Please... Tell me more about Boers

[MTplainsman]

I have already made the decision to buy a small herd of Boers later this Spring. Though I know the goat species fairly well, I am wanting to pick up as much info on the Boer breed I can. I plan to use them for meat, weed control, and enjoyment. I have some possible breeders near by in which to acquire some stock. Will see if they have quality before I buy.

What I would like to know is anything and everything about keeping this breed. What's your overall feelings on this breed. Anything to watch out for? How cold hardy are they? Do they need supplements of any sort when on range? How's there temperaments? Anything you guys could offer in info and advice would be very much appreciated! Thanks, Joel

[Clovers_Clan]

Nutritional requirements are similar to that of any other breed(i.e. they need good loose mineral with copper). You will need extra feed to give them that big, burly finished look.

Quality varies GREATLY. Especially in the areas of health/disease resistance and mass. I've had some high percentage that weren't any different build than a common goat. And I've had some that were worm factories. You can find some purebred herds that are disease resistant, if you do your research. But if your management practices are minimum input range, I would recommend Kiko, Spanish or Savanna crossbreeds. MUCH hardier, only sacrificing a little of the mass. They also grow well and the does are great mothers. Crossbreeds are usually more affordable, as well. And if you are raising them for your own meat, this will be a consideration. IMO there isn't a big enough difference in the quantity/quality of meat to make the extra price worthwhile. Generally the purebred breeders are in it for selling high price breeding stock, and show market wethers. Commercial herds that sell for meat, rely on sturdy crossbred does and keep a few good beefy purebred Boer bucks.

Oh, and temperament varies widely too. I got rid of a yearling buck I'd bought to breed very quickly when he turned on my children. Now I have a gentle giant Ferdinand that stands without a collar to have his feet trimmed(Both his parents were the same, that seems to be a fairly heritable trait).

[Sherry in Iowa]

Our old meat herd is boer and boer/nubian cross. They need minerals and salt. Our boers temperaments are good, but not as friendly as the crosses or milk girls. But to be fair..we do not handle them daily. It's also handy that they are like that..they do not trust people or four leggers and someday that may well save their lives.

They would certainly eat weeds/range. My brother borrows some of ours to clean up his timber in the spring.

I hate to say this..cause I know it won't sound right. But with boers..I almost think the less you do..the better they do. Ours get wormed only in a crisis situation..individually. They are not vaccinated. They are on a schedule..they pack up and go out..take their siestas..graze and come back in almost by the clock. I love them..no doubt..I love them.

I do think I might like the boer crosses a bit better. They can raise heavy kids to 3 months old..which is when we sell them. They have plenty of milk, good mothering instincts and doesn't seem like you have to babysit them that much. You could always add a nubian or saanen in the mix as you go.

Our boers seem to tolerate both heat and cold extremes very well. As soon as the wind quit raging..they all started sleeping outside overnight again. They will do that in single and teen temps. But make no mistake..no matter when they are..they should have shelter. Rain and wind are not their friends and they will do better with shelters. We raised many a boer and cross with nothing but hog huts..they loved them.

These are just a few things. We did have one boer buck that had terrible feet and he threw them in the kids. So be diligent when you are picking out your herd starters. And, if the herd from which you are buying has had a lot of hands on treatment..worming, vaccinations, etc...you should keep it up. Stopping that stuff cold would probably be looking for trouble.

Wishing you well~

[Alice In TX/MO]

The best place I know to read about meat goats is here:

http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/ar...iclesMain.html

As mentioned above, Boers vary wildly in breeding and durability. Some have been inbred and misbred to the point of being unthrifty. My vet in Missouri got hold of a bunch of those for his ranch, and he said they looked for reasons to die.

Research and breed carefully.

[trnubian]

I agree with the other, the breed varies widely. Try to find a herd who is abcess free. Then look for farms or ranches who have a similar climate to yours. After that look into farms or ranches that are very hands off with their herd but where the does look decent with heavy fast growing kids at their sides. That is the herd I would buy from. I wouldn't care if they were registered or if they even cost me a few hundred per doe. Those are the animals that are going to make you the most money with as little input and management as possible. Those are the meat goats who actually do what they were originally bred to do. That being said I would still offer a good loose mineral to them at all times. Dry draft free shelter that isn't crowded and clean fresh water. Also do NOT overgraze. This is what causes so many parasite problems. If at all possible rotate pastures every 2 and a half to 3 weeks and keep them off each pasture for 3 weeks. This will help tremendously with worm control.

[trnubian]

Btw- I am jealous here. I would LOVE to run a commercial meat herd. I just don't have the room. In order to make any money whatsoever with them you need LOTs of land and LOTS of goats. Your own hay, grain and growing seasons helps a lot too.

[mygoat]

I love my boers.

So easy! I round up everybody for pre-breeding, pre-kidding, hoof trimming etc. The less input, the better with boers. Well, IMO, the less input for any goat the better, that leaves me more time to enjoy them. I hate 'doing' things to the goats.

They are superb browsers - wish my dairies would take a hint.

Some are friendly, some are not. The majority of ours are friendly and enjoy attention despite being dam raised.

For my unfriendly girls, it's impossible to catch them to put them in a kidding pen without major effort. This year we had 3 does kid who aren't friendly and aren't possible to catch by myself. I knew they were in labor, so I'd just go out to check on them. They pop 'em out, I find 'em and dry their ears and dry them off, then leave them alone. Superb mothers. The kids are so vigorous and are out there hollering within minutes of being born.

I've never had kidding problems. I did have a doe not dialate well this year, she survived and so did her son, but it was rough for a minute there. I think it proably had something to do with being a 4 year old first timer, though, and I have high hopes for next year. Kids all presented normally and very 'boring' kiddings.

Because we cannot be big enough to run a commercial herd, I'm grading up my percentages to higher and higher percentages, and will probably invest in some purebred does next year, as we are concentrating on breeding stock sales.

[noeskimo]

The secrets are; prayer and rain....I agree with Alice; Tennessemeat goat site is so easy to use, and informative. I've been to her ranch and was so impressed with her stock, healthiness,and looks, I bought a buckling.I have 160 acres and run 35 head of goats and I am out of forage. Mine are definitely not crowded.Good luck

[hiddensprings]

We raised Boers for about 5 years but did not find it profitable and in the south, worms were a huge issue because of our high humidity. They were very hard on the fences as well. Not saying they are bad, just didn't work for us. I sold them all about 2 years ago and replaced them with my Nubians which I adore and find actually contribute to the farm income.

[TRAILRIDER]

Interesting thread, thanks for bringing up the subject.

Funny thing, when I first started talking to dairy goat people, I was told (by a very well known and experienced breeder) to "Stay away from those boer goats. They ALL have diseases!" Of course I took that with a grain of salt. I only have three boers so far and they have all been extremely healthy and have wonderful temperments. They were purchased from a friend who has really good stock and takes great care of her herd. I think they may be a bit smarter than my dairy goats too!

[wmk0002]

I'm not in much of a position to offer insight or advice since I just purchased my first goats (half are percentage boers) a couple of months ago....however, I have noticed a few things over the weeks. One is that the percentage boers are not near as high strung as the others. They are either lounging, grazing, or browsing. The others are typically doing that too but they definitely run around more, play, jump, climb, etc. The boers also don't seem as curious. For me this is a good thing. I have a 52" tall high-tensile electric fence and I am given the impression the boers will be more effectively contained with it than the others (none have escaped yet - knock on wood). Due to my very limited experience I wouldn't rely to heavily on my statements but others are welcome to corroborate or disagree with what I said.

[Rockytopsis]

Originally Posted by hiddensprings

We raised Boers for about 5 years but did not find it profitable and in the south, worms were a huge issue because of our high humidity. They were very hard on the fences as well. Not saying they are bad, just didn't work for us. I sold them all about 2 years ago and replaced them with my Nubians which I adore and find actually contribute to the farm income.

Almost the same here except I still have a few BoerX does, one Boer/Alpine that I am milking righ now. I switched to Kiko for my bucks and they seem to be workig better for me.
Nancy

[hiddensprings]

Originally Posted by Rockytopsis

Almost the same here except I still have a few BoerX does, one Boer/Alpine that I am milking righ now. I switched to Kiko for my bucks and they seem to be workig better for me.
Nancy

I have quite a few folks in my surrounding counties that are getting Nubian bucks from me to cross with their boer Does. I think UT is actually doing some research on the benefit of crossing boers to get a hardier animal in our state.

[MTplainsman]

Thanks for the replies!


Since I've been breeding cattle for so many years, I understand just how much you can gain by cross-breeding. You don't even have to read the EPDs to see the difference. From what I gather, several of you folks seem to like the results when you throw a dairy breed into the mix.

So... If I went with a x-breeding program, how would start? Would you use Boer does for the foundation and throw a Spanish buck on them or a buck of a dairy breed etc. Or, would you start with dairy does or Spanish etc. and throw a Boer buck on them to make your cross? Maybe the order of cross makes little difference?

When I go to a breeder to pick out my foundation stock, what questions and/or paper work should I ask about? What should I physically look for in there herd? Do most brood stock breeders keep EPDs on there herd, or is it generally more basic records in the goat industry?

I have to figure out if there is even a market up here for meat goats, before I raise anything beyond a personal herd. I only have an acre pasture next to my house, so if I were to expand, I would have to keep them on my big pastures which unfortunately are 6 miles away at the closest. Not too far, but the bad thing is that the predators are so thick out there! I do have a 320 ac pasture that is already fenced for sheep. I do trap and hunt predators, but they just keep coming. This brings me to my next question...

Are Boers or Boer Xs very defensive against predators, or are they quite vulnerable? I would definitely keep at least one LGD with them.

[Alice In TX/MO]

The folks I know here use Boer does and Nubian bucks.

ALL goats are predator vulnerable.

[copperpennykids]

Best cross ever is Boer X Saanen. Avoid the Spanish goat, they will have you go backwards regarding meat. Plus, if you ever decide to develop the 4-H market wether market, no one wants those Spanish X kids as they generally place last in the class.

If you have lots of predators, two Great Pyrenees (or other LGD) should do the trick. GP know how to work as a team - chase off the predator and protect the animals.

Pay a little more and get healthy goats. We have always found that having pedigreed stock has paid off - dairy goats, Boer goats, or rabbits. Sooner or later you want to sell some as breeding stock and the registered animal (even the %) sell better and for more. For this reason, most folks try to breed to a Fullblood Boer buck. Then your herd can be a mix of Boer X does, a few dairy does if you like and some Fullbloods. You will be gradually breeding higher % of Boers.

We only worm twice a year. Boers are pretty easy keepers and we breed for ease of kidding, good mothering instinct, and lots of milk in our Boers. Simplifies life.

[Awnry Abe]

When you transition from the 1 acre yard to the 320 acre pasture, you need to look at hose "weeds" with a different set of lenses. With beef, you covet the grasses, right? You don't have cows to get rid of grass, but to convert it into sellable energy. The same is true with goats and "weeds"--unless your intent is to clean up pasture to make more grass for the cows. (by the way, that is my intent).

I like the boers quite a lot. They are a low maint "set and forget" animal, in my opinion. If i had to say one bad thing about them, in comparison to other goats, is that I am not very impressed with their mothering traits. I need more time under my belt to flesh this opinion out. Yet I will perpetuate the madness by keeping a poor mothering doe and her kids, because they are at least doing my cows a favor and are easy to keep. I also have some boer/dairy X born this year. I look forward to finding out where the good mom/bad mom leanings are coming from in a cycle or three. Maybe it is just me.

Big disclaimer of the day: I am still but a newb.

[Rockytopsis]

Originally Posted by MTplainsman

Thanks for the replies!Are Boers or Boer Xs very defensive against predators, or are they quite vulnerable? I would definitely keep at least one LGD with them.

If you put them in that large pasture you will need more that one LGD. At the very least two, but I would think 3 or 4 would be better.

We have 11 acres and are using 2 GPyrs.

Nancy

[MTplainsman]

Originally Posted by Rockytopsis

If you put them in that large pasture you will need more that one LGD. At the very least two, but I would think 3 or 4 would be better.

We have 11 acres and are using 2 GPyrs.

Nancy

I have to start a new post elsewhere, cause now I got a whole slough of questions on LGDs.

[MTplainsman]

Please keep talking guys, I'm soaking this all up. Gotta learn all I can on these goats before I pull the trigger.