Nigerian

[Bubbas Boys]

Ok I thought I had my mind set on Nubians for my families first milk goats but after going to the state fair yesterday and walking through the goat building and talking with a few of the show goers. I am leaning toward the Nigerian Dwarf. Would love some opinions. Pros and Cons. Thanks

[Alice In TX/MO]

If you look for Nigerian Dwarf goats, you *must* be aware of teat size. Many are bred for pets and have teats so small as to be impossible to hand milk. A few breeders are working on lines of easy milkers with adequate teat size. Shop very carefully.

[mygoat]

98% of them aren't dairy animals, IMO. Most people breed them for pets. I've never seen a nigie that didn't make my hands cramp up just thinking of milking those tiny teats. They are kinda cute and come in all sorts of flashy colors. You can't milk cute or flashy though.

Give me a full size dairy or meat animal any day. I don't even like miniaturized full size breeds...

[Backfourty,MI.]

We use to raise Nigerians & like Mygoat & Alice already said, most are not very easy to milk at all. You really have to look for excellent milk/dairy lines & then most of the time their teats are still really small.
We Loved the nubians too & so switched to the mini nibians. We love them & I don't have any problem milking them at all. medium size goat so easier to get a bucket under them than the nigerians too.
Don't mean to cause you more confusion just thought I'd throw that out there so you can be sure to get the right goats for your family to start with.

What ever breed you decide to get be sure to get from healthy disease free & disease tested herds most important.

[LearningLife]

Ok, I'm going to be the dissenting voice here, it seems, but I love milking my NDs. Some of them do have small teats, but they're usually only frustratingly small as first fresheners. No, you aren't going to get as much milk from them as from standard sized goats, but we get more than enough for the 4 of us to drink, make cheese, yogurt, soaps, and lotions. We're milking 3 girls right now. I would be swimming in milk if I milked 3 standards. I also like that they are small and easy for me to handle. I can keep a herd of a dozen or so, which allows us to rotate breedings year-round since they are year-round breeders. We love their rich, creamy milk, too.

I will add that I'm on the petite side (only 5' tall) and have small hands. I'm sure that makes my experiences with them a little easier than some. However, DH is an average sized guy, and he has no difficulty, either.

Just my two cents' worth.

[dozedotz]

I think you need to talk with LearningLife about what lines are really good milkers with larger teat size! You don't say "why" the Nigerians caught your eye, but you really do need to find out where to get the goats that will make you happy (not crazy). This goes for Nubians, too! Many FF Nubians have smaller teats and are somewhat jumpy when first learning the milk stand routine. The second year, however, is a whole different story! Still, there are Nubians that only produce a small amount of milk and have really small teats...so, maybe you need to buy an adult, one that you have milked and approve of even if that means paying a little more for your first goat. You can never get enough information...so don't beat yourself up! But, do see if you can find out about the backgrounds...especially the official milk records.

[Bubbas Boys]

Thank you all. I knew I would get some great advise.

[boundarybunnyco]

I'm a first timer with a milk goat, only had wethers for pets until recently. I was given a pair of Nigerians, and the doe is in milk. I have no problem milking her, and we get a quart a day. It's lovely rich milk, and has a lot of cream. She is due to kid in a couple months, so we are going to dry her up. I like the small size and cuteness of the nigerians. Plus they are super friendly and easy to handle. So we bought two more does a while back. All four of mine are cream and tan with blue eyes. So dang cute!

[MeatPigeons]

We had a ND doe. Didnt give much milk (she was being nursed, though) but wasn't very hard to milk. I preferred our alpine (the milk tasted *exactly*like cows milk, maybe a bit more creamy) as a milker, but she was also calmer overall. Personally I'm a fan of alpines, even bad milkers will give you plenty for a family, and come in all sorts of pretties, lol.
I liked our ND, she was laid back, sweet, good mom (rejected her 2 bucklings though, 1 had white muscle disease, the other was bottle fed). We didnt shave her udder and it was fine.
I like NDs, but alpines are also a fav.
So I say, try milking the doe/does mom beforehand, taste the milk (sometimes it can be 'off tasting due to eating alfalfa, but if their on typical hay and have an 'off' taste I wouldn't buy), see how laid back it is, etc. laid back goats are the best, and try to handle her feet and udder before buying (even if a kid).
Oh, and NO, don't breed at 2 years because 'they need time to mature'. You can 'over condition' them this way, and prove to be worse. We bred ours at 7 months (supposed to breed at 8 months or older, but got the buck a month early) and had no issues giving birth, cleaning off the kids, etc.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Considering that 99.9% of dairy goats eat alfalfa as a significant part of their diet, I am a bit skeptical about alfalfa causing bad tasting milk, unless there was some *really* bad weeds in that hay field.

Sweet feed, not enough minerals, poor milking technique, and slow cooling could cause off tasting milk. There is an occasional doe whose milk is just unpleasant, too.

[MeatPigeons]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Considering that 99.9% of dairy goats eat alfalfa as a significant part of their diet, I am a bit skeptical about alfalfa causing bad tasting milk, unless there was some *really* bad weeds in that hay field.

Sweet feed, not enough minerals, poor milking technique, and slow cooling could cause off tasting milk. There is an occasional doe whose milk is just unpleasant, too.

We don't feed alfalfa. I know a lot of people who don't, and some (not al) experienced off milk when switching to alfalfa pellets or hay. And I know a lot of people who sweet feed their goats with no goaty - taste, so do we. I'd say a lot of people feed sweet feed too but I'm not being skeptical about that.

[dbarjacres]

I got frustrated with my Nigerians and just sold my herd after 7 yrs to go to Mini Manchas and maybe yet to regular LaManchas.

Even when you take certain bloodlines that have awesome goats, you will still get some crummy looking throwbacks. I spent $600 on a very nice junior buck from Ohio in January, then this spring saw what his half sisters and full sister freshened like and it sure as heck was not at all like his 90EEEE dam or either granddam. Then when I did have some very nice dairy looking doelings to sell this spring, every single one went to a pet only home or someone who wanted a certain color. Not a single person cared about pedigree or performance. I said forget it, not breeding pet goats, breeding working goats. And their lactation just annoyed me as I don't want to mess around with milking a goat who is drying up by 4 months and gives 1-2 cups a day. not worth my time.

[ALLRKIDS]

Interesting comments. We have Alpines, LaManchas, Nubians and Nigerian Dwarfs. We milk about 9 to 10 months a year for our own personal use. The milk is delicious for us. We do have excess, so we raise calves, pigs and have even raised other goats. Some of the Nigerians have smaller teats, but not unmanageable. Some of the larger breeds have smaller teats. I would suggest if you like the Nigies go for it. If it doesn't work out, don't give up. Buy a couple larger does.

[punchiepal]

We LOVE our nigerians! They are expected to work for 9-10 milking here. Two of them are hitting 180 days and one is at a qt a day and the other is giving 5c a day.

[SkeeterBlue]

We decided after doing a lot of research to go with Nigerian Dwarf goats because of the richness of the cream and the good cheese that comes from their milk. We bought one doe in milk (3 year old), one kid doe, one kid buck.

Our milker had never been hand milked. Her teats are of more than adequate size but she doesn't like being hand milked and struggled so much that we decided to dry her off and try again her next kidding. For her next freshening we are switching to machine milking. Her milk is awesome and rich and she is a good enough producer to have earned her milk stars.

We also picked up a Saanen doe for volume - we go through a lot of milk in our family. She will be bred to our Nigie buck or we may AI her with a ND with superior milk lines.

[Doug Hodges]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Considering that 99.9% of dairy goats eat alfalfa as a significant part of their diet, I am a bit skeptical about alfalfa causing bad tasting milk, unless there was some *really* bad weeds in that hay field.

Sweet feed, not enough minerals, poor milking technique, and slow cooling could cause off tasting milk. There is an occasional doe whose milk is just unpleasant, too.

Well crap. I don't feed Alfalfa either. I have Bermuda and I feed sweet grain mixed with beet pulp. Guess I will start another thread

[dozedotz]

I laughed out loud (for real) when I saw Doug's comment!! Everyday you find out all the things that you thought were sooooo great are what someone else's thinks are nuts!! lol
Don't worry, Doug. There are plenty of people here who are steering away from alfalfa (we still feed it). The sweet feed might be a different story, however.

[mygoat]

... And I feed a 'sweet feed'. Everybody does it different.

If you have lactating does, you MUST HAVE CALCIUM COMING FROM SOMEWHERE. If you live in an area where alfalfa is easily grown in good quality/quantity, then it is truly the easiest way. If not, you may have to explore other options.