Boers

[dbarjacres]

Just wondering how you boer owners/breeders rate your goats for healthiness? Do they seem hardy or prone to sickness?

Ours seem to be hardier than our fainters. We just went thru a pneumonia spell here and as there was NO signs on the 2 does that died, except they went off feed, depression, and bloat, we had no clue. Half the fainters were sick, our boers and %'s were not. May be switching to boers if this is true. Thanks!

[GoldenWood Farm]

My boers seem also to be fairly hardy. Never had a sick one yet *knock on wood* I have had them for about a year and a half.

MotherClucker

[PLPP]

Boers were bred for hardyness. Mine are very hardy.

[mailman]

I have only had my boers one year. 6 does. They all gave birth well. No problems at all. I was expecting MAYBE one problem/death. But 6 does is not a large herd. Large herds should be subject to different parameters.

[natybear]

I have had boers for a few years, they are so hardy. I have never seen as much as a sneeze out of them. Of couse I mainly have dairy goats and compared to the boers they are pansies.

[Goat Freak]

I've only had Boers for a couple months and even I can tell you that they are hardy.

[TexCountryWoman]

I have only had Boers for a bit over a year, and only a few. They do better on just forage than dairy goats and have never been sick. But then again, my dairy goats haven't been sick either (knock on wood). I have a total of 14 goats and have not lost a baby or an adult or had any illness whatsoever. The Boers seem to eat more regular grass than the dairy goats do, who prefer more browse....Diane

[Goat Freak]

Hey TexCountryWoman, I never really took to much notice but since you mintioned it our Boers do seem to like grass, while our MiniNubians like bushs and anything that looks like one.

[GoatsRus]

We raise boers and they are a hardy bunch In three years, we've only had 2 dead babies. On the first one it was the nannys 1st birth and she had it outside in the cold and it froze to death. The other one was breech - but that nanny had a huge beautiful billy this year, with no problems. You may want to read up on Kiko/Boer cross. It's my understanding that Kiko's are even hardier and less maintenance than boer.

[dbarjacres]

Glad you are all having such luck with your boers! We did decide to drop our fainters down to 2 does and one buck and we will be building up our reg. and % grade boer does. I just love there personalities. They are so mellow!

The kikos are a good idea, but really hard to come by up here in Wisconsin. I saw some beautiful Kikos in the Goat Rancher advertised.

Thanks, Jenny