colors and winning personalities are a draw.
You can eat a Nigerian, but most people don’t. The cost isn’t worth the end result, and besides, they’re so darn cute!
Pygmy
Pygmies, like Nigerians, are miniature goats that came to the United States from Africa. Pygmies have been bred to be short and stocky (unlike Nigerians) and are more limited in color, ranging from white to brown to black with only minor variations. The most common pattern is agouti, which refers to alternating bands of colors, kind of like salt and pepper hair. (Figure 3-5 shows an agouti Pygmy goat.)
Pygmy goats aren’t usually considered dairy goats, but because they don’t fit neatly into any category I include them here. Most of them are raised as pets or 4-H projects, but a small minority of breeders raise them for milk. The Pygmies raised for milk tend to look more like Nigerians in body shape. If you want Pygmies for milk, make sure to ask whether they’re registered with the American Goat Society and whether the breeder is milking them.
FIGURE 3-5: An agouti Pygmy goat.
Because they have been bred down to a short, compact size, Pygmies often have problems kidding and need the services of a veterinarian for cesareans. They are not quite as prolific as the Nigerians, either.
Like Nigerians, Pygmies are much less expensive to keep and take up a lot less space than a standard dairy goat, so they work well in rural and urban settings.
Kinder
The Kinder is a moderate-sized breed that was developed in Washington and first registered in 1988. It is a cross between the Pygmy and Nubian breeds. Kinders are good dual-purpose (milk and meat) goats that are ideal for family farms.
Minis
If you really like one of the standard breeds but are in the city or just don’t have the space for big goats, minis are ideal. These goats are a cross between a Nigerian Dwarf buck and a doe of the breed you want to miniaturize.
UNDERSTANDING MINI GENERATIONS
The kids produced by the first cross of a Nigerian buck with a standard dairy goat is the first generation (F1). Breeding an F1 to another F1 gives you second generation (F2) kids. Breeding F2 to F2 gives you F3 kids and so on, for six generations.
A kid’s generation is always one generation higher than the lowest generation parent. So if you breed an F2 to an F1, the kids will be F2. Even if you breed an F4 to a F1, the kids will still be F2.
F1 and F2 goats are considered experimental. F3 through F5 goats are called “American” and an F6 is a purebred. Ask about the generation when buying a registered mini dairy goat. Purebreds are worth more than first generations.
The minis don’t have quite as many multiple kids as the Nigerians — which can even have septuplets — but they are more likely to have triplets and quadruplets than the standard breeds.
You can find Mini Nubians and Mini Manchas pretty easily. Finding Oberians, Mini Toggs, Mini Alpines, and Mini Saanens can be more challenging because there are fewer of them. (Chapter 16 tells you more about breeding miniature dairy goats.)
If you plan to milk and you live in a city that allows backyard goats, these little goats are a good choice. Jenny Grant of the Goat Justice League, which got the Seattle City Council to allow miniature goats within the city limits, recommends the Oberian and the Mini Mancha for urban situations because they’re the quietest.
Discovering Meat Goats
A lot of people around the world eat goat meat (about 75 percent, at last count), and it is catching on in the United States, as well. The meat is very lean and delicious. Meat goats are generally not used for milking, and some even have traits that make them undesirable to milk. Most of the breeds don’t make good fiber goats because they have short coats, but the Boer is sometimes and Spanish goat is always an exception.
Meat goats grow fast and are fantastic brush-eaters. Some breeds are nearly self-sufficient because they evolved in feral conditions. They require much less time for management because they have developed resistance to the parasites, foot rot, and respiratory problems that are so common in other goats.
If you’re interested in goats to sell in the fast-growing U.S. market, to get rid of kudzu or blackberries, or just for your own freezer, you have a growing number of breeds to choose from.
Boer goats
Boer goats are large, heavy animals that resemble Nubians because of their Roman noses and floppy ears. They’re white and reddish-brown (although some are all red) or black, as well as spotted and dappled, and many are horned. Their horns are short and curve back close to the head. Bucks can weigh from 260 to 380 pounds and does from 210 to 265 pounds. Figure 3-6 shows a Boer buck.
FIGURE 3-6: A South African Boer buck.
Boers are originally from South Africa, where they were bred for hardiness. They came into the United States from New Zealand and Australia through Canada and continue to grow in popularity. Based on the increased number of men I saw at our local goat conference, the Boers are catching on. (Past conferences have drawn mainly dairy goat owners, who traditionally are women.)
If you want a purebred, high-quality Boer, expect to pay a lot. Boers are one of the most expensive breeds in the United States. That doesn’t mean that all of them are expensive, though; you can still get some good foundation stock (the stock you start your breeding program with) if you look around.
At least two organizations register Boer goats, including the American Boer Goat Association (ABGA) and the United States Boer Goat Association (USBGA).
Boers are quite adaptable and hardy, and most are affectionate and mild-mannered. Their adaptability leads them to browse more than dairy goats because they can easily handle both heat and cold. Boers do have some fairly common genetic defects you need to watch for, including extra teats and abnormal testicles.
Myotonic goats
Myotonic goats, also known as fainting or stiff-legged goats, are so named because of their tendency to go rigid and fall down when they’re startled. This is a genetic defect in a recessive gene that probably started in just one goat and then was continued through breeding. The repeated muscle tightening means that the goats have more muscle and are therefore good meat goats.
Fainting goats are often much smaller than Boers, weighing in at between 50 and 75 pounds and becoming no more than 25 inches tall. Those raised for meat, such as the Tennessee Meat Goat, can be much bigger — weighing up to 175 pounds or more.
They come in an array