Nigerians, some info please.

[seedspreader]

My wife likes the Nigerian Dwarves (Goats I mean, not people). Anyone here that keeps and milks these? How much do they cost? Anyone know of some northern Ohio breeders? The closer the better to north east/north central Ohio.

[Trisha-MN]

Originally Posted by ZealYouthGuy

My wife likes the Nigerian Dwarves (Goats I mean, not people). Anyone here that keeps and milks these? How much do they cost? Anyone know of some northern Ohio breeders? The closer the better to north east/north central Ohio.

As far as I know there are quite a number of Nigie folk in Ohio. Our foundation stock is from the Columbus OH area.

Trisha-MN

[Laura Workman]

I have kept them and milked them. A doe or doeling will usually cost $200 and up. I was unimpressed with production, lactation length, fighting being milked, size and shape of teats, and letdown response. I don't milk Nigerians anymore. I milked a standard Oberhasli for a while, and she was excellent in all of the above areas. My problem with her was twofold. First off, I like rich milk, and she was giving around three percent butterfat. Secondly, she gave way too much milk. I just couldn't use six quarts a day. Now I milk Mini-Manchas. They provide the best of both worlds. They're about 24 inches at the shoulder, which is an inch or two over the Nigerian height limit, but nowhere near the minimum height for any standard breed. They weigh about 90 pounds. Here's a picture of one of my does this year:



She's giving a little under a gallon per day. My other one is giving around three quarts. Right now they are raising kids, so I actually take about half of their production, leaving the rest for the kids.

[seedspreader]

Originally Posted by Laura Jensen

I have kept them and milked them. A doe or doeling will usually cost $200 and up. I was unimpressed with production, lactation length, fighting being milked, size and shape of teats, and letdown response. I don't milk Nigerians anymore. I milked a standard Oberhasli for a while, and she was excellent in all of the above areas. My problem with her was twofold. First off, I like rich milk, and she was giving around three percent butterfat. Secondly, she gave way too much milk. I just couldn't use six quarts a day. Now I milk Mini-Manchas. They provide the best of both worlds. They're about 24 inches at the shoulder, which is an inch or two over the Nigerian height limit, but nowhere near the minimum height for any standard breed. They weigh about 90 pounds. Here's a picture of one of my does this year:



She's giving a little under a gallon per day. My other one is giving around three quarts. Right now they are raising kids, so I actually take about half of their production, leaving the rest for the kids.

Thanks for the heads up, tell me some more about mini manchas?

[kathy H]

Wow laura that is a nice looking goat, nice and square acrose the top line.

[DayBird]

A friend just bought three and is keeping them at my house. He just brought them over today. They're very small and seem to be dainty compared to any pygmies that I've known. The two does are just a little over a year old and are both bred and should kid within the month. The buckling is just 5 months old and is already mounting the girls but they just knock him down.

He paid $300 for the group but only the male is registered.

[Laura Workman]

Thanks Kathy! I'm definitely a topline and rear end junkie!

Bob, The minis are currently being developed, most frequently using Nigerian bucks on standard dairy does. As with anything else, if you start out with very nice animals, you're more likely to get very nice animals, and vice versa. I've been extremely pleased with my minis. The ones I have experience with are more like the large goats, and less like the Nigerians, in that they're easy to train to the milkstand, they produce lots of milk over a long period of time, they have good milk letdown, they're tall enough to put a reasonable sized milking pail underneath, and they have teats that are of a generally nice size and shape for milking.

They're more like the Nigerians in that they produce rich, sweet milk, they're small and easy to handle, and they're easy keepers. The doe in the picture is getting free choice alfalfa pellets, orchard grass, and goat minerals. In addition, she gets about 12 ounces of grain and about an ounce of black oil sunflower seeds per day. She is in beautiful condition, no ribs showing and no extra fat.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions, and I'll be happy to answer them as best I can.

[reese]

Laura, what a beautiful goat. I'm partial to LaManchas in general anyway, but am seriously considering Mini'Manchas. Reese

[BucksCtyCowgirl]

I personally LOVE Nigerians.They are real sweet!Their babies are adorable!By the way,that's a nice goat, Laura.