up to be athletes. Nubians are popular milk goats but have a bad reputation for packgoats. Boers are bred as meat goats. They are bulky and not well suited as packgoats. They are said to be lazy and noisy. Saanen, Alpine, Oberhasli, and Toggenburg are the best breeds.
5. Horns or no horns. Horns look cool, but get caught in fences and the goats can hurt each other with them. No horns is best, but it's not easy to get rid of them. Lots of people leave the horns on. Lots of people want them off. I didn't want them but the place I got my goats from did a crappy job of "disbudding" the goats and they all have "scurs" which are stupid looking horn scraps. It's been a big hassle. If your goat source can burn them off when the babies are very young, and do it right, it's certainly worth doing.
If you are already and animal person, and better yet, a goat person, then packgoats may be a good idea for you.
Get these 2 books:
The Packgoat by John Mionczynski
Practical Goat Packing by Carolyn Eddy
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