Keoni said:
Well first off hiiii neighbor lol I’m in NW/Central almost Arkansas :D

I can give you My aspect on goats since that’s what I used to raise ;) *deep breathe lol*

So firstly it of course depends on if you want them for milk aka dairy, or meat production :)

So if you are looking for dairy, production and great milk taste wise personally well depends on firstly if you want small goats or big. So Milk wise: Nigerians are good small goats for milk and show. They’re sweet and have the bonus of kidding triples often well 1-4 at a time but honestly I had a hard time selling due to the sheer number of them for sale here...it took me months to sell a $300 show girl for 200. Nigis also cycle year round so you can breed them to kid at any time you want which can work well if you want a doe in milk all year.

Really for high milk production and a bigger goat I would recommend Nubians. They’re popular and seem to sell pretty well here as well. A good doe can milk a galllon or even more. I have a breeder friend who raises and sells them (high quality papered) for 400+. 2-3 kids is also common and they cycle in the fall so you’ll kid out in the spring and they seem willing to stay in milk all year if you keep milking. Some people will say theyÂ’re annoying and loud well in my opinion all goats are loud especially when itÂ’s feeding time lol

For inbetween sized and non papered, though don’t get me wrong some are papered, Mini-Nubians are amazing. Their milk is so good and they are pretty stinking cute lol it’s just a cross between Nigerians and Nubians which gives the milk a nice flavoring and they seem to be hardy or at least the ones I had were

Course for any breed papers arenÂ’t necessary if itÂ’s just for milk, nigis seem hardly worth the effort for me to paper, Nubians do good either way, and most mini nubians arenÂ’t papered since itÂ’s a so called new breed but theyÂ’re getting popular as well

Now for meat, I haven’t raised many meat goats (just a handful of pet 4h wethers) but from what I personally see breeds (whether papered or not) like Boer, Texmaster, Kiko, and Spanish do pretty well. Don’t really need purebred, crosses of any of those tend to be real hardy animals that can also bring in nice market prices. Most people I know that have them take them to sale by the pound rather than somewhere like fb and tend to get a nice chunk of money that way. If I tried them I would wether all my boys and fatten them up nice and send them to sales as well as offer them for 4H projects before hand, the nice ones that would show well anyways, boer especially. Girls IÂ’d keep or see about selling as well, probably more on somewhere like fb or a swap if not then market as well.

I always feel like the milk breeds are more hands on while the meat you just kinda feed, make sure they’re ok, and they do well on thier own but that’s just me. For instance, nigerians can have soo many issues lol over and over, from experience, lil stress equals worms, too much rain equals coccidia, etc. Texmaster for ex seem a lot more parasite resistance and require less worming and worrying about which is nice

Anyways not sure if that helped but yeah, goats XD

Mondor Ridge said:
Alright, this is my disclaimer: I live on a farming ranch and I know from experiancs how hard working on it can be. It is a 24/7 365 day job. You don't get holidays off, or vactions. Your livestock still need to be fed, watered and bedded. It is a very rewarding job but if you are in it for money, it isn't the place for you.

Cattle breeds:

We run purebred Hereford and hereford shorthorn crosses on our ranch, I love these breeds because they are easier to work with. Herefords are known for their gentle nature, and Shorthorns are known for their large milk bags. I am pretty neutral when it comes to angus. I personally don't like Limousin, my uncle runs them and had to shoot over one of his cows heads to scare her away from her dying calf so he could treat it. He did NOT shoot the cow.

Horse breeds:

If you are looking for a versitle, all round horse with cow sense, American Quarter horse is the way to go. I also like Throughbred crossed with AQH, they tend to have a bit more 'go' but still have cow sense. Morgans are great all round horses, and come in many sizes, they would be great with kids, but don't have natural cow sense. Freisians are beautiful, something no one can deny! But they aren't a good ranch horse. Mustangs are alright, they tend to have a bit more cow sense than your average horse but unfortunaly they are basically a mutt breed and tend to have conformation faults that can cause health problems.

Chicken breeds:

We currently have heritage breeds, there are so many! They are all different kinds of colours and depending on the breed can lay speckled, brown, white or even green eggs! The eggs also come in many different shapes and sizes. Heritage breeds tend to be more gentle and caring and are better mothers. We also have ginnea hens and ducks. I love ducks!

Your regular white and brown leghorns will do the laying trick if thats what you are looking for, however.

Meat chickens are awesome! Who doesn't like raising their own meat?

Before you start teaching others about how to care for animals, make sure to get settled and make sure you may have any qualifications needed. Some groups require a teacher to have specific certificates.

*sorry for bad grammer and spelling*

Mondor Ridge said:
Heritage breeds are showing breeds :)

https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/heritage-chicken

They are much more flashy than Leghorns which are your standard layers. They also lay different coloured eggs, with different sizes. They still lay of course, but don't tend to be meat breeds. However there are a few exceptions. Heritage breeds tend to be more durable compared to Leghorns, enduring the heat and cold better than other breeds, with exceptions of course.

One of my favourite heritage breed is the Bantam:

https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/bantam-chickens/

They are very hardy and soo cute! They are smaller and lay smaller, more colourful eggs, they are great mothers. They also 'purr' by vibrating once they are comfortable with their human.

If you have any other questions about anything, feel free to pm me!

TwistedT said:
Arkansas tho. 🥰