opinion please, pygmy vs nigerian

Christina R. · #1 02/12/12, 04:04 PM

I have only owned pygmies and nigerian dwarf/pygmy crosses. My pygmies have been sweet, not noisy, and not bent on jumping out of yard, on walls, over to roofs, etc., etc. My nigerian x does (from a pygmy mama that I owned) were noisy and jumpers (and sweethearts too).

DH appreciates the pygmies, but barely tolerated the nigerian x. Before I totally cancel out looking at nigerians, I wanted to see if my goats were the exception or the rule for nigerians. We have goats for one purpose, as pets for the grandbaby and me.

As always, thanks for all the responses you all so freely give.

CaliannG · #2 02/12/12, 04:14 PM

As ONLY pets, I would go with Pygmies.

My Nigerians were not as loud as my Nubians or my Nubian/Nigerian crosses. But they were more mouthy than Pygmies.

Never had a problem with either being jumpers, but I might have gotten the exceptions to the rule.

Backfourty,MI. · #3 02/12/12, 05:11 PM

If you just want them for pets I'd go with Pygmies too. I don't have pygmies but I do have Nigerians & mine are jumpers. Usually though after they kid a time or two they settle down on so much jumping but they seem to be springy little buggers when their young.

eam · #4 02/12/12, 05:18 PM

I had nigerians and my husband hated them. Jumpers. Didn't respect any fences. Got into trouble all the time. Of course, I considered them to be 'loaded with personality'. Now we have Toggs, Alpines, and Saanens. They're all much easier to contain than the nigerians.

thaiblue12 · #5 02/12/12, 05:21 PM

I dislike Pygmies, I think they are fat little barrels with attitude.
My first goats were Pygmy/Nigerian crosses and they are no longer here

I only have one loud Nigie, she has passed that trait on to her kids who sound like they are being strangled by a helium balloon.

None of mine are pests, the one that jumps on cars is a mini Mancha. The one who scaled the hay to get on the barn roof and prance around was a Nubian. So compared to them my Nigerians are perfect angels. Mine are on acreage so they do not feel the need to escape.

CaliannG · #6 02/12/12, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thaiblue12

I only have one loud Nigie, she has passed that trait on to her kids who sound like they are being strangled by a helium balloon.

emanuelcs34 · #7 02/12/12, 07:20 PM

I have had both, now I only have nigerians...Mine are all quiet, only noisy if it is feeding time. I have one that won't stay in and can get out of anything if she wants too. I never did like the pygmies as much as the nigerians.

Wags · #8 02/12/12, 08:15 PM

My Niggies are particularly loud unless you are late at feeding time. I've only had one jumper in the bunch, and he came to me that way.

LearningLife · #9 02/12/12, 08:47 PM

We only have NDs and have never had pygmies, so I can't really offer a fair comparison. I can tell you that ours are only loud at feeding time and if they think the dogs or chickens are getting an inordinate amount of attention. We've only had one escapee since we got them, and that was right after they moved here. I think he was merely showing us the weak spot in our fencing. I love our Nigies; they are fairly easy to keep, they're very loving, and they have their own, distinct personalities. We do have them for milk, not just as pets, though. I might consider pygmies if I was looking for pets, but they'd have to be pretty awesome to steer me away from the NDs.

copperpennykids · #10 02/12/12, 09:03 PM

I am only speaking from folks' personal stories...

Pygmies have put more people "off" from owning goats. If I recall correctly, the term used was "rats with hooves". Usually the husband hated everything to do with goats after the family had a "pet" pygmy goat.

After purchasing either a Saanen or a Boer goat (still against the men's general inclination, the poor long suffering things LOL), the men loved goats. Of course, Saanens and Boers are not inclined to get out of their pens, nor are they neurotic or "in your face" as animals.

To me, get a goat that IS a goat - either provide milk or meat - and Pygmies do neither. So you are subject forever to selling pets.................

I would try to get the opinion of 100% ND breeders - they do well in both the milk and pet departments. YMMV

JBarGFarmKeeper · #11 02/12/12, 09:19 PM

I have over 50 NDs. One is a jumper. She came that way, I still love her. She has personality and she has never kidded. She's about a year and a half old. We milk them, breed them and love them all. I have heard absolute NIGHTMARE kidding stories about pygmys. But have no personal experience.

Sonshine · #12 02/12/12, 11:12 PM

I've had both. Now we only have NDs. Ours aren't really jumpers, but they can get rather noisy. Especially when DH comes home from work. They're worse than my dogs at times. I also have one that gives me kisses. Never got kisses from my pygmies.

Christina R. · #13 02/13/12, 08:35 PM

Thanks for all the replies.

I just saw an ad on craigslist for some pygmies and a pygora doe (along with some angora does). I will look at the pygmies and pygora after the snow we are supposed to get tonight and tomorrow blows through (and I get response from the person who placed the ad).

I will keep you all posted.

whiskeylivewire · #14 02/13/12, 09:21 PM

I love my Nigies and I was going to say they weren't jumpers...then I thought about it a bit haha

Lila and Josie like to stand on their houses but that's the only jumping I know of.

Cubby and Scully don't jump on anything(they're around 4yrs old) and the only time they've gone across the fence is when we first got them and DH just turned them out of the truck and they took off!

Rock and Duke don't jump at all.

All in all I love my Nigies. They stay right around the house to graze and the only time they're noisy is when they want fed.

dbarjacres · #15 02/13/12, 09:45 PM

I have Nigerians and mine stay in hog panels and aren't noisy. My first goat was a free pygmy and she went to the meat buyer, nasty thing.

Minelson · #16 02/14/12, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thaiblue12

I dislike Pygmies, I think they are fat little barrels with attitude.

opinion please, pygmy vs nigerian - Goats

She said that about me???

Hollowdweller · #17 02/14/12, 09:00 AM

Always found it interesting people often get the little goats because they would seem to be easier to fence but the majority I've known have always been harder to keep in than the standard breeds.

Sonshine · #18 02/14/12, 09:30 AM

We went for the smaller ones because physically I couldn't handle the larger breeds. My niggies I can pick up if needed and they can't knock me down.

Patrick · #19 02/14/12, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hollowdweller

Always found it interesting people often get the little goats because they would seem to be easier to fence but the majority I've known have always been harder to keep in than the standard breeds.

I agree. Same goes for little dogs and little horses. People with that mentality often also have a lack of understanding of animal behavior modification, to the point where they often create a spoiled, unruly animal if it wasn't that way to begin with.

To make some wide generalizations, that's what you're asking for anyway, you would be better off with Saanens, Toggs or Lamanchas. Alpines can go either way, but can often be jumpy. Nubians are more often than not, obnoxious. Even at half the size, you still have to have basically the same facilities for these small breeds as you do for normal goats. With only a few for pets, the space requirements are not that much more, and feed shouldn't break the bank either. If you think that you can't handle a normal sized goat, a fractious Pygmy or Nigerian can be just as bad. Cute often stops at appearance, and it's often only practical if you're looking at someone else's animals.

Wags · #20 02/14/12, 10:07 AM

Oops - I meant to say my Niggies are NOT particularly noisy. They do NOT have nasty, pushy attitudes and we have only had one jumper and he came to us that way. The rest of them stay where they are supposed with just standard field fencing.

Some advantages of the small size - you can pick them up if you need too, safer around children, hoof trimming is way easier and you can transport them in a large dog kennel. And if they are just pets then a large well built dog house is all the housing they need.