What is your favorite dairy goat breed?

prairiedog · #21 02/05/11, 06:04 PM

LaMancha hands down for me

copperpennykids · #22 02/05/11, 06:14 PM

Saanens. Easy going, super generous on the milk stand, beautiful little angel babies.

I admire a fine animal of any breed, but tend to like big beautiful Alpines quite a bit. Now their personality....well, I wouldn't want to have my beautiful Saanens bullied by a prima donna Alpine, so I guess I'll just admire from a distance, LOL.

Love our Boers (maybe get an ear fix there - but Boers are quiet!), but Saanens are my first love.

Charleen · #23 02/05/11, 06:55 PM

Nothing but oberhasli here now. We've had saanens and alpines in the past. I've babysat lamanchas, but the herd is entirely oberhasli now.

ps - The plural of oberhasli is oberhasli. Just like the plural of deer is deer.

pookshollow · #24 02/05/11, 07:17 PM

Love my Saanens - lots of milk, quiet calm personalities. Their milk is very good. I have one Nubian - dumb as a post! Every single time I milked her last year, I had to tie her legs to the milkstand or she'd kick the pail.

She's very quiet for a Nubian though, and affectionate. My FF Saanen jumped up on the stand, squatted and ate her grain the first time I milked her, and has never once offered to kick.

I've had a couple of LaManchas too, and not too impressed with their intelligence either. One would lie right up against the stall door, and fall out every time I opened it.

I do like my Nigies - this will be the first year that I will be milking them. I have a Saanen/Nigie cross that I've milked and her milk is very rich.

The Tin Mom · #25 02/05/11, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gracie88

Funny, my favorite goat is Lamancha x Ober. She's the sweetest thing on 4 legs. I really like my LaManchas. I like the look of ears better, but my girls are sweet and quiet and sturdy and mellow. My neighbor's Nubians are nice, so I know it's theoretically possible, but my one Nubian mix is my one noisy nutcase and she's kind of soured me on them.

I am going to have some of those this spring! I am very excited to see how they turn out. I hadn't ever heard of a LaMancha/ Obie cross but figured since my Obie doeling was the biggest kid last year that her dam could handle any LaMancha mix babies.

Both the doeling & her mama are huge. Hopefully I will have four little cross babies around the first of March!

The Tin Mom · #26 02/05/11, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pookshollow

I've had a couple of LaManchas too, and not too impressed with their intelligence either. One would lie right up against the stall door, and fall out every time I opened it.

LOL! My munchies are so smart they have figured out how to open the gate (only happens when one of them is in heat - but they all take advantage of the open gate & hang out around the buck pen - right next to my garden). We have started putting an extra lock on the gate latch!

southerngurl · #27 02/05/11, 10:58 PM

I have loved nubians from the start and still do

Oat Bucket Farm · #28 02/05/11, 11:01 PM

We have special extra latches on our gates too because they are too smart for their own good. Especially Tally who's nick name is mouth because she is after everything and undoing everything she gets her mouth on,lol.

The Tin Mom · #29 02/05/11, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oat Bucket Farm

We have special extra latches on our gates too because they are too smart for their own good. Especially Tally who's nick name is mouth because she is after everything and undoing everything she gets her mouth on,lol.

LOL! Does Tally do shoelaces? Tally looks a lot like my Cami & Cami's specialty is untying shoelaces.

Yesterday Monkey figured out the zipper on my coveralls. Had it down from my hip to my knee before I realized what she was doing. I zipped it back up & she unzipped it again. Very drafty!!!

Oat Bucket Farm · #30 02/05/11, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Tin Mom

LOL! Does Tally do shoelaces? Tally looks a lot like my Cami & Cami's specialty is untying shoelaces.

Yesterday Monkey figured out the zipper on my coveralls. Had it down from my hip to my knee before I realized what she was doing. I zipped it back up & she unzipped it again. Very drafty!!!

No, not shoelaces, Tally's specialty is untying the fence from the posts. We tie the cattle panels to the t-posts with baling twine. And she unties it. We tie it back. She unties it. We are talking double and triple knots. She works at them until she has them undone though.

Pony · #31 02/05/11, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oat Bucket Farm

No, not shoelaces, Tally's specialty is untying the fence from the posts. We tie the cattle panels to the t-posts with baling twine. And she unties it. We tie it back. She unties it. We are talking double and triple knots. She works at them until she has them undone though.

And you are ENCOURAGING people to get these goats? Srsly??

I have enough to do with my bright Nubians. I don't need Houdini-goats to keep me busy the other two waking minutes of my day.

The Tin Mom · #32 02/05/11, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oat Bucket Farm

No, not shoelaces, Tally's specialty is untying the fence from the posts. We tie the cattle panels to the t-posts with baling twine. And she unties it. We tie it back. She unties it. We are talking double and triple knots. She works at them until she has them undone though.

Shoelaces on a larger scale! LOL!! I think it may be Hershey that looks like Chameleon - still too smart!!!! LOL!:

The Tin Mom · #33 02/05/11, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pony

And you are ENCOURAGING people to get these goats? Srsly??

I have enough to do with my bright Nubians. I don't need Houdini-goats to keep me busy the other two waking minutes of my day.

LOL! But they are so very sweet!

Jcran · #34 02/06/11, 01:31 AM

One of our FAIR friend shared that his LaMancha learned how to lift gate latches, and at the REDGA show in Santa Rosa, California, let herself out of her show pen, and then proceeded to walk down the 50-foot barn aisle, letting every one out along the way. I thought that was pretty impressive! I must say those sturdy round LaManchas are a hoot.

Oat Bucket Farm · #35 02/06/11, 10:31 AM

LOL, that is why we have extra latches on the gates.

Alice In TX/MO · #36 02/06/11, 10:33 AM

All of my gates and doors for goats have two different kinds of latches on each one.

Heritagefarm · #37 02/06/11, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pony

And you are ENCOURAGING people to get these goats? Srsly??

I have enough to do with my bright Nubians. I don't need Houdini-goats to keep me busy the other two waking minutes of my day.

Nubians are the trouble makers... LaManchas are peace-makers.

Our goats only get out when I forget to latch the pedestrian gates.

FoxyWench · #38 02/06/11, 07:54 PM

i want nubians and lamanchas when i get my herd together

francismilker · #39 02/06/11, 08:02 PM

I was always a Nubian fan because they seem to be the Jersey cow of the dairy goats but I really like the looks of the udder my son's Alpine is making prior to her first freshening. Looks like she'll be an easy handmilker.

KnowOneSpecial · #40 02/06/11, 08:06 PM

Saanens. I could like Lamancha's, but the who ear thing freaks me out. My second favorite are my Snubians. I have two that have "earplanes" and they just make me giggle!