dual purpose goats

**mygoat** · #21 02/05/08, 12:18 PM

I don't think that boers have the highest butterfat. That would go to the pygmies, nigies, and kinders.

susanne · #22 02/05/08, 12:43 PM

when we bought our little farm five years ago, we wanted to raise our own supply of milk, meat veggies and eggs. i looked into cows but they seemed to have way too much milk to handle for a beginner and way too much floppy cow poop to clean. we thought about getting sheep but i did not want to deal with the yearly shearing of the animals. this lead us to goats. since i'm not exactly the tallest person (5.0 and shrinking

), i have a favor for the tallest animal in their groups. means when we got our cats , we needed main coons, our chickens are langshan and maran, our dog is imported german shepherd (big Guy) so our goats needed to be big too and came with good amount of milk. for us this was the Nubian and still is. i have a line of nubian that is getting very tall and are way over 100# when they reach breeding age. the boys have good meat to bone ratio when they are getting butchered.
Nubian kids and milkers are in demand, kids sell for a good price. milk taste very sweet and has very good amount of butterfat and protein, good for making cheese and yogurt.
i do not want another breed

but that is just me

chicamarun · #23 02/05/08, 01:02 PM

I got some 2nd generation Nubian/Boer crosses - excellent temperment and the kids (that I saw at the farm from similar looking does) look like little boer's - which works well for our human kids <G> for their 4-H projects (the boer LOOK needs to be there for the shows).

ozark_jewels · #24 02/05/08, 01:17 PM

For a dual-purpose goat I would keep either Lamancha or Nubian does. You can breed them to a buck of the same breed or breed them to a Boer. I have crossbred just about every breed of goat I have ever owned with a Boer and they do not have kidding problems. Unless you are dealing with a Boer who throws HUGE heads or some very narrow dairy does....neither of which you want anyway.
If you breed your Lamancha or Nubian does to a Lamancha or Nubian bucks, you will have a good market for the doelings and you can eat all the bucklings. They have plenty of meat on them for the average family.
Or if you decide to go with a Boer buck.....all good there too. I think I would decide that on my area market. If your area is largely meat goat, probably go with a Boer buck. If your market is better for dairy doelings, go with the dairy bucks.
I reccomend Lamancha or Nubians because they have the meatier carcasses than most swiss breeds. Saanans cross well with the Boers too, but if your planning on using pure dairy stock for milk and meat, I'd go with Lamancha or Nubian.
Just what I'd do.

copperpennykids · #25 02/05/08, 02:18 PM

Not to pick on the Lamanchas, but when crossed with a Boer, you still don't get the ears. (That earless trait is very dominant!) If the meat is just for your family, pick what you like, but people who want Boers and Boer Xs, be it for show (even wethers) or breeding, folks just don't want their Boers to have no ears.

One gal was telling me recently that when Hispanics come to pick up extra kids for butcher they won't even look at the Lamancha crosses. Dumb, but true.

ozark_jewels · #26 02/05/08, 02:47 PM

That is where you have to look at your market. I don't have any trouble selling the LaBoers. Even to the few mexican meat buyers I have had. They pack on the lbs and they grow fast. I breed them and sell them for breeding and eating.

Goat Servant · #27 02/05/08, 05:45 PM

Have heard that Boers have high butterfat too. Have not tasted the milk yet, maybe this yr I will steal some! As for the lactation period, I don't think mine would wean on their own if they had a say in it. I cut them off at 6mos.
Las yr no problems with Nubian having her 50%s except head only presentation.

MisFitFarm · #28 02/05/08, 09:26 PM

We actually milked some of our Boers to supplement bottle babies last year, and tried it ourselves. The milk tasted great, and when we made butter with it, it was actually the best butter I had tasted in a long time.

goatkid · #29 02/06/08, 12:06 AM

I have bred Boer bucks to both Nubians and La Manchas and the does did not have any trouble kidding. At the auctions where I've sold my wethers, they have gone for the same price per pound, regardless of ears. What the buyers were looking for was meat on the animal. I sometimes get less for pure dairy wethers, but the Nubians and La Manchas seem to bring more than the Swiss breeds.
All my Nubians have good tasting milk. Boers can be milked. My friend milked both fullbloods and percentages along with her dairy breeds when she ran a commercial dairy. Boers have higher butterfat, but a shorter lactation.
Many of today's Boers are descended from goats who arrived in the US as embryos implanted in dairy goats. The Boers were not implanted into Nubians to improve the line. People were not allowed to import Boers from Africa due to our health laws. We were allowed to import dairy goats from Canada. Thus Boer embryos were implanted into the dairy goats, and the does were then imported to the US, where they kidded and started our Boer foundation stock.

tailwagging · #30 02/06/08, 07:36 AM

How interesting!!

Trey · #31 02/06/08, 08:26 AM

I will second the boer buck on nubian does. They both have a roman nose and long ears, so your kids are more consistant, and still go in the 4-4 ring and do well with them. Most of my does are a small percentage nubian, up to 25%, and I think one 50%. They are great moms, and have good udders if you would want to milk. The boers do have a huge amount of butterfat in the milk, I will look it up,this is why the kids grow so fast.