Frequently Asked Questions
Why Nigerian Dwarf goats?
We love our Nigerian dwarf goats! They produce a fair amount of high fat sweet milk, considering their size. They have friendly, inquisitive personalities and come in multiple colors. We have multiple blue eyed and moon spotted goats in various colors. They are easy to handle and make good pets for children.
How do I reserve a goat?
Please message us via email or text your request. We require half of the price of the goat as a deposit and the other half at time of pick-up. We also do not sale single goats to goat-free households. Goats are social creatures and a single goat is inhumane.
What forms of payment do you accept?
Cash, Venmo, and PayPal. We DO NOT accept money order or checks.
What is your cancellation policy?
The deposit is non-refundable.
Do you transport goats?
We can arrange transport within an eight hour radius of San Angelo. Buyer assumes transport costs that will be negotiated prior to the sale of the animal. If you live outside of the eight hour radius, buyer must arrange transport. At this time, we do not ship animals via air.
Are the goats registered or registrable?
All of our goats can be registered with AGS (including wethers (except Rocket) with an additional cost, $50 per animal, per application). Our does and bucks can be registered with ADGA. Buyer can request applications for both with does/bucks and certain bucks/does are already registered. Those animals already registered will have their papers transferred to the new owner.
Can I get an invoice for my purchase?
We provide a bill of sale to buyer and keep a copy for our ranch for 10 years.
Can I buy a goat out of state?
You may but if you are outside of the eight hour radius to San Angelo, you must arrange transport. We require ALL goats shipped out of state to obtain a medical vet certificate. That is $50 extra, per goat and added to the final sale price.
How soon after deposit do I need to pick the goat up?
If the goat is not weaned, you will need to wait until they are eight weeks old to pick up. If they are already weaned, they may be obtained at any time. If you have paid the deposit of a weaned goat and you cannot pick up the animal within two weeks, feed costs will be deducted from the deposit obtained. We charge $60 per month, prorated to $15 per week.
Are there any health guarantees?
All of our goats are deemed to be healthy when they leave our ranch. They become the responsibility of the buyer once they leave our premises.
How do you castrate your wethers?
We utilize a burdizzo, which cuts off the blood supply to the testes. This is bloodless and there is no risk of tetanus or infection. We castrate at eight weeks of age to allow the urethra time to grow to prevent issues as the wether ages. The biggest issue with the burdizzo is that the testicles shrink but are still present. If you choose to show your wether, they will need to be removed and the goat made ‘smooth.’
Do you tattoo your goats?
We tattoo all of our goats, to include wethers. That functions for the scrapie and herd identification requirements. The herd ID goes in the right ear and their birth order goes in the left ear.
What do you feed your goats?
We provide non-medicated alfalfa pelleted feed (Palmers) to our adult goats and medicated alfalfa pelleted feed (Palmers) to our kids. The does are provided free choice alfalfa hay and the bucks have coastal hay. All goats have free access to minerals (Purina Goat Mineral), access to pasture and we copper bolus (Copasure) when the goats show signs of copper deficiency.
What is copper deficiency?
This is very common in West Texas goats as our soil and water are very calcareous and alkaline. This makes copper difficult for the goats to absorb and we have found deficiency (even with adequate ‘goat’ mineral supplementation). Goats start to obtain a ‘fish tail’ and their coat becomes coarse/reddish colored with deficiency. Some studies show that copper bolusing can help with barber pole worms and we have found it to be helpful. We give our kids 2gm if 25-50 lbs and the adults greater than 50 lbs, 4gm bolus.
Do you deworm your goats regularly?
We deworm based off of FAMACHA scores. We do not follow a deworming schedule.
Do you test for CL, CAE and Johnes?
Our does have been tested negative and we can furnish their lab results upon request.
Do you vaccinate your goats?
All of our goats receive their initial two CDT vaccines and then yearly CDT. The dams obtain CDT vaccines one month prior to kidding.
Do you disbud your goats?
We disbud all of our goats unless they are polled. We believe that horned dairy goats are dangerous and can cause injury and death to other goats. Disbudded goats are also required for show.
What can you do with goat milk?
You can make soap, fudge, ice cream, cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, cream/butter (with a cream separator–goat milk is naturally homogenized) and many, many other things!
Is it hard to milk?
It is a learning process. It requires a doe that is producing milk (after delivery of kids), a stanchion (not kidding, do NOT try to milk a goat on the floor) and appropriate sized steel pail (2 quart is best–they are short!), ability to filter milk and to pasteurize if you opt to do so. I pasteurize but the debate is outside of the scope of these FAQs.
How to pasteurize?
Heat milk to 161F for 15 seconds or 145F for 30 minutes. They have pasteurizers you can buy but I make a water bath to heat the milk up to 161F for 15 seconds. I recommend looking up methods to sterilize the equipment you use and I use a ice water bath to cool the milk to 40F prior to placing in the fridge.
