# New... Goat breeds?



## barrelracin85 (Jan 23, 2016)

Hey everyone, first post here! So I am a horse person brand new to goats. I totally jumped into goats in a way that I would never advise anyone to do with horses. I knew nothing about them literally. I'm researching like heck now but I have a LOT to learn. My neighbor bought a group of 20ish doelings and we thought hey let's buy a few off of him to help with weed control (yes we were those people). We ended up with 3 girls and we picked up a billy because if you are going to do it wrong you might as well go big right? (Making fun of myself here)

So we were told the does are boer and/or boer kiko crosses. What do yall think? The brown and brown/white I think have a lot of boer in them but the tan/white I'm not sure of. Then there is the billy who is supposed to be part boer and I can see it at times but I can't figure out what his cross may be. His hair is a lot longer than my girls. I don't have great pics of him but I figured I'd see what yall could tell from these.

I will say I'm already in love with goats and I am looking forward to learning more about them. I'm pretty obsessive about knowledge once I'm hooked on something and research constantly. Even being 15+ years into horses I still research daily! Thanks for any help/opinions yall can give 

Also everyone is currently nameless. Now that I'm learning their personalities I'll be able to come up with some.

The girls (the brown/white has more of a liver tint to her that is pretty cool) 

































The billy-This picture was from previous owner









Here you can see how much more of a red tone he has to him compared to the girls.


----------



## GoatMama123 (Sep 9, 2015)

Welcome to the world of being a crazy goat person! lol. They are adorable. I definitely see the boer in the them.

They look a bit small to me to be boer/kiko since those are both meat breeds... but maybe I am just thinking that because the horse in the background of the first picture  Maybe the lighter one is kiko and the billy... Very cute though!


----------



## Cedar Point Kikos (Oct 16, 2013)

That light brown/white doe definitely has Kiko in her, at least half but looks like more. The bigger brown girl looks to have a bit of Kiko as well.
The smallest girl looks like she's got the most Boer with a bit of Kiko. They are all gorgeous does!

The buck, myotonic maybe? Some Kiko maybe? Not really sure


----------



## barrelracin85 (Jan 23, 2016)

Haha yes the horse in the background is Appendix and is a true 16hh. She is massive and dwarfs anything she stands next to. I'm 5'5 and her withers are at my head. I just had my 3rd baby in December and getting back on her has been fun after being off 9 months! This is when I first got her.










Standing next to my barrel horse who I used to think was a decent size lol










But yes they are pretty small and I think they are stunted nutritionally. The man my neighbor bought them from was in his 90s and had heart issues. I don't think he was able to put the care into them that he had in years past so he was selling out. Now that we have pulled them out of the big herd they have started to really pick up on weight. They are getting really nice grass hay, the same that I feed my horses. I also learned to put their hay in nets and hang it. They eat it a lot better now. Browsers not grazers right .

The more I look at the billy the more I see kiko in his head maybe?


----------



## GoatMama123 (Sep 9, 2015)

So sad that they may have been less cared for... but sounds like the man was trying his best- And now they will have a superb home! 

Quality loose minerals out for them as I am sure you've already seen with your research... they can't get them all from a lick/ block. 

Any idea how old they are?


----------



## barrelracin85 (Jan 23, 2016)

Cedar Point Kikos said:


> That light brown/white doe definitely has Kiko in her, at least half but looks like more. The bigger brown girl looks to have a bit of Kiko as well.
> The smallest girl looks like she's got the most Boer with a bit of Kiko. They are all gorgeous does!
> 
> The buck, myotonic maybe? Some Kiko maybe? Not really sure


I don't know why I never considered myotonic. I could see him being myotonic/kiko cross. I see the myotonic is referred to as Tennessee meat goat as well and I am in Tennessee. He doesn't "faint" at all though so a mix he'd have to be right? He was a $40 sucker buy obviously. Another one of those "he's cute" things. I'm starting to get over that the more I learn haha.


----------



## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

They probably have a little Boer in them, but not much from what it looks like. Probably some dairy goat in there too, I can see Kiko as well. They look small for standard size mixed breeds, but also look young so they probably have more growing to do. 

By the way, not to pick on you...but instead of nanny and billy, almost all of us goat people call them a doe and buck. Nanny and billy are kind of like how some people call all young horses a colt instead of saying colt, gelding, or filly. That's somewhat of a comparison...about the closest I could think of. :laugh:


----------



## barrelracin85 (Jan 23, 2016)

GoatMama123 said:


> So sad that they may have been less cared for... but sounds like the man was trying his best- And now they will have a superb home!
> 
> Quality loose minerals out for them as I am sure you've already seen with your research... they can't get them all from a lick/ block.
> 
> Any idea how old they are?


The girls I would say are 10 months to a year. My neighbor bought them in August and I'm thinking they were born sometime around January-March of 2015 from what I've learned about their typical breeding seasons. Definitely no more than a year. The billy is supposed to be 6 months. We just got him last week and I expect to see him really bloom. I don't think he got much care either.

I did see loose is preferred. I switched to loose with my horses as well. I'm working on a plan to switch their feed over. They are on a pellet with minimal corn mixed in. I'm looking at going more with just alfalfa pellets (that's all the "grain" I feed my horses) and possibly continuing the pellet without corn but I'm not sure I want to even do that. I was thinking the hay and alfalfa pellets along with the minerals should suffice.


----------



## barrelracin85 (Jan 23, 2016)

KW Farms said:


> They probably have a little Boer in them, but not much from what it looks like. Probably some dairy goat in there too, I can see Kiko as well. They look small for standard size mixed breeds, but also look young so they probably have more growing to do.
> 
> By the way, not to pick on you...but instead of nanny and billy, almost all of us goat people call them a doe and buck. Nanny and billy are kind of like how some people call all young horses a colt instead of saying colt, gelding, or filly. That's somewhat of a comparison...about the closest I could think of. :laugh:


Lol horse is my language so I got ya.


----------



## RPC (Nov 6, 2009)

They look great. I see some Boer but not a lot in them. Also I am not sure I would have the buck in there with the does they look a little young to be getting bred. And bores can breed year round not sure about kikos but I think they can too.


----------



## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

They're pretty, whatever they are!!!! Welcome to TGS!!!! This is the best place I've ever found to get goat help and advice and encouragement. And ALL of us have made goofy, stupid, and sometimes even horrible mistakes. When we fess up, the folks here STILL love us and won't let us wallow in guilt.

So bring your questions and your confessions and your photos. We LOVE photos!


----------



## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

I started with goats a very similar way haha. I have ridden/ owned et. Horses for 13 years now and got my first goat, a give away buck, middle of 2014. Then bought 2 mix bred does... Now I don't own any of my original goats and own 40+ registered goats plus a few boers. They are addictive and so much fun to have. Just warning you haha. I am the same. Always researching, trying to learn more and more  your goats are very cute and welcome to the goat world!


----------



## rottengoat (Jan 30, 2016)

we are having trouble raising little ones......most of them are still born.......would anybody have any ideas????????? thank you for the help!!!!


----------



## rottengoat (Jan 30, 2016)

we are horse farmers to......goats are all new to us......but I loved the pics of the horses


----------



## deerbunnyfarm (Dec 14, 2015)

Can you give more info? What are you feeding/supplementing? Deliveries doing well? Full term?


----------



## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

Welcome to goats! It's not too late to sell, give back, or castrate the buck kid. Just enjoy your goats and learn from them. It's easier not to have pregnant goats for awhile while you get your feet wet. The goats look fairly healthy.


----------



## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

deerbunnyfarm said:


> Can you give more info? What are you feeding/supplementing? Deliveries doing well? Full term?


I agree. One way to tell if they are to term is to feel the teeth. If to term they should have teeth already or just breaking threw. I had 2 week premie babies once and their gums just had little bumps. Also is the does passing their after birth/ placenta?


----------



## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

rottengoat said:


> we are having trouble raising little ones......most of them are still born.......would anybody have any ideas????????? thank you for the help!!!!


It would be better to start your own thread. We need a lot more information. What do you feed? What mineral do you use? What supplements do you give? Do you have fecals done and worm appropriately? At what point in the pregnancy are they giving birth?


----------



## barrelracin85 (Jan 23, 2016)

Tenacross said:


> Welcome to goats! It's not too late to sell, give back, or castrate the buck kid. Just enjoy your goats and learn from them. It's easier not to have pregnant goats for awhile while you get your feet wet. The goats look fairly healthy.


Well we ended up losing the buck this past Thursday. He went from being perfectly normal to very very weak in a matter of hours. We tried treating him but he didn't pull through. The girls were always very aggressive with him and didn't let him get anywhere close enough to breed. We've decided we are going to build a goat barn that has better shelter (it was rainy and insanely cold and windy the day/night the buck went down and died). We are holding off on any new goats until then.

The girls are getting bigger. The brown/white has shot up in height and the tan is getting taller as well. The little brown one isn't quite as tall as them but she is plumping up.

Just thought I'd post an update and bump this up so maybe others can give advice on the kidding issue posted within the thread.


----------



## Redbarngoatfarm (Jul 8, 2015)

So sorry about your buck! The thing is with goats is that often mask not being well, my farmer friend says a sick goat is a dead goat -which I found very true that once they go downhill it can be very hard to recover them.

Your does are beautiful, learn all you can and maybe next year you can venture into breeding as well, best of luck, and keeping surfing the Goat Spot!!


----------



## dreamacresfarm2 (May 10, 2014)

Welcome from Oregon, this is the greatest site for learning - all questions get answered and advice given.


----------



## VVFarm (Dec 14, 2015)

Welcome to the world of goats! I was also a horse person who got a few goats to clean up the weeds the horses leave.... the rest is history. You have been warned but I promise you'll never look back. Goats are GREAT, as you already know. 
I'm sorry about the buck. Goats can be a steep learning curve. You're very wise to start with a few inexpensive ones while you're learning. Once you know the ropes you can start to add expensive animals to the herd. 
I agree with several other posters that they have a bit of Boer, but not much. I would guess them to be a Kiko/Myotonic mix. The buck looked quite Myotonic to me. They don't "faint" as much as they grow older so he needn't have fainted for you to have been that breed. 
Whatever they are, they're very cute! I think you'll be happy with them. They ought to be hardier than, say, a Boer. They look good. 
Great job on your researching. You'll be the go-to person for goat advice in no time!


----------

