Short's Livestock
Welcome to the Ranch!
Hello! We are Dewey and Addie Short. Short's Livestock is located on about 200 beautiful acres in central Texas. We started with spanish and spanish crossed goats in the mid 70's, to help control the brush. We added boer and pygmy goats in the 80's, and thats when we also got into limousin cattle. Goats and cattle are the perfect combination, goats prefer browse, and cattle like the grass. Over the years we just let mother nature take it's course, and wound up with all different combinations of goats. One thing always remained the same, the boer and pygmys always required more maintenance than any of the other goats. Watching over the nannies in the winter during kidding season to assist with birthing or to make certain the babies were not abandoned in the freezing
House: (254) 893-4690
Cell: (254) 842-1813
www.shortslivestock.com
Dewey & Addie Short
weather became second nature to us. It was always terrible to go out on a winter morning to find a kid frozen to death because the mother had left it. One day I read an article in Goat Rancher Magazine about "KIKO" goats. Kikos came from New Zealand where breeders crossed feral goats with dairy goats to develop a hardier, faster growing meat goat that required little or no human intervention.They were bred to be more parasite resistant, have good mothering abilities resulting in a lower maintenance goat. We decided to give them a try. We purchased two "bottle baby" Kikos. Some people won't bother with bottle babies, but with a little time and effort, they can make excellent additions to your herd. Since our "bottle babies" we have added several more does and two 100% Kiko bucks to our herd. Our first kidding season with the Kikos was great! Those does did exactly what they were suppose to, with no help from us. Many of the qualities we had heard about rang true. That's not to say that you won't ever have to worm, or trim hooves on your Kikos, you might, but you will do much less of it. We bred our Boer and Boer crosses to our Kiko sires, and the results were great! Those crosses have grown so fast it's hard to tell them from some of our two year olds. From the commercial meat goat standpoint, that's exactly what you're breeding for. We've had goats for a long time, and one thing we've learned is that you NEVER stop learning. Something new will pop up, seems like every day, and if you don't know the answer, there is always other "goat people" who have probably had the same problem who are glad to share their their knowledge. Our ranch is a popular destination with our neighbors and family and friends. The children (and some adults) love playing with the goats, and the goats love the attention. We are truly "Living our Dream" here in DeLeon, TX. Come see us!
"LIVING THE DREAM"
in DeLeon, TX
