The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Goats => Topic started by: Anke on November 01, 2012, 08:33:39 pm
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Hi Karl, yes I am one of the contact persons for people interested in buying Golden Guernsey goats, mainly for Scotland and the North of England though.
The way it works is that anyone from the GGG society who has stock for sale tells me about it and then I can mention this to anyone interested (and wihtin reasonable distance of course). However the GG's have become very popular, probably due to some person repeatedly putting them on TV.... :( , so lots of enquiries but not many for sale I am afraid.
If anyone is seriously interested in GG's the best bet would be to become a member of the GGGS and then you would have access to the address list, and you can then a) visit GG breeders to talk to them about stock and goatkeeping in general, and b) you would also get a whole caboodle of info on how to keep GG's, breed etc etc - really, really useful stuff for any novice goatkeeper.
Another place that is now used by quite a few breeders is www.ukgoats.co.uk (http://www.ukgoats.co.uk) - but of course with all the usual caveats of buyer beware etc etc - one thing though: if you are looking at some goats in particular ask the seller for their registration numbers and get back to me and I can verify them for you. DON'T EVER BUY A GOAT (and the seller teling you that - THE REGISTRATION PAPERS WILL FOLLOW) - they quite often never do!
Of course, if you are ony interested in milk for the house, registration with the BGS is not necessary, but again make sure that at least the sire/father is registered, and that you can preferably see her dam/mother too - you could otherwise end up with a very poor milker indeed...
In the UK only goats up to 24 months of age can be registered (and only by the original breeder) with the BGS, unless they go into the identification register. So if anyone offfers you a goat in milk and tells you s/he will be registering them for you - cannot be done!
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Thank you for this valuabe info. DH and I have been looking out for GGs for a couple of years now but they seem difficult to come by down here in North Devon. On our farm we want to keep only rare, at risk breeds, and I think I'm right (hubby says so, so it must be right!) that GGs fall into that category. Hopefully we will have the place goat-proofed/fenced very soon and can start looking in earnest. I'll give you a shout then Anke, because there is only one breeder that I have heard of down in this neck of the woods, but she seldom has anything for sale. We are prepared to travel for the right beasties. :goat:
Maggie :excited:
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Yes thank you for this info...
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Wise words Anke - how I wish we were well informed when we bought our GG billy a few years back We thought we were buying from reputable breeders and that he would be registered and pedigreed. However, we parted with a considerable amount of money with the promise that the papers would be with us soon. Unfortunately a wrangle then ensued with the BGS and the vendors and we have never had any papers.
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Maggie - there are quite a few breeders in Cornwall, which shouldn't be too far from Devon? Yes GG's are on the RBST register - in the minority category now though. It is a good time to join the GGGS (subscriptions start in January) - then phone round breeders near you and book a kid (or maybe milker plus kid) from a breeder now!
Scotsdumpy - I have been there too... although I rescued the goat from someone who had bought her in good faith...
One of the problems is that registration gets quite expensive once goat kids are older than 6 months, which some breeders forget about.. and then all of a sudden they sell the kid and realise...ooops... and then just conveniently forget....
One other thing to ask for when buying is to get the current CAE certificate (or that of the mother if buying a kid) too - it quite often saves you the first year test...
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I joined my local goat club before I started looking for GGs and was then able to ask members with GGs in person whether they had any available. I think because most people keep goats as pets/show animals rather than commercially, they are more likely to sell to someone they know - the two girls I bought where never 'for sale' as such but offered to me once the breeder knew I was serious about getting goats and prepared to wait and learn as much as possible.
I agree about the importance of registration and seeing proof before buying. I have heard of two suppposedly GG goats offered in a local paper which are not registered just the right colour. In my case buying registered show stock and using a good registered sire meant I was able to sell my two male kids for breeding and I already have an enquiry for next year.
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I can't get over the lack of For sale goats and the awful Breed sites.Very rarely do people include a photo and the breed sites seem to show a couple of show photo's of the annual show and just say contact us....er don't think so I like to see the goat first and contact the owner
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I agree that it is very difficult getting hold of Golden Guernseys and i was lucky enough to inherit mine from a friend who was having to give them up. I have a lovely GG nanny and her half sister (the former is registered, the latter is only on the Identification Register, but has been put to an excellent pedigree billy with full paperwork, so hopefully we will have some lovely little kids come March 2013. We are near Bristol and close to the motorway, so if you want me to let you know when they are born send me an email to jules@mumbleysfarmhouse.co.uk and there are photos of the nannies on my website www.mumbleysfarmhouse.co.uk (http://www.mumbleysfarmhouse.co.uk), though not very many yet, sorry...
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There is a big breeder down your way I think. Can't remember his name and I know he had a long waiting list. He would only sell pairs I think, a doe and a wether comes to mind. Maybe Anke knows him?
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PENBORN GOAT FARM (http://www.penborngoats.com/) is the one I think you are on about very good, went to him for a course and found it useful
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Yep that's the one.