Most hardy, easy keeping dairy breed

krebolj · #1 09/22/13, 02:05 PM

In your opinion which of the dairy breeds (excluding nigerians) are the hardiest, easiest keepers?

wintrrwolf · #2 09/22/13, 02:12 PM

Oh you are seriously asking a loaded question LOL!!
Its all in the breeding (i know that is a cop out)

oh as far as an easy keeper some of that depends on where YOU live hmmm yup some breeds do better in certain areas of U.S and some not so good. So many variables so little time...

krebolj · #3 09/22/13, 02:41 PM

Haha I know, I know....

I live in the southeast, so mostly grass and I have plenty of browse around, but I have to bring it to them. I plan on seeding lespedeza and other forage plants in next year...but right now it's all grass. I'd like to minimize grain input.

JBarGFarmKeeper · #4 09/22/13, 02:57 PM

Not nubians!

You don't want to hear it but it is Nigerians. (Your bias is ugly...;-)

LaManchas aren't bad. We have weathered many a storm with them but for overall worm resistance and easy keepers...It's Nigerians.

krebolj · #5 09/22/13, 03:02 PM

Lol....I have two nubian does and love them to death but easy keepers they are not. I thought about crossing them with a nigerian because I really want to keep "part of them" as the years go by....but was thinking about going with a lamancha buck because I don't want to mess with all the different ways of assisting the little guy reach.

Actually I am picking up a lamancha/ alpine cross for this year's breeding and depending on how the kids do I will go from there.

krebolj · #6 09/22/13, 03:04 PM

*The point I was making about picking up the cross buck is that I figure there will be some hybrid vigor no matter what! Hopefully I get some doelings- these two have always given me bucks. BUT they are a mother/ daughter pair so I know that at least the mother has had does

Hollowdweller · #7 09/22/13, 03:52 PM

If one of your critera is not much grain do some pedigree research and find lower milking strains of the breeds.

I'd avoid Nubians and Alpines.

Alice In TX/MO · #8 09/22/13, 04:15 PM

My Mini Mancha is the BEST!

Donna1982 · #9 09/22/13, 04:34 PM

I have found for our farm the easiest keepers are the cross between dairy and meat. We have a LaMancha cross. Her brother and her's stay fat on air. I will have to say though we only have a couple that are hard keepers but for the most part our LaMancha are really easy. I do agree with Alice too though we have one Mini Mancha and she is so easy even in milk.

coso · #10 09/22/13, 04:40 PM

LaMancha or LaMancha cross with a swiss breed, would be my choice !! If you don't like the little ears I would go with a Alpine or Togg !!!

**mygoat** · #11 09/22/13, 05:14 PM

Yup, hybrids is what I'd suggest too. But, you're pretty much removing value to them when you do cross. With good management, I have no trouble with my purebreds, and they'll always sell for a hundred or more per kid.

I will say with less grain, you will need absolutely superb pastures, and do not expect fabulous produciton. I've never heard of a sucess story that impressed me with people trying to feed no grain. In the milkstand, I'd strongly suggest feeding alfalfa pellets. Lespedeza is good, but not high in calcium like alfalfa is.

Clovers_Clan · #12 09/22/13, 07:01 PM

IMO its all in the genetics of the individual and the particular environment. There isn't a best breed. Of the individual goats I've owned here in the parasite plagued south, by far my Saanen/Nubian crosses are the healthiest, disease and parasite resistant. Which is odd as they came to me as severely emaciated rescue babies being rehabilitated from cocci. They are some real survivors! My ND and ND/Alpine are very healthy. I have a great Alpine doe with excellent production and is an easy keeper. The least durable of my goats is a LaMancha/Saanen cross. The Saanen buck I had was healthy enough but always seemed thin to me.

I used to have Boer crosses, NEVER again! Worm factories! But the Spanish cross I had was very healthy and incredibly smart about keeping away from the parasites.

o&itw · #13 09/22/13, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krebolj

In your opinion which of the dairy breeds (excluding nigerians) are the hardiest, easiest keepers?

Guernsey's?

It's sarcastic Sunday, gotta tease the goat folks.

Alice In TX/MO · #14 09/22/13, 08:14 PM

Golden Guernsey goats?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Guernsey

Backfourty,MI. · #15 09/22/13, 08:16 PM

Well we raise Mini Nubians & use to raise nigerians & I found them both to be easy keepers.
I haven't found 1 breed to be better keepers than the other. I do think once in awhile you get a goat that's not an easy keeper in any breed. Like others have said, "that's in the genetics".

Frosted Mini's · #16 09/22/13, 09:58 PM

Nigerians, hands down. My mini alpines are a close second. I feed NO grain to my Nigerians. The goats are on pasture during the day, alfalfa hay at night. My pasture is mostly mixed grasses with some alfalfa and weeds mixed in. The Nigerians are fed alfalfa pellets on the milkstand and both that I am milking right now are projected close to 1000 lbs lactation. I don't think they'll quite make it there, but still good production with limited inputs. And they are FAT! My mini's give nearly the milk the big girls do, with about 1/3 the grain.

Whisperwindkat · #17 09/23/13, 05:41 AM

I agree with Clover's Clan it is genetics and environment. My nubians and nubian/boer crosses are by far my easiest keepers...never sick and get fat on air. My saanen/nubian crosses on the other hand are always having issues even though over the years I have had that line I have learned to manage them better. My neighbor down the road has nubians and she is constantly having health issues with them. She has different lines and her land is wetter than mine with less browse, more grazing. Blessings, Kat

nehimama · #18 09/23/13, 07:45 AM

I really wouldn't worry that an ND buck couldn't "do the job", or that he'd need any kind of assistance breeding the taller girls! My ND bucks are always successful in breeding the long-legged purebred LaMancha girls! Why, one season, I even had a squat li'l Pygmy buck who sired twins on a Nubian doe! Where there's a will, there's a way! Never doubt it!

Sam Burton · #19 09/23/13, 07:50 AM

We have Nigerians, Alpines and Nubians. the Nigerians are far and away the easiest keepers and hardiest. It's not really even close. I am partial to the Alpines because of the combination of temperament and milk production. The Nubians are a pain in my tootie, but my wife adores them. This year we had a Nigerian doe sneak in with our Kiko buck and the resulting buckling is to die for. We also bred the Kiko to one of our Alpines and the result was excellent. We bred our Boer/Kiko buck to our Nubians and the results have been iffy. Temperaments are good, but did not get any parasite resistance from the Kiko side.

DownHome · #20 09/23/13, 07:55 AM

I didn't read through all the posts, but I would also throw out there that in my experience goats from the northern states tend to be more wormy when they get to the southern states. I think they just aren't used to handling the long worm seasons we have down here.

downhome