# My 4-H Project on Nigerian Dwarfs so far what do you think??



## Timothy Hay (Feb 12, 2011)

I am 16 and have been doing in 4-H goats for 6 years now this year I desided to do my project on ND because I got my first 2 last year this is what I have so far its the history on them.. 

tell me what you think please!! 

there isnt a lot of punctuation in this yet...

Nigerian Dwarfs are a miniature dairy breed that came to America from West Africa, around the 1930s. The full history is unknown but I have read a lot on different sites and most of this information came from the American Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Association web site. 


There were lots of miniature goats in West Africa but it wasn’t about breed to them it was survival of the fittest, they were used for food both meat and milk, times were hard there and pets were out of the question. They were called West African Dwarfs and they were liked because of there small size. The first documented arrival of these adorable goats was in the 1930s but they are thought to have already been here at that time. One of there first uses were to feed to the big cats in zoos and they were also on exhibit.

When the West African goats started getting bred in America by people they called them Pygmies because of there small size, as time went on the breeders began to notice differences in type within what they had been calling the pygmy breed. And that is when they started breeding them to be two different breeds they bred they shorter legged, heavier bodied, round boned goats and bred them and they kept he name pygmy.
And the more slender legged refined angular, little goats were bred and are now called Nigerian Dwarfs. One of the first people to notice the difference between these little goats was Bonnie Abrahamson of north Ogden, Utah, while working in a zoo in California. Mrs. Abrahamson brought several black and white goats that she referred to as Nigerian Dwarves to the AGS Pygmy certification committee despite their more refined type and dairy appearance they were accepted into the ADG Pygmy herdbook.
At about the same time, Mr. Heabert Woods of Alexandria, Indiana, had a goat similar in type to Mrs. Abrahamson, but his were brown in color, refused entry into the National Pygmy Associations herdbook because of there brown color. 
These two breeders petitioned the International Dairy Goat Registry to open a herdbook for Nigerian Dwarves. IDGR opened a separate herdbook for the breed, complete with a standard emphasizing dairy characteristics, and on July 24, 1981, Mr. Robert Johnson's Bullfrog Alleys Johnny Jump-Up #2, a buck bred by Mrs. Abrahamson, became the first Nigerian Dwarf registered by any registry. 
By January 1987 there were 348 goats registered in the herdbook of IDGR as Nigerian Dwarves, with 93 of those registered in the last year alone.

At first there were only a few main colors they were brown, black and gold with random white markings. They had first started out breeding the distinct colors lines together, but they did begin to mix them to make the tons of variations of colors is in the breed now.

In 1984 three years after the IDGR opended there herdbook for Nigerian Dwarfs, the American Goat Society did the same, a year later they had 82 Nigerian Dwarfs registered. Mr. Woods was involved in getting a separate 
Herdbook for the breed with AGS, and was made chairman of the Nigerian Dwarf committee 

Ten years later over 2,000 Nigerian Dwarves had been registered with the American Goat Society.

what do you think :whatgoat: 

I got most of the info from the ANDDA.. 

the next thing to go into it is the ND standards..


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

*Re: My 4-H Project on Nigerian Dwarfs so far what do you thi*

You've done your research! Sounds great this far, I hope you do well with your presentation :hug:


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

*Re: My 4-H Project on Nigerian Dwarfs so far what do you thi*

Nice work! :thumb:


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## maple hill farm tina (Mar 14, 2010)

*Re: My 4-H Project on Nigerian Dwarfs so far what do you thi*

Nice work! Well-researched. Do you have to turn in a written copy, or just present the information orally?


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## Timothy Hay (Feb 12, 2011)

*Re: My 4-H Project on Nigerian Dwarfs so far what do you thi*

I put the info on a poster board and then I talked to the evaluator about it and told her what I had learned.. I got an A ribbon for it!!!

I thought it was really cool what I found out.. and at some point I am going to read the history of some of the different breeds I have!!


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

*Re: My 4-H Project on Nigerian Dwarfs so far what do you thi*

:stars: :dance: Great job! :thumb:


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