2ft—Laßcastar Farming, Saturday, March 25,1978
Baby goats make good Easter pets -- no kidding
Bottle feeding two of their goat kids are Roberta, 11, (left) and Brenda
Dernier, 12. Each year the Demlers sell eight to 10 of their goat kids for Easter
pets.
By JOANNE SPAHR
NEWMANSTOWN - “My
wife gets upset when people
call and want a kid goat for
slaughter,” states Lewis
Dernier, Newmanstown Rl.
Dernier, a computer systems
analyst, has been raising
goats for four years and sell
ing kid goats at Easter for
three of those four. But,
unlike most animals involv
ed in the Easter trade,
Dernier’s goats don’t go for
Qlniidhtpr
‘Tdon’t bottle feed those
babies just to have
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somebody slaughter them,”
says quiet and demure Mrs.
Dernier with a defined firm
ness in her voice.
All told, the Demlers have
five does and one billy they
use to kid for Easter, and
their two children Roberta
and Brenda each have a
purebred animal they show
in 4-H. The Demlers’ Easter
animals are-crossbreds, and
from the five does they get
an average of eight to 10 kids
for sale as pets each Easter.
“They make good Easter
pets,” Dernier states.
“They’re good for children,
and people need gifts now
that chicks can’t be sold and
rabbits have to be eight
weeks of age.” Since the rab
bits are ready for slaughter
at 10 weeks old, there isn’t
much time for a child to en
joy that type of animal.
“Goats are also loveable,”
states Demler. “Although
you have to have a set-up for
a larger animal, a goat is a
handleablepet.”
The Demlers say rural
families purchase many of
their goats, and tell of one
-^l3
customer who owned a 30-
cow dairy and wanted a goat
for his child to play with and
milk, as well.
Goats are also favored as
pets because the owner gets
a fringe benefit - they’re
good for weed control. Goats
are not as good as sheep
when it comes to cleaning up
brush and scrub, but Demler
says they don’t have the odor
that sheep do, either.
The Demlers will “let go”
of their animals at six
weeks, but they prefer to
keep Qiem to eight weeks of
age. By that time the
animals are weaned.
To bring their animals to
the attention of interested in
dividuals, they run one
advertisement a year and
find that they have to turn
people down every year. Ac
cording to Demler, most peo
ple prefer billies because
they incorrectly assume that
a doe will have to be milked
when she gets older.
The prices the Demlers
ask are $3O for kids up to six
weeks and $35 to $4O over six
weeks. These prices are
higher than some at
livestock markets, but the
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Demlers can famish the
buyer with a health cer
tificate stating that the herd
is TB and brucellosis free.
“A lot of people don’t
realize they can go to
markets. And, if they do
realize' they can, they’re
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leery of what they’ll find
there,” he says.
Just as with other in
dividuals who sell the kids
for slaughter, the Demlers
find Easter the best time of
the year to market their
animals.
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