The Moneymaker

First please notice we do not call these goats "percentage Boers" as some do. This is to distinguish that this is a planned genetic breeding program, taken from years of experience in the cattle business. We studied goats for several years before deciding to switch to goats. We had purchased in 1990 a 98 acre ranch in the Shasta Valley near Gazelle. We decided not to irrigate with the pumps on the ranch, and looked for a product that we could produce on dryland feed. Cattle would not work on such a small ranch, so we started with sheep. In a few years we were producing 130 pound lambs at 4 months of age and then the ewes were run on the dry feed for the rest of the year. We know that this is very strong spring feed, but it is done by the middle of June with just a small percentage of dryland alfalfa to keep the ewes going the rest of the summer. This seemed to be the best way to utilize this feed, however the foxtails were bad on eyes and fleeces.

In 1997 we prayed about a change in our flock, looking at meat goats. That year we purchased several Nubian does of a meatier type. We also went to a Saanan breeder and purchased a buck with the best milk lines we could afford, having size and high milk numbers. We kept all the F2 generation for two years.We had a major setback in 1999, with three of the does we had purchased testing positive for CAE. We had purchased these goats from breeders who claimed to have CAE free herds. So we culled all these goats and went on an aggressive CAE eradication program, raising all our doelings on pasteurized milk and testing for CAE using the ELISA test and WADDL. We will not consider ourselves a CAE free herd until all of our does test negative for four years. We realize that there is NOT a national CAE free registry, so we will have our CAE test results available for veiwing. In 2003 and 2004 all our does tested negative! We began selling a few does and doelings in 2004.Here in the Shasta Valley it is unusal to freshen in Dec. but we wanted to be done freshening by Apr 1 to make maximum use of this strong spring feed. We have to have all our kids weaned by June 1st or thereabouts so that kids are not in the pastures when the foxtail shatters. We wanted a finished product that did not require feedlotting, but would go straight to slaughter. We knew it was possible because of the sheep. We still feel that the goat producers will need to produce a larger finished product to attract the retail market. The low weights current buyers are preffering reflect the ethnic market, not a retail market. Our goal is to have 100+ pound wethers ready for the market by the middle of June, and by the time the market changes (if it changes) to reflect a retail market. Grocery stores can not sell such small chops or chevon steaks. As the lamb market had to change, we think the goat market will to in order to appeal to the American consumer.

In 1999 we purchased a registered fullblood buck and doe from Canada. The doe turned out to be infertile and was culled, but the buck had exceptional temperment, size and bone structure. We bred him to the Saanubians we had left after the CAE disaster. That year we kept a halfblood Boer buckling an breed him to all the Saanubians to produce a 25 % doe that we then bred back to the Boer buck, Buster. We then took all these wethers to a special meat goat sale two hours from our ranch. All of the wethers out of the 25% does had colored heads, The wethers out of the Saanubians were light headed. ( 100% of Saanubians are white) but had the highest weights at 83 pounds as triplets! The doelings from this are the 3/8ths 5/8ths does we were looking for.This year we purchased the best and biggest boned Saanen buck I have ever seen, to breed to the 50%+ Boer doelings. He has very high milk numbers, as well as noted in improving udders. We also purchased 6 more Saanen/Boer doelings ( 25% Boer). This will give us 10 25% does to breed to a Boer buck to produce the 3/8ths 5/8ths does that will be the base of the Moneymakers. The Moneymakers will be bred to a Mac Goat buck we purchased, and Buster will be bred back to a few selected does to produce the Moneymaker foundation does. We are figuring to be able to produce enough Moneymakers to begin selling in quantity to other producers in 2005.

In 2003 our first set of twins was born Jan 31st and our last set of twins born on April 15th. We had 16 does freshen 29 kids raised to weaning. ( 181%). All our does had twins or better, with two sets of triplets and one set of quads. We do not jug and do not creep feed.On June 7th we took our wethers to the meat goat sale and weighed them. Our lightest weight was 55 pounds, and our heaviest were 83 pounds. Our ave weights were 77 pounds. This gives us an ave daily weight gain of .59pds/day. The adwg of our Saanubians was .62. None of these figures in the shrinkage from a two hour transport.


2003 breeding season.
We were surprised this year to have does cycling in July, right after weaning. This is not normal for up here. We turned our bucks in to see what would happen, and almost all of our doelings from our Moneymakers were bred by the end of the month, as were our does! Our first kids were born in Nov and by Dec we have 44 kids on the ground. Only 3 out of 18 of our moneymaker doelings did not breed up before they were 6 months old! All were weighing over 80 by 5 months and most over 100 pounds by 6 months, and so far only one kid (a twin) has been lost during kidding. We do not assist in kidding or jug. We have 20 doelings born so far, and will only be keeping the twins or better. 4 of our does got bred back to a buck that jumped out within two weeks of freshening, not a planned thing for sure, but shows we have very fertile stock! We purchased 15 more 25% Boer/75% Saanen or registered Saanens in Jan of 2004 and are looking for a meat type Nubian buck to make one more cross before settling in to breeding to our new Boer buck. Our heaviest weights again this year are the triplets out of our Saanubians! The interest in our doelings and older does has amazed us! Most have been cattlemen looking to improve pasture without a lot of intense labor. Let the goats do it! We will begin indexing on performance all our doelings, and they will be offered as proven breeding stock.

We have seen there is a little confussion about our breeding program, as some are thinking it is just a crossed up breeding program. This is a very specific program to begin a new breed for America, specific to our climates, consumers and production using as little labor as possible. We do not use just any buck, but spend months and years looking for specific bucks within the breeds we have chosen. Our Saanens and Nubians are registered stock from top production lines and many grandchampions ( although that is NOT a specific goal, but sound structure is necessary.)We purchased several reg Saanen does, all with large bone, good feet and large frame. All of these does are from star milkers or even top ten producers. The Nubian buckling we purchased is from top ten producers and permanent champion lines, with size, capacity and substance being uppermost in choosing Trooper. We plan on AI-ing our top Saanubian does to a high adg Boer buck, and even are considering a Kiko buck for experimentation. So, as you see there are several herds we are breeding, our reg Saanens to a reg Nubian, the F1 Saanubians to a 50% Boer buck to produce the F2, and another purebred Boer buck for our F3 Moneymakers. We are after a specific end product for our on-line store. We need wether goats that can be raised without hormones or chemicals, and still produce large steaks, and good yields to be able to have a product for our unique American market.

2004
In Nov of 2004 we opened our on-line store after two years of preparation and getting all the forms and regulations completed. We felt we had a good product that was worthy of presenting to the public and specifically the American consumer. Our loin chops are so much larger than normally found, we differentiate by calling them steaks. When placed side by side with sirloin tip beef steaks and boneless pork chops, the "certified American Chevon" was pretty similar in size and weight. We are still working to get our product to the consumer in peak flavor and freeze conditions, but have most of our problems worked out at this time we think. If you are contemplating purchasing goats from us or anyone else, we suggest you buy some product from each producer, and test for yourself which you prefer to sell to your consumers! We are at this time contemplating franchising out in about 5 years.

2007
Has it really been that long? Many people have been asking for an update on our goats. Well, we have been concentrating on our store so much we have forgotten about updating our web site. I apologize.

This year our goats presented us with a 205% kid crop RAISED! Only one doeling had a single, and only lost 5 kids all winter. WE have had a few "cropped" ears from being frozen, we never jug our kids and we do not have a barn to put does or kids in when the weather turns bad. Being at 2500 feet elevation, we get some pretty good snows up here in the mountains, and our "girls" are not at all pampered.

We tried a couple of things differently this year in our effort to become organic certified. We have been feeding hay from our neighbors, since it is close and not sprayed. We purchased organic hay this year, and went onto irrigated pasture in the fall after the hay was off. We lost one goat to grass tetany, out of 80 does on that field not too bad I guess. We also only gave one CD tet shot to the kids, and lost two kids to overeating. We were really expecting to loose more, out of over 220 kids that is acceptable.

This fall we will vaccinate the DOES for cd tet, something we have never done. New evidence shows this is more affective than vaccinating the kids, and since we are striving for organic and as naturally raised as possible, this makes since for us. If it works, we will require all of our Partnership for Excellence goat be done the same way. We are selling many more whole cabritos, harvested at between 2 and 5 weeks of age; and these we never vaccinate, for obvious reasons.

We are in the process of a grant writing bid for the Partnership for Excellence program. This program will eventually be expanded coast to coast, with franchises in the four corners of the US. We feel this will be the best way to get goat meat in the retail stores. we have a cd of the partnership for Excellence program, and I am trying to get it on our website. Check back for this at a later date.