# What buck to use for mixed breed herds?



## Hobbyfarmer (Sep 7, 2011)

I'm so confused about what buck to use on my does this fall. I have 3 does. A registered Nubian doeling, Nubian/Saanen mix doe, and registered LaMancha doe. Ideally I would rent one buck for all 3 and return him a month or 2 later. Registered babies would bring a premium but I'm not as concerned about that this year. I'm mostly interested in milk from the does and raising the kids for meat. I would love to retain a doeling at some point from the Nubian mix, my fave doe  But don't intend to retain any other kids for quite awhile. A few years down the line I hope to start AI on the purebreds and that's when I'll focus on quality of kids. This has me leaning towards a meat breed buck this year. Or is it foolish to breed a purebred to a different breed or grade buck?

If you have a mixed breed herd how did you select your buck/bucks? My goals are fuzzy at best so any advice is appreciated.


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## mmiller (Apr 3, 2012)

If you are just wanting milk from the does and meat from the kids I would go with a meat breed for this year until you know what your really wanting. Killing two birds with one stone is how I look at it with using a meat breed. Good luck!!


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## naturalgoats (Jan 3, 2011)

Is there a risk breeding a meat breed buck to a finer dairy type doe? just thinking about birthing complications?... no experience with this myself so not sure... could one just use a smaller meat buck??
M.


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## aussieheelr (Jul 29, 2011)

If it were me I'd find a dairy buck to breed to them, and keep the offspring as dairy. Mixing with the meat you'll likely be selling all as meet but with a lower weight as a purely meat bred goat. 
The bucklings will likely go as meat anyway since they wouldn't be pure, but would enable the doelings to be better milkers than a milk/meat cross.
That's how I see it anyway. :thumb:


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

I would find apurebred Lamancha to breed to and register the doe kids as grade LaManchas. They can still be bred back up to purebred as the stud books are still open. LaManchas do put on meat and have a good carcass weight.


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

i used to run my saanen does with my boer does and join them to a boer buck. i was mainly interested in milk from the does and alot of my boer kids were freezer bound so crossbreds were fine. i didnt have any birthing complications


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## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

I would use either a Boer or a Nubian. If you use a Boer and get the Boer coloring on the kids they will bring more at the sale just based on their color. Since Nubians and LaMancha's are basically dual purpose (meat or milk) I don't think you would have a problem with the kids being too fine boned. Nubians are pretty heavy boned and all of the LaMancha's I have seen were pretty big boned too. Using a Nubian would keep the kids dairy and they would still be able to be sold as family milkers, especially if you used a spotted buck and got some colorful kids they would probably sell pretty fast.

I've crossed Boers on Alpines, Nubians, and an Oberhasli and never had any birthing problems. All of my Boers always had normal sized 8-10 lb kids so they aren't really larger than the dairy kids.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Is it for your meat or for sale meat?? If your wanting to sell at the auction, I might lean to boer, as long as it has boer marking will sell for more. If you are going to eat them I would do the lamancha. My reasons 1. youll get you papers on the lamancha doe, 2. you say you would like to keep a doe out of your other doe, take it from me, do it as soon as you can, you never know what tomorrow will bring. I sold my does first doeling, got bucks the next year, then died the year after, still kicking myself for that. 3. my lamanch and saanen kids are almost as meaty as the boers, but if you go saanen, youll lose that 1 does papers of her kids. Thats what I would do. But if you do go with the boer, I have yet to have any kidding issues with the dairy breeding to them. Well, I had my saanen have a 14lb kid, but the next day my boer had a 13lb kid, so Im blaming it on the rich grass.


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## potentialfarm (Apr 11, 2011)

This is my first kidding season with mixing dairy/meat breeds. I LOVE the looks of my 50/50 Nubian/Boer girls...I feel like I have the best of both worlds (meat/dairy) going on. Since your Nubian is registered, if you could get your hands on a fullblood Boer buck, any girls would be eligible for dual registration. I would think the same for any female offspring for the Lamancha, and even your mixed doe could have her girl(s) reg. as 50% Boer. You do have to be careful to get a buck that has 1x1 teat structure though...

I had all girls this year w/the Nubian/Boer mix (that figures, since part of my point was to have meatier boys! lol), and I am amazed at the growth rate/meatiness of these Xbreed girls! 

Also, we had NO birthing issues w/breeding the Boer buck to Nubian doe (I was originally concerned about that). I would be careful about breeding the Boer to a young FF dairy girl though...not that the kids' birthweights were so huge, but just to be on the safe side...


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## Hobbyfarmer (Sep 7, 2011)

Thanks everyone. This was the exact response I was hoping for. You've given me a lot to think on. And brought up ideas and concerns that I hadn't thought of. 

For clarification the meat would be for us. Although that depends on 2 factors. First is how well we are able to part with this years kids. They are dam raised so I think we will be ok. Second is how many kids we get. If they all have twins or triplets that would exceed our demand. Some would be sold at that point. 

Still undecided at this point. Good think time is on my side. Each breeding sounds like it has so much potential. Which is exactly how I ended up with such an motley assortment already :wink:


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## TheMixedBag (Oct 16, 2010)

I'm just crossing everyone with a kiko this year, which includes a saanen, a saanen/nubian, a kiko/spanish and hopefully a boer or cross. My saanen buck will not be used this year, but next year he'll cover all the does. I figure this way I can retain multiple does and still not risk inbreeding. I chose a kiko because prices are good here, they're not common, they tend tothrow smaller kids who grow faster (especially on a dairy doe). Maybe further down the line I will add a boer buck, but it's something I'm still debating.


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