Goat Breed Personalities, etc.

Hi, I raise Toggs now. I also kept my old alpine. She looks just like a black togg.
You are right. It is how you handle the milk that makes a difference in the taste.
My girls have milk that tastes just like fresh store bought milk. No one knows the difference but me. I think good cold goat milk tastes the best!

My goats all have different personalities. Some are harder than others to get to warm up to you. I don't think that has anything to do with breed either. I had a LaMancha that was a b----! As she got older she got a little easier to handle but never real friendly. They are supposed to be the sweetest. She never read that book! :haha: It took years to get Molly, my oldest doe to let me walk up to here. Now that I milk her everyday she is a sweetheart. The trick is just to handle them a lot.

All my kids are dam raised but run up to me everytime I go into the pasture. I learned how to tame them from the lady that owns Fiasco Farms and it really does work. I don't give them treats much anymore but I do give them lots of hugs and praise. I sell only tame, sweet goats!

Hi,
We have 1 ober, 2 nubians, and 1 alpine. We love them all but as far a friendly goes, the nubians win that award. They are like dogs and come running when called and they loved to be brushed and scratched. Our nubian is young and this is her first time to milk but she gives wonderful tasting milk and my family prefers it over the others but ours in not giving "a lot" only a bit over 1/2 gal a day. our standoffish one is the alpine, I have to get onto her sometimes because she is the bossy one and will not let the other goats into the house if it rains but then again, she is a take charge kind of gal too...the other day, one of my nubian babies had her head stuck in the wire hay feeder and my alpine beat the crap out of the wall to help the baby get her head out. This alpine is moody but she is the queen. She gives us a lot of good milk and is worth the work she gives up over a gal a day. Now, the ober that we have is so wonderful. she is spoiled (she was our first goat) she have not been breed so we have not ever milked her but her personallity is so sweet. She is very, very, smart. She is the one that learns to open the gate latches by watching us and the one that can figure out how to work all the gismos that we don't want her to know. I have hear that they have wonderful milk and we cant wait to find out. My mother always calls her "the beautiful one" because she is a very pretty goat,very graceful and deerlike.

As far a hearty goes, the ober and the alpine are pretty hearty. The nubian seems to do "ok" but i watch her more than the others.

Good luck with your goat decisions.

Belinda

Most all goat-ers have strong opinions about the different breeds. I have saanen and alpine, and one token togg. Every time I buy a nubian, I sell it within a couple of months....cannot stand the neurosis and the noise. I find nubians often are 'dingy'. The saanens are as calm as you can ask for. My alpines really range from temperamental and skittish, to as placid and sweet as you can find. For example, I had a first freshening alpine who was 'surprised' everytime I milked her for the whole year. This year, she finally has caught on. I bottle raise mine, and have had several alpine doelings who were resistant to being handled from the minute they hit the ground. Then, I have several alpines who are rocksolid milkers, and quiet and loving, and never ever have a temper tantrum. And, if a goat is too big a 'pita', I'll sell it, who needs the hassle! As I think about it, it is my smaller, darker alpines that are calmest, maybe they're like the Obies, but I really don't know. My togg is great, I just don't like her hair. I don't have any lamanchas, I think the little babies heads remind me of snakes, as wierd as that is, but they have a wonderful reputation.

An awful lot depends on how they are socialized, I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever animal you choose.

Oh I forgot to comment on the other breeds. I do like sannens but they are sometimes hard to keep what with the white coat and they get skin cancers and stuff real easy. I am not so fond of the alpines as they are real(please excuse my language) bitches toward each other and other breeds of goats. Toggs are almost the same temperment as an alpine except a little bit less so. Alpines and Togg are sweet as could be toward people but any other goat boy do they give them a danged hard time. My La Mancha/Oberhasli cross doe is the only one who will stand up to the alpine doe that I have. So I recommend not getting an alpine or a togg due to the fact that you have small goats and if housed together the bigger goat could/would seriously harm the smaller ones. I Wouldn't mind alpines if thats all I had but even then you sometimes have to keep them seperate from each other. Heck a gal that I know has one alpine that she can't let near any other goats cause she will try and sometimes almost kill them. That is the most extreme an alpine can get. But I must say that in their defense they have one of the most wonderful dispositions of a lot of goats I have been around. They are tuff, hardy, pretty easy going most of the time, somewhat head strong, and not afraid of practicly anything. All in all a good sound sturdy goat .

MotherClucker

Guess you could say I'm kinda partial to Saanan's since they have about the sweetest faces of any of the goat breeds. They are also large goats and make good mothers, but can be a bit tempermental as first time milkers. So far I haven't had any health problems with my girls, but then, they're pretty spoiled.

I am also partial to Snubians, which is a Nubian Saanan cross. They are also big girls and good milkers, and when you breed them it's always a suprise to see what the kid looks like. Our little Snubian gave us a the sweetest little doe that is nearly peppermint pink.

Boer's are nice goats too, good disposition, good size, and when crossed with Saanan's make very good milkers, however they can be stubborn and are also the noisest breed around. I have a little Boer buck who is about 6 months old and is louder than any other goat in the pen. The first night I had him home I had to keep reminding myself we had just paid a lot of money for that goat or he'd have been straight to the slaugher pen! He's still the loudest animal on the farm, but he's turned out to have a real sweet disposition and is quiet the comedian.

I don't care for the pygmy breeds. They're cute and good goats for small farms, but they can be a pain to milk.

If you like quiet goats, then you definitely want Obers. The only time I hear my Obers is when they're in raging heat, and even then, it's quiet. I've milked the three first-fresheners I raised, and none of them gave me any trouble at all on the milkstand from the very first day. Obers are quiet and gentle (I keep mine with my Nigerians and minis, no problem), and kind of small. They are very beautiful goats, and so sweet!

I do have one Ober, though, who will produce way too much milk and run herself into skin and bone. I had her triplet bucklings with her 24/7 this year. No alternative at the time, but it won't happen again. Picture a 130 pound animal producing approximately two gallons of milk a day. Picture a really skinny animal. I weaned the boys at 8 weeks exactly, and dried her off so she could put some serious weight on. If I'd needed the milk, I would have just taken her down to once a day milking, and she still would have put on weight, but more slowly. It took me about a month to get her fully dried off. Very persistent milker!

I have a mixed lot, Alpines, Toggs, Nubians, La Manchas, Saneens and even a few that are crossed with Boers and Obies. Maybe I just have an orney line of La Manchas but they are the bigest pains I have they try to pull the other goats ears off on the milking table, pick fights with the other goats even some of my bigger Saneens and Nubians that are half again as big as they are, and they have no patience I milk twenty girls at a time and everyone else will stand nicely after they eat till time to go out, takes about 30 minutes to do them but the La Manchas start stomping there feet and carrying on as soon as they finish eating. My Nubians aren't noisy in fact they are very quiet the only goat on the place that makes a lot of noise is a Togg that I think just likes to hear herself talk. The Alpines are probably the most standoffish but even most of them have to have there pats as they leave the barn and have one that will lick you to death if you will stand still long enough. Found my Saneens to be the most protective during kidding season this year had one that would jump the fence anytime any of the dogs or cats got on the pasture side of the drive chase the offending critter back across the drive then go jump back in the pasture. they were ok with me handling the babies but had a few that actually threaten to charge some relatives that where here and wanted to see the babies they didn't know them and did not want them around their little ones.
All in all I like my Saneens and Toggs best for the dairy they don't get as upset by things but will always have at least a few Nubians just because I like them.

Echo