What would you do...breeding this fall?

Lada · #1 07/15/10, 01:12 PM

I have three does - a Nubian and two mostly-Obers. The two Obers have never been bred, and are just over a year old. However, their mother I had as a ff and she milked wonderfully, so I'm not worried about their production as FFs. I know I will breed the Nubian, but am torn between breeding her to a Boer or a Nubian. If I breed her to the Boer, I would have a nice meaty kid, and hopefully have a good cross doe to keep to breed back next year and have even more meaty kids. If I breed to a Nubian, then I would have register-able kids to sell. However, I do not do the show circuit, so the registration would really just be a piece of paper, although I do know people will pay more for papers even without the showing to go behind it.

Then, what to do with the others? Honestly, I don't want to be milking three does. I had kept them thinking I would breed and milk them, but not BOTH of them, lol! I could try to sell one, and keep and breed the other, maybe be able to sell her kids since she does have good milking lines behind her, but she's a mutt, sooooo.... And then if I do try to sell one of the does, should I just breed her this fall anyway since I'd get more out of her if she were in milk?

Gah, I'm giving myself a headache.

nehimama · #2 07/15/10, 04:45 PM

Gah! is right! So many options! If it were me, I think I might breed the Nubian to a Nubian, and the mostly-obers to the Boer, but at staggered times, so as to have milk year round. But that's just my two cents. Hope you can figure out something that works out right for you.

CaliannG · #3 07/15/10, 05:16 PM

Breed the mutts to a Boer and the Nubian to a Nubian. A doe in milk will ALWAYS fetch more than a dry doe.....and then you will have meaty mutt kids to eat, and registered Nubian kids to sell.

libbypayne8 · #4 07/15/10, 09:31 PM

I agree with CaliannG. Papers will give you more valuable kids. Mutts can be great, but people don't want to pay for them. Keep the mutts mutts for meat and the papers papered for the cash. Just my thoughts...

Lada · #5 07/15/10, 10:47 PM

I was worried about the smallish Obers being young, and Obers, whether or not they'd have problems delivering a big boer kid...

Lada · #6 07/22/10, 12:22 PM

Anyone able to chime in on breeding a ff Ober to a Boer? I had always thought that Boers were the HUGE things, but reading another post it seems that they wouldn't be any bigger than the Alpine I was planning on breeding them to....

pygmybabies · #7 07/22/10, 01:19 PM

Lada...you almost sound like me! gave myself a headache too!

Backfourty,MI. · #8 07/22/10, 03:14 PM

I would breed the nubian to the nubian & sell what ever kids you don't want to keep. Granted they won't have as much meat on them but they will still have enough if you don't sell all of them & truly want to butcher one. The doe you wouldn't have to milk if your already milking 2 others. Let her dam raise her kids & then dry up as you wean them to sell.

As for the Ober's, I'm not sure how big they are so I don't know which buck I'd breed them too. If it were me after I decided which one to breed them too I would sell any kids you don't want to keep for butchering & let the doe dam raise the kids if you don't want to milk her & then dry her up when you wean the kids.

I never milk any of my doe's, because I choose not too. I dam raise the kids until old enough to wean & then sell all the kids.

ozark_jewels · #9 07/22/10, 03:32 PM

Depends on the Boer buck. Some throw massive kids, some throw quite medium-sized kids. Get a kid history on your buck and kidding ease on the does he was bred too.
Boer kids do tend to have wide shoulders and a broad head, so be sure your does are not narrow or they may have trouble delivering. Alpines also tend to have wide kids with big heads so the comparison is about right. But the Obers I have seen were not really large as yearlings, so I'd base my decision on the size of my yearlings.
You not only want them to be big enough to be bred, but you want them to have width on them too.
I bred my Boer buck to dairy doelings quite a few times. But I knew my buck and the type kids he threw.
Yours are yearlings, so unless they are especially small, or your buck throws especially big kids, I'd think they should be fine.

CaliannG · #10 07/22/10, 03:38 PM

Let there be You Tube!

A video of Ober/Boer cross kids playing. The lady also has a video up of their birth...the boy was HUGE (10.22lbs!) and needed to be pulled. His sister was normal sized.

This little girl is for sale:

http://luckywranch4.blogspot.com/2008/05/tink.html

Here is a homesteading site that discusses cross breeds:

http://67.222.53.210/frontierfreedom...ask=view&id=81

That place is where I discovered that the Ober/Boer cross is being called "O'Boers".

Here is a document from a course on meat goats, which has a section on out crossing Boer bucks to dairy breeds, including Obers. The reason for this is that cross breeds actually produce better carcasses than pure-bloods, and also because dairy does are better mothers than Boer does.

http://www.ssawg.org/ConfPres2007/Go...roceedings.pdf

Hope all of that helps.

Edited to add: As with any breed, you have the chance of getting an oversized kid, especially with a single birth. However, I don't think the risk is any greater or lesser than with any other standard-size breed.

Lada · #11 07/22/10, 03:57 PM

Thanks Calli! Wow, those are some stinkin' cute kids!

O'Boers!!! I love it!!!

Pony · #12 07/22/10, 03:58 PM

Breed 'em all to the Nubian buck. Then, if the FF's do well this year, breed them to the Boer next time out. The kids you put in the freezer may be a little less meaty, but you'll still get plenty to eat.

Lada · #13 07/22/10, 04:05 PM

You know, that's what I'm leaning toward the longer I think about it. For one thing, I can use the Nubian buck for free! So whatever kids I get, if I choose to send them to freezer camp...are basically very cheap (almost free, really, minus milk and a little grain) meat. Secondly, I can just bring the buck here and not have to worry about separating out the Obers while breeding the Nubian.

ozark_jewels · #14 07/22/10, 04:11 PM

I agree. I have seen Boer bucks throw kids with huge heads and if you have no prior experience with said buck......Go with the Nubian.
I just sold three purebred Nubian wether kids that were dam-raised. They browsed, drank milk from their mother and stole a bit of their mothers grain. Thats it. The February wether was almost 80 lbs. The March wethers were 60 lbs. Plenty of meat for the little I had in them.

Pony · #15 07/22/10, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

I agree. I have seen Boer bucks throw kids with huge heads and if you have no prior experience with said buck......Go with the Nubian.
I just sold three purebred Nubian wether kids that were dam-raised. They browsed, drank milk from their mother and stole a bit of their mothers grain. Thats it. The February wether was almost 80 lbs. The March wethers were 60 lbs. Plenty of meat for the little I had in them.

If this heat ever lets up, we'll butcher Cabrito the Wether Boy this weekend. He's taking up too much milk that I'd like to keep in the freezer. OTOH, he's still saving me from the evening milking.

I think I'm going to have to ask Nick to do the actual dispatching. In my efforts to make sure he had a happy (though short) life, well... I may have gotten a teensie-weensie bit attached. Hard to send him to "camp" when he comes running up to me every time I go out there.

Pony · #16 07/22/10, 05:23 PM

Uh... Sorry for the hijack.

Umm... how to get back on topic?

Oh!

Cabrito would have been larger if he'd been half Boer, but Trub would have been in a world of hurt if she had Boer quads!

Backfourty,MI. · #17 07/22/10, 06:26 PM

CaliannG, those OBoer kids are just adorable, stout little kids too they look like & the doe is awfully pretty too!
I think I just like all goats!

ozark_jewels · #18 07/22/10, 07:15 PM

Pony, I am actually taking my cull Boer doe to be done by the butcher. I've not had a goat done professionally since I started butchering my own many years ago. But this doe has GOT to go and its just too stinking miserably hot out there to butcher a 200 lb doe at this point. She just keeps getting fatter and fatter, and I figure at 200 lbs, I'm easily going to get my moneys worth out of the $50 they are going to charge me to do it. And they are going to smoke a haunch for free!!!

So, I'd never have a young goat done for $50, thats just too much when I know I can easily do my own. But to have it over with and not have to do it in this heat, on such a large goat, I don't begrudge them the $50! I'll let you know how the smoked goat is.....ummmm, I think I can smell it already and Praline is still out there walking around.LOL!!
Does that sound cold.

Let me assure you that Praline is wild and has never been friendly.

Lada · #19 07/23/10, 08:41 AM

LOL! Poor Praline!!! Although I think *I* can smell it all the way over here in Ohio! Mmmmmm!