Kinder Goats: Another All-Purpose Goat

Back last year you may have read my post on the pygmy goat, and how it is an all purpose goat breed, giving not only meat but milk.

In continuing my goat research, there seems to be another fine choice amongst goat breeds for the homestead or self-sufficient minded:  the Kinder Goat.

The Kinders are a medium breed goat, averaging 100-125 lbs, so larger than the pygmy but smaller than a number of the other breeds, and are a mix of Nubian and African Pygmy.

What you get is a truly fantastic crossbreed that:

• Produces milk that is often sweeter and higher in butterfat than other goats.
• Dresses out at 60% when used for meat.
• Has one of the highest feed conversion rates of any goat species.
• Is large enough to be useful but small enough to easily handle.
• Does not have the birthing troubles often attributed to the smaller breeds.
• Is like able and friendly.

Kinders are amazingly prolific as well, usually have twins to sextuplets!  

This is truly a cross that is worth looking into for any small homestead, as the Kinder seems to have got absolutely the best of both worlds with the strong milking ability of the Nubian, and the muscle/meat of the Pygmy.  There also seems to be some claim to the same disease and parasite resistance that is often seen in true African Pygmies.  Coloration in these goats seems to be as wild and as varied as seen in the Nubian breed.

For more information or to find a local breeder, I recommend you visit www.kindergoatbreeders.com.

A New Farm Addition - Freya the LGD

If you've read some of my other posts, no doubt that you've figured out I'm an advocate of using LGDs - Livestock Guardian Dogs - to protect poultry and livestock.

We've had our Great Pyrenees, Goliath, for just over a year now, and since his arrival we have not lost a critter to predation.

As we are moving into breeding goats we've made the decision to add an LGD.  Goliath is a big dog and unfortunately plays too aggressively with goat kids (we knew this when we bought him as it was the reason he was being sold), though he does just fine with adult goats.

 So, with that in mind, we decided that Goliath would continue to be raised with and protect our bucks and poultry, while a new LGD would live with our does and eventually, our goat kids.

Naturally I decided that a puppy would be our best bet - one that was born and raised with goats was the ideal.

I found several in our local ad, the first being a litter of Great Pyrenees puppies.  The ad said the parents were experienced livestock guards and were used for sheep.  Perfect!  So I contacted the owner, and after talking to him via email for awhile, found out that though the adults were used with sheep, the pups themselves were raised in the barn away from the flock because the mother was overly protective and had bitten a sheep while raising a previous litter. 

Umm... no.  No thanks.

Next we had a litter of Anatolian/Great Pyrenees pups.  These were all male and I really wanted a female, but I contacted them anyway.  After a few discussions I learned that it was pretty much the same story - momma is too aggressive when she has pups to be in with the stock.  

Finally, I saw an ad for Komondor/Great Pyrenees puppies.  I had to do quite a bit of reading about the Komondor since I knew very little about them.  They are fairly rare dogs, and are actually classified as a sheepdog.  Pure Komondors have hair that will cord and are fascinating looking dogs.

So I called the man from the ad and spoke with him at length.  He had two pups currently available, and a litter of 10 that would be available the next week.  He assured me that all the pups were raised with goats and that he would save me the female that was currently available.

Saturday we made the hour and a half journey to his farm.  When we reached the opening for the goat field, our truck was suddenly surrounded by eight tall, lanky, curly white dogs.  They hadn't barked even once, but were surrounding us and just watching.  The man drove into the field and we followed, parking close behind before getting out.  Each of the adult dogs approached to within a few feet and eyed us warily but didn't bark.  Once we had shaken hands with their master, they slipped back amongst the trees, shrub, trailers and such to watch over their large herd of goats.  

I was enthralled.  Their was no doubt that these were working dogs.  In fact, a goat kid came up to check us out, and before we knew it there was a dog right there.  It never threatened, just watched, and when the kid had fulfilled its curiosity and ambled back to its herd mates, the dog did as well.

It took some looking to find the puppy we'd come for, but she was finally located asleep in a hollowed out tree on the edge of the goat field.

We brought her home and have named her Freya.  She is leery of humans but is warming up to us.  She enjoys chasing the goats - not chasing per se, but more like running to catch up with them while they are running away from her!  When they stop running she lays down, and its clear she just wants to be out there with them.

I'll update the blog as we go and as she grows, but so far we are very pleased with our little gal.

A Man (or Woman) Is Only As Good As Their Word

I want to talk about honesty, your word, and your reputation.

When I was growing up, I was taught that a man was only as good as his word, meaning that if a man made promises/deals/commitments and kept to them, that man could be trusted.  A man that didn't keep to his word was a man not to be dealt with and was a liar.

Somewhere along the way people have obviously forgotten this.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've had people call, text or email about something I've had for sale and then not show up.  I guess that's become the norm.  Personally, if you do that to me, I keep your name and your number, and you don't get another chance to buy from me.  Ever.  Because to me, you've failed at your word and are not to be trusted.

The other thing I get a lot of, is low ballers.  I understand that times are tough, but every time I list something I count on at least three offers of half or less of my asking price.  Every time.  Without fail.  Now, I'm not saying that you should never offer less for something, but be sincere in your offer.  What bothers me is that these people are honestly just trying to take advantage of other people.  Think I'm wrong?  Let me share this with you:

Last year I had some mixed breed chicks for sale.  $2 each.  Reasonable in my mind since purebred chicks in our area are $3 or better.  A man calls me, offers me fifty cents a chick, and when I said no thank you he berates me and tries to brow beat me into giving them to him at what he wants to pay.  Meanwhile, he's on a poultry board that I'm a part of too, offering MY CHICKS at $3 each.  How do I know they were mine?  Because when I refuse to sell them to him at that price he posted that the deal to acquire them had fallen through.  (And, they were a pretty specific mix).

Needless to say, I have not and will not ever sell to this man.  Period.  He's called me many times and always offers 25% of the asking price.  I know he's a reseller, and that would be fine if he didn't always talk to me like my prices are crazy high and lie to me about what he's planning to do with them.  To me, honesty is everything.

Misrepresenting what you're selling is another thing that drives me crazy and will get you on my "no business" list.  What do you thing of this scenario:

I was over buying some rabbits from a young gal and we got talking about chickens.  She asked me if I would take a look at her flock and chicken house to see if there was something she was doing wrong since her flock of twelve were beating each other up and she only was getting 1-2 eggs each week.  It took only a minute to see that her flock of twelve hens were really two girls and 10 roosters!  She'd bought them from a guy just two weeks before that that had raised chickens for thirty years.  The poor thing had paid $10 each for those birds!  Distressed, she asked me to look over her pullet chicks and we went over to the pens.  They were supposed to be pure barred rocks.  Not only were they not barred rocks, most were roosters!  

It's obvious that some people will take advantage of those who don't know any better.  Other people will flat out lie to you, and when caught in their lie will try to make you sound crazy:

I've been after a stock trailer for awhile.  There'd been one in our local Craigslist for the last month at $3200, which based on the photos and age was kinda high.  I called and offered $2500, which I thought was more reasonable.  The gal I talked to told me she just couldn't come down any lower because she had just put brand new tires on it and was into it $3200.  Another month went by and I had some more cash saved up.  It was still posted, so I called her again.  When the lady went on to tell me all about how she had $3800 into it and it was a steal at $3200 I froze.  I told her that I had called her last month and had offered her $2500 but she had said she couldn't because she had $3200 into it.  She paused a moment.  Then said, well, yeah, that's true, but then I put brand new tires on it.  When I pointed out that that was the same story she'd given me to justify the $3200, she said I must be crazy and must have the wrong trailer.  Needless to say perhaps, but I didn't go look at that trailer.  

If you can't be honest about what you are selling, I'm not going to buy from you. 

Anymore it seems like no big deal to agree to something then change your mind and back out; to miss an appointment, get something for nothing or engage in other questionable behavior.  People do it because other people do it and its no longer any big deal because around every corner is another deal and its just not a matter of life or death.

Yet.

Consider this though - what happens if society falls apart and suddenly you are in the position where you have to buy, sell or barter to stay alive?  The first time you back out or try to take advantage of someone may just be your last time.  

Or maybe society doesn't fall apart, but the economy doesn't get any better (and gets worse).  Bartering is already growing in popularity in many areas.

If you can't be trusted to honor your word you are going to be in for a world of hurt, never mind the moral implications that lying is just plain wrong.

I know that I have a reputation in our area for fair and honest dealing - the repeat business and referrals I get tell me so.

What does your reputation say about you?

Just some food for thought.