LaMancha ear questions

[francismilker]

If I breed my LaManca does to another breed will the offspring eventually start to have normal ears? Does it depend on the genetics of each specific goat? I love the timid and loving nature of the Lamanchas I just got, just can't get over the ugly ear thing. lol........

[Heritagefarm]

LOL... I can sympathize there... Somewhat. You get over it after a while. If you breed a purebred LaMancha to an eared goat, you'll end up with elf ears instead of gopher ears. Breed the gopher ears to another eared goat, you get bigger elf ears... I think. I thing that's how it works, they just get bigger until they're normal size?

[Alice In TX/MO]

I don't understand the ugly ear comment.

HOWEVER.

I bred a Saanen buck to my sundgau LaMancha doe two years ago. Her solid white daughter has (technically) elf ears, but very very small ones. She just kidded for the first time last week, and she was bred to an Alpine buck. One kid is solid white with itty bitty elf ears, just like her dam. The other kid has full size Alpine ears and is a chamoisee, just like her sire. The stillborn kid was solid black with LaMancha ears.

So, we were back to full size ears in two generations....on a third of the kids.

[Oat Bucket Farm]

I don't know. I love the tiny ears of LaManchas and wouldn't try to breed them bigger. Having said that, the smaller ears are dominant, so you will have a lot of elf ears. But two kids in the same litter can have very different ears. A LaMancha bred to a Nubian can produce a litter in which one baby has elf ears and another has airplane ears.

[TennesseeMama23]

I had some 1/4 lamanchas this year (other quarters of the same goats were nubian, alpine, boer), and one of them had elf ears just as small as my 1/2 breed lamanchas (the other 2 had long floppy nubian ears).

Lamancha ear genetics seem to be very strong, I have found that you either get elf ears or normal ears. Once you go more than about 1.5 inches long in ears it jumps straight to normal ears, if that makes sense.

[6e]

Going the other way, I have a question.....if you breed elf ears to elf ears, do you then get gopher ears?

[LaManchaPaul]

Originally Posted by francismilker

If I breed my LaManca does to another breed will the offspring eventually start to have normal ears? Does it depend on the genetics of each specific goat? I love the timid and loving nature of the Lamanchas I just got, just can't get over the ugly ear thing. lol........

So that's why Suzie was staring westward this morning with an evil glimmer in her eye and her adorable elf ears laid back menacingly.

[coso]

I seen a Saanen/LaMancha cross one time that had about 3 inch ears and were totally erect, like a Swiss breed. Kind of weird looking.

[topside1]

Francis this doeling is 3/4 Nubian. She was rasied and bred to a nubian buck, her offspring had long ears. The point is it takes a few generations to elimate the LaMancha ear size. Topside

[topside1]

Here's an adult 3/4 Nubian...The ears are getting longer...She had one long eared kid and one short eared kid...Enjoy the weekend.

[prairiedog]

I think our LaMancha have very normal ears!

[6e]

Originally Posted by topside1

Here's an adult 3/4 Nubian...The ears are getting longer...She had one long eared kid and one short eared kid...Enjoy the weekend.

Awee. I think that's pretty ears. I love those "puppy dog" ears on the longer eared Manchas

[Manchamom]

If you like the timid sweet personality but, don't like the ears of the LaMancha then go out and find you...an Oberhasli!

[francismilker]

Originally Posted by topside1

Here's an adult 3/4 Nubian...The ears are getting longer...She had one long eared kid and one short eared kid...Enjoy the weekend.

Thanks for the pics topside. That's a pretty sweet looking little girl. It's not that I'm against the gopher ears or anything, it's just that I'm sure fond of not having to answer the question to every city slicker that shows up here and says, "Oh my, what happened to that poor girl's ears? Were they chewed off?".........

I came by these to lamanchas for a pretty cheap price and one of them has already kidded a doeling. I'm up to 6 does now and climbing. I'd have never thought I'd take such a liking to goats. I'm quite fond of their milk and the calves are doing great on it. I'll probably try to get up to about 10 milk does and 10 meat does. My plan is to run a boer billy on the entire herd of females. We have a pretty good market for meat goats in my area and there's a weekly sale within 25 miles of me that always has ready buyers there for meat goats.

I've had jerseys and other milk breed cows for many, many years and will always have one or two around. The thing is, with the topography of my place and with the type of soils at this particular place it's gonna be very costly, as well as expensive, to make it produce adequate grass for my cow herd. At my former residence I had ample clear ground for the cattle that was partial river bottom land. At the place I've resided for the last 10 years, (and where I plan to retire), I've got rolling hills of clay, sand rock, scrub brush, and vines. What an awesome place for goats!!!!

I just have to invest in some cash for goat fencing and such. I had an older gentleman ask me what kind of fencing I had on place and I told him it was for cattle. He laughed and said, "if you can pour water through it, it won't hold a goat" lol........

[topside1]

Francis, as you already know I have a few feeder calves, and raise handfuls of bottle calves each year...Truth be told goats are the most versatile ruminant on the planet. Meat, milk, entertainment, and landscaping, just love um. In my pastures I only run electric fencing, no escapees here in 7 years....If they have enough to eat, well why escape....Topside

[topside1]

Francis, don't have this many now, but thought you would enjoy the pic...

[francismilker]

topside, I love the pic. And I love those nubians!

That topography looks a lot like mine. Small openings with the thick stuff on all sides.

A question: With running goats do you do any pasture spraying at all? I've always used grazon P+D or Amine 24D annually for control of weeds and broadleaf in general. However, there's a lot of "weeds" I know the goats would love to eat. I've got a fair amount of clover and vetch growing that I'd like to utilize for the goats but they are annually replaced with ragweed and bitterweed.

The flock of hairsheep I have does a pretty fair job on the broadleaf with the exception of the ragweed and bitterweed. (Unless it's young and tender, in which case it's in such good supply they can't get to it all before it matures and then they won't touch it.)

You say you utilize electric fencing. What type, kind of wire, and wire spacing do you use? (Also type and strength of charger?)

Thanks.

[topside1]

Five strand aluminum 14 gauge in most areas. Four strand in the woods. ParMak 4, with 4 grounding rods located near the charger...After one or two hits as youngsters and the lesson has been learned for life....No spraying here, sorry to say but these Tennessee gals love their ragweed...Topside

[francismilker]

I haven't gotten a chance as of yet to see if my goats will graze ragweed yet. My son has always had a billy or wether goat around since he was young enough to take it on as a bottle baby project but we've just let it run with the show calves and he's never had to browse much for something to eat. (Besides breaking into the garden or freshly planted fruit trees!)

[Oat Bucket Farm]

When someone asks you what happened to their ears you point at one of your Nubians and say, "You see those ears, they are almost ready to be harvested." and then let them figure out if you are serious or not.