Boer Goats
 

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How many of you raise Boer goats? Can you talk about the breed and your markets?

Did you consider Kiko? Do you have Kikos? Do you run anything with your Boer goats for crosses?

Can anyone discuss the pros and cons of these breeds? Climate differences, personality differences, anything that can help a person understand all the differences of these breeds.

Boer seems to dominate the meat goat market. Are there other breeds that one should consider?


Thanks

It all depends on your market. If you don't have a goat market, you have to create one, if possible. If there is a market, check around and raise what the market demands.

Here, I sell them at the St. Joseph, MO Stockyards. They have one day per month that is devoted to sheep and goats. They always bring as much as if I could sell them privately and less headache. When selling there, they pay more for "meaty" looking goats such as the Boer and Boer cross.

So, since my market dictates Boers for higher prices, that's what I raise. I do have some Nubians and some Alpines. But, soon, other than the Boers, I'll have just Alpines and Boers and keep them purebred with no crossing.

The reason being that a Boer kid will grow and put on weight as fast as any breed of goat. Since most goats are sold for meat and Boers have more meat per animal, it only makes since that they dominate the meat market. Also, it helps that they can breed at any time of the year, unlike many breeds.

Thanks Paul. You and I keep crossing paths.

My opinions in red! :D

Good info here. I learned a thing or two!

Great question and I'm glad you asked this! We are just starting with boers, but we are not close to a goat area, dairy or meat, so I have been learning vicariously thru the internet about marketing when we are ready.

We are about 2 hours away from an area with a high population of goat eating cultures. I did go to an auction this past spring, was around easter, and 2 gentleman were bidding against each other for the limited goats available that day. They were the sorriest dairy goats I've ever seen, but they averaged $2/lb live weight, so I am going to investigate more and try to sell at the right time next year.

That is what I love about this board. Good info from good people.

Thanks all.

Had Boers for about 10 years, now have had kiko and kiko/nubian for about the last 5 yrs.

Finally gave up the boers when a buddy convinced me how much less work kikos were (he is a pretty big meat producer and had both also.) He was right. The boers were always wormy so needed worming more often, did better with feed than on just forage/hay and had major foot issues. They just weren't very hardy, and obviously they cost a lot more to raise. Bobbyb pointed out recently that maybe it's our hot humid climate, that they don't seem to have those problems in Texas where he is. I think he may be right. Anyway, the kiko do fantastic here, they're very worm resistant, do great on just forage and hay have great feet and we're much happier with them.

The kiko/nubian crosses have the best rich sweet milk, better than straight nubian. And they are big meaty things that grow fast.

It was hubby's idea to raise meat goats, and I've been thinking about getting a nubian. Perhaps this will convince him to throw one in the mix.

Thanks for the input. I was pondering a Kiko/LaMancha cross.

Will add that my Boers never got wormed more often than the rest of the herd. Twice a year at most. Some once a year.

my wethers are Kiko/Alpine cross, they are not very meaty looking at all lol

Where do you FIND a goat market? I don't even know where any livestock auctions are around here. I know there is a beef slaughter place, how do you find these things?

Google "livestock auctions New York"

I found these, but don't know where you live...

::Empire Livestock::

Welcome to Finger Lakes Livestock Ex Inc: One family, one location,our goal:BE THE BEST

and there were many more

We went a couple years with a nubian buck. Got a kiko again a few months ago. His first kids were just born - I had forgotten how bouncy and lively they are. I remember that's something the meat producers here like about them over boers - they say the kikos "hit the ground running."

Here's a source:

Goat Rancher | MARKETS

Like anything else, you have strong genetics & weak genetics. Good growth poor growth. Worm resistant or not.
Then you have management. Some throw em out there & never do much.
Not many Kikos here.
Find ethnic market. Preferably target your sales for ethnic holidays with animals ready to go on buyer's calender.
Unlike most white Americans, they want it fresh, not dug out of the freezer.

I've never had pure bred Boer because the purebreds that I could find around here just weren't as nice as the crosses. The folks around here I've talked to that did have them complained about the parasite problems and went back to crosses. You never see the awesome looking goats like what is advertised in Tx and western states here. A strapping buck of any apparent breed will easily bring $200+ at auction here so I'm not sure how worthwhile fretting over papers and private sales is. Heck, I sold a little 60lb mutt buck for 125 a few months ago. I've never seen pure kiko stock advertised closer than TN and to be honest most look like heavy built dairy goats to me. It seems most herds closer are relatively new and just building their stock so I'm not going to get anything decent. I have a KikoxBoer buck that I've crossed with a couple saanen does and and a couple smallish boerxspanish does. The kids from my dairy goats are definitely more substantial than dairy goats but not built with the rounded out look of having a boer or a boerx mom. The kids out of my boerx moms are right beefy looking....and I do loooove the long ears.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-L...buck.jpg?gl=US
I'd love something with papers but I'm just not going to pay more for a meat animal that isn't as nice as the unregistered one. Even if I could just find one that is equal I'd pay more. Anyway, my guy is a year old and other than I worry about him being overweight and in rut in this heat seems fine. My saanen does have been much more of a struggle with both parasites and require periodic foot care. His feet always look beautiful and I just wormed this guy for the first time since I bought him last year. Really he and my boerx does could have gone without the wormer but since my Saanens were having an issue with it I went ahead and did everyone. Ordinarily I would have just continued to watch but I'm 8 months prego myself plus 2 small human kids and can't be dealing with wrestling and worming goats by myself in this heat so I went ahead and did everyone while DH was available to help me catch. I think hybrid vigor is a fabulous thing.

KiKo Experience~None. Had a friend that replaced her Boer buck with a Kiko and loved the results.

We use Boer bucks on dairy breeds first. We had Nubian and Saanen girls. We kept back the doelings on these breedings and bred to Boer bucks. That is definitely the best for us. These girls milk great..but their kids are bulky blocks with legs on them..lol.

We also paid attention to the bucks, does and their offspring. One line of does we had was susceptible to worms. Get rid of that line and the worm issue was basically gone.

We also had some does that had feet that had to be trimmed. Changed our Boer buck for another one and the hooves straightened right out.

We sell at Kalona Sale Barn..Kalona Iowa. They love meat goats! Buyers from Chicago are there every Wednesday morning. We switched from selling six month old kids to 2-3 three month old kids. The money difference was pretty astounding and sure cut down on overhead for us.

The Boers and their crosses have done great in our state of extremes. They tolerate extreme frigid conditions as well as drought and extreme heat.

I love the Boer breed because while friendly..they are very independent and self sufficient. They have done us well and they don't owe us anything.

Hope you enjoy whatever breed you get!!

Sherry - You got it going on.... What are you averaging right now $-wise per on those 2-3 month-olds??

Last year we sold them for $2.00 a pound. They were like average 40-50 pounds. They were all bucks.

My replies are all numbered.

Last year, I put a Boer/Nubian buck to my dairy does. The babies look good. They are big and look well muscled. I bought a nice new full blood Boer buck to use on all my does...dairy/meat/crosses...and I expect good results.

I sold my Boer/Nubian at the sales barn and got $2/lb+ for him. He weighed about 150lbs at 2 years of age and I got $355 for him. Not bad at all. I live on the edge of a city of 1 million with a large population of goat eaters. The market here wants intact males weighing about 50 to 70 lbs with lots of white. They will also pay a premium for big meaty adult bucks.

I often go to the market and sit on my hands and watch the bidding. One day, a good sized black and white buck came into the ring. He looked up at the crowd and promptly fainted. The ring crew got him up and Bucky fainted again. Everyone laughed.
This nice looking buck finally sold for $25. What a shame since I see Mytonic breeding stock being advertised for much more.

The meat market here wants unblemished, prime animals and fainting is considered to be quite a flaw. So, even tho I like the look of blue eyed, black and white animals, I dont have a prayer of making any money with fainters in this area.

I am getting $1.75 lb live weight for selling straight to a meat processing source.

I love my dairy, but I can not make money off dairy, so the boers help support my habit.

I do not have any info on kikos.. but have looked at them once in awhile.

We have a Kiko and a Kiko/Boer cross. Sweetest tempered goats we have, heads above our small dairy herd as far as friendliness, and the Boer Cross is the sweeter of the two. The pure Kiko is a bit shy.

Both are darn tough on brush - will clear an area pretty fast. The Boer cross packs on the most meat though! Someone wiser than I once wrote that if you want to put the meat on, cross it with a Boer.

As far as the heartiness, I think the Kiko genetics add oomph! In our very wet area (Pac NW) we continually battle problems such as hoof rot and worms - so with limited housing, we leaned toward the Kiko since their native home (New Zealand) much mimicked our wet, temperate region. Our two don't seem to mind the rain near as much as their dairy counterparts *(who think they're made of spun sugar!)

Our Kiko breeder has lost her health and is getting out of her herd with regret.Seems to have some beautiful animals. Last stocked a starter herd in Canada. She ships if you're truly interested. PM me, and I'll send you her contact info.