What kind of goats are these????
 

Hi folks,
Now that my two darlings are old enough/big enough to breed, I'd like to find a billy that looks like their breed..but I don't know what they are!
As far as I can tell, my goats are the most beautiful goats in the world... (grin)

Their most striking feature is their faces- they have HUGE, doey eyes and a broad, DISHED forehead, that tapers down into a TINY muzzle....TINY!! I consider them the "Arabian" of the goat world. "triangular" is the term DH uses....
They have rigid ears- slighty higher than horizontal, and horns that sweep up and back in a slight curve, like a banana. They both weigh about 70 lbs. One is solid silver color with faint white stripes from her eyes, down her face. The other is like "Agouti"- mixed hairs of brown,black, and white that visually look like brown, with an off-white/tan belly and black stripes from her eyes down her face.
They are cousins AND half-sisters: their mothers were sisters, and their father was the same. (no, I'm not in alabama.... ;-)
Any ideas where they got the gorgeous faces??? And what breed of Billy would compliment and continue that dishy-faced/tiny muzzle trend??

Thanks! -Jill

Can you post a Pic of them. That would help alot.

Tina

how to post a picture..???
 

Help! I have pics of the silver one...just not sure how to post them....

That's not funny.
:haha:

IF you had a picture that would help alot. now how tall are they?
because a pygmy at 70 pounds is big enough to breed, but an alpine, or nubian, at that weight is not. a full sized goat, should be about 90 to a hundred pounds before breeding.
see what I am saying? so I guess we need a picture before we can help you out.

Oh My! I thought for sure they were 'ready'.....How should I judge their weight most accurately? The smaller one is actually the older one- almost 1.5 yrs. The larger silver will be 1 yr. in April....

PLEASE- someone tell me how to post their pictures!

Just from your description, coupled with their ages and weights, I would guess they are either Pygmy or part pygmy. They should be fine to breed in that case, but you'll want to find a small buck to breed them to. Don't breed them to a full-sized buck.

Kathleen

Did anyone see the cover of Dairy goat journal recently? On the website there is a pic with a super black striking Nubian? goat. Its a funky looking beast compared to what I have experienced. Funky but strikingly fascinating....

Is it really a nubian?

Maybe jill can send her pic to someone who knows how to post???

Jill, do you have the pictures posted on another site, like webshots, or Yahoo!?
If your photo is up soemwhere else or you would like to e-mail it to me I could post it for you.

SkyLark_RKR@yahoo.com

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ennecoffee.jpg
This would be Cayenne in the background and Coffee with Jill, I am assuming, in the front.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...KR/cayenne.jpg
This is Cayenne.

"The silver/grey goat is Cayenne; she'll be 1 yr in April and is 28" from the ground to the back of her neck (2 inches higher in the rump). The little brown one, Coffee, is 1.5 yrs old and shorter by 3-4 inches (but weighs about the same) Coffee is SPECIAL; she probably shouldn't factor into the determination- her mother refused her at birth but suckled her twin (the twin is now 2x her size and a 'normal goat' in every way- even out-grew their mother); Coffee was weak and couldn't walk for almost a week while we bottled-fed her with her own mother's milk; she eventually started to function like a normal goat, but has always been pretty "slow" to catch on to things AND slow to grow and develop. Some people have said that she might be a "true" dwarf; not just a small goat, but actually having the dwarf gene (which would be why her mother refused her, and would explain the big head, enlarged, knobby joints, etc). I will probably only breed Cayenne, unless someone can assure me that the kids from Coffee won't be weak like she was..."


Iris had triplet does two years ago and refused to raise any of them as she was helping her daughter raise her sons. We were afraid we were going to lose Marble. She had to be tubed and had some problems with walking and maturing. She settled (a little earlier than we had wanted) and had a successful kidding last year and I am waiting for her right now. She is going to kid within the next month. She isn't quite as thrifty as the other does but she has done fairly well. Except that she laid on her kid last year when he was two weeks old an smothered him. Her kid was as healthy as any of the others.
In the end it is your decision though. You know the animal betetr than anyone ehre.

I dont know what they are but I have 3 on my farm. Thay look just like yours! So, if yu find out, please let me know!
Thanks
Christina

Hey, Coffee looks a little bit like my Pipi. I'm trying to find out what Pipi is too. Pipi has the color of a Nubian though. She's like the brown/tan ones with the white spot on the sides. Pipi has that dark face though and black on the legs up to the knee.

To me the look like a likely cross between breeds... perhaps Mini-Alpine (ND X Alpine). Just a guess though.

Trisha-MN

[QUOTE=jill.costello] (no, I'm not in alabama.... ;-)

They look like Texas honor students to me...

[QUOTE=SamStone]You're right; good thing I'm from Wisconsin.

My bad, they're hard to identify without all of the relevant information. They must be Wisconsin cheerleaders.

I looked Pipi over again. No, she doesn't have to black legs. What was I thinking? Pipi has buff colored legs. Her udder is larger than the little nubians I'mmilking right now and she lets down nicely. She's sweet. I have a little buck kid fom her that is 2 days old.

Well, I'm leaning toward Alpine-influence....

I'm in Central Texas and would like to breed Cayenne; anyone know of a pretty-headed buck who's not too big? anywhere within 200 miles of Temple???

How expensive is AI for goats? I would pay $$ for her to have kids with as pretty a face as her......and I LOVE the airplane/yoda ears!

They look like my doe Ivy. SHe is an Alpine/Nubian cross.

They look like my Baby Girl and she's an Alpine grade....somewhere around 95% but a grade nonetheless. My Baby is also tiny - shorter than some pygmys with "yoda" ears. Unfortunately she was bred to a full blood boer before I got her and I am waiting with real trepidation to see if it took. Anyway, they are beautiful.

Thanks Cricket, and everyone.... I think that at a minimum, I should stay within the dairy breeds if I want to keep those gorgeous faces; my goaties are pets first, weedwackers second, dog tormentors third (my poor German Shepherd...walks around like he's waiting for the end of the world...), and at a straggling last: milk/kid producers. So I don't need a buck with good milking lines or great conformation....STILL taking applications for a date w/Cayenne, everyone...........

Oh, and about my poor dog; that's all Cayenne's doing, Coffee won't lower herself; Cayenne absolutely teases that poor beast- she will STALK him, run him up onto our porch, and then knock him off! You should see her with her back hairs all standing on end, her tail curled tight over her back, and her horns deep in the side of a 110 lb German Shepherd Stud Dog! I tell her over and over "Cayenne, one day that dog will be at the end of his patience and you'll be one dead goatie". She just flips her tail, does a BACK FLIP up off her favorite wall, and trots off. (my girls are "free-range goats"....they go anywhere on the property they please, nap on the porch, and put themselves away in their stall before dark, no kidding)

I am in a perpetual state of mirth. What a life.

Have you thought about breeding them to a Nigerian Dwarf buck? I bet that would give you some really pretty babies with that dished face. :)

AI isn't really expensive IF (big if around here) you can find someone who "does goats"! The cattle AI guys tend to look down their noses at goat breeding :roll eyes:

It gets spendy if you decide to get your own AI equipment and do your own breeding. The nitrogen tank is about $500, nitrogen recharging is about $35 every 4 months or so, the AI kit is about $150, the stand and sling will run you about 200. or so, ready-made, less if you're handy with tools and a sewing machine. That's before you ever buy a straw of semen or take a class in AI technique. It's also not foolproof, especially when you're first learning. If your doe doesn't settle, you still need a backup, live buck.

The advantages, of course, include not having to keep a buck on site (provided there is a buck available locally for that backup breeding if needed), and access to wonderful bucks from across the country and beyond. That's especially nice if you have does of different breeds or does which need improvement in different areas. One buck doesn't fit all :) and it's nice to be able to use just the buck to add milking ability to one doe, and a different buck to add refinement through the neck and levelness in the topline to another doe.

they look to me like Alpines, might have nigerian dqarf in them as well. they aren't pygmy.
they very easily could be nigerian dwarf, and alpine mix. that is what I wouodl say..

I would have to say they are a dairy breed mixed with a miniature breed as they arent the size that a dairy breed cross would result in.

I would breed to a smaller buck. For example, a Nigerian Dwarf.