My first goats were Boer goats, 13 years ago and the 2 does were bought to clear an area of brush that we couldn't get through. Well, they did that, and I thought, why not get a buck, have babies and meat and that was that. Well, we did that, and I have very little good to say about Boer goats. They had horrible births, were lousy moms and were atrocious milkers. BUT, I was hooked, so I got into Toggenburg goats and have been a happy camper ever since. These girls are medium sized, pretty and quite dignified....not that all of them behaved well, but as a whole I enjoy this breed. I have been blessed to get goats from various breeders who not only looked for good conformation, but also good volumes of milk. I have discovered that while every goats doesn't need to be a champion, the better the goat's conformation, the better they milk and hold up over time. It pays a little to be picky. I tried one more time to get into Boer goats, as we eat surplus kids and I wanted more meat....but it was a repeat of my first experience. Disappointing. I also purchased 2 beautiful alpines this year. I can't wait to see them in milk next spring. As an aside, I have yet to meet a not nice goat person or breeder. A few good websites, fiascofarm.com/ this site is FULL of invaluable information. Easily as good as any one of the many goats books out there. hoeggerfarmyard.com/xcart/ this is the goat supply company that I prefer. Caprine Supply is also out there as are others. For dairy cultures, I use www.dairyconnection.com/ . They sell bulk cultures at a reasonable price.
In spring and early summer we have excess milk, so we have started raising a veal calf. It is raised on milk and pasture only, this year's calf had a hanging weight of 340lbs...which I think is really good, especially as we didn't have to put any bought food into her. Of course the milk is anything but free, but in order to have sufficient milk in the fall and early winter, we need to have that number of goats.
I sell registered and unregistered stock from spring onwards. Contact me if you are interested.