Standard breeds with minis?

[IndyGardenGal]

How many of you run minis with standard sized goats? We were supposed to be getting a doe in milk, but it fell through. We are back to searching. We may stick with trying to find another Alpine, but DH found a mini mancha he liked the looks of.

Is it a bad idea to keep a mini with my Alpine girls?

[thaiblue12]

I have them together and it is just fine. True my girls and can do walk under the big ones but there is no fighting or stomping of the smaller ones. There was of course the usual herd pecking order butting in the beginning when you bring any new goat home, but the minis can hit pretty hard too and stick up for themselves.
I have Nubians, Nigies and mini Nubians all together.

[deineria]

They will be fine as long as you aren't running a full sized buck with mini does. Otherwise, I keep both, and they are totally ok.

[mygoat]

If you keep a full size buck at any point in the future, you will want his pen to be VERY strong. If he bred a yearling miniature or a nigerian you has in your breeding program (depending on the doe of course), she would have a good chance of dying. Of course, all buck pens should be as strong as is possible anyways.

I have itty bitty miniature goats in with my alpines. I only currently have one full size wether but am bringing home 2 french alpines and 6 boers in the very near future - who will be introduced to the main herd after a few weeks of isolation, of course. The only separation I may do is simply to the benefit of my pregnant does and/or young kids, as I worry that the stress of more than doubling the herd will increase the likelihood of injury a LOT - and I'd rather keep frail kids and late pregnancy miniatures out of the way if at all possible. But, note that it is more to accommodate for their condition and not their size. I've had the same herd queen, Daisy, forever - she's a 8 year old miniature doe. I don't know how long she can keep up the herd queen status, but it'll likely be age not size that brings her down.