# how to "make" a mini



## littleflower (Mar 24, 2011)

I've been giving serious thought to perhaps starting a mini herd (just don't tell my husband!). We raise Nigerian dwarfs now + would continue to do so, but I've just been toying with this mini idea. I'm just a little unclear of the process...

Ok, so say I have a standard size, registered alpine doe. I breed her to a registered nigerian dwarf buck and get a first generation mini alpine doe(experimental). Now this is where I'm a little confused...when it's time to breed this mini alpine, do I breed her to another nigerian dwarf or do I need to breed her to a mini alpine buck? And if the answer is to breed her to a nigerian, how do you manage the correct coloring? Then I continue this for 6 generations?

I know this is long and confusing, but any help would be appreciated!


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

What breed registry? I am no expert at this, but what you would want to try and do is breed...

Alpine x Nigerian = Mini Alpine (going to be larger than a nigerian)
Mini Alpine x Mini Alpine = Mini Alpine, (still going to be larger than a nigerian)
Or you could go...
Mini Alpine x Nigerian = 1/4 alpine and 3/4 nigerian (this would bring the height down if wanted)
breed that back to a Mini Alpine and you might get a good sized miniature alpine. This is going to take quite a few generations to get where you need to. You would want to pick specific nigerians that have a color acceptable in the alpine breed or something very similar to work with if you wanted a true mini alpine while keeping udder quality in mind as well as good conformation. It would be a lot of work and would be quite time consuming...but it would make for a fun project. 

Just make sure to have really good records to see what worked and what didn't work. What reduced/increased size...what color patterns did you see, etc.


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## littleflower (Mar 24, 2011)

So I wouldn't continue breeding the alpine crosses to a nigerian...that answers my question, thanks!

I would love to give it a shot, but it seems oh so time and space consuming. And then there's the color-thing. 

Oh well...looks like I'll just have to find one "pre-made"!!

Thanks for the help!


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

You could breed them to a nigerian, but then you are losing more and more of the alpine genetics in the goat so it would be defeating the purpose as you'd be breeding away from creating a miniature alpine and breeding back toward a nigerian.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

I do believe the MDGA registry website has good information on the generations and how to achieve purebred mini alpine status. 

An alpine bred to a Nigerian will give you a first generation mini alpine. Breed this offspring to a Nigerian and you are still at 1st generation but breed them to a 1st generation mini alpine you get a 2nd generation. 

Anytime you breed to a generation lower the kids don't progress in generations. Breed to a generation higher and the kids are even higher generations. 

So yes you could breed to a Nigerian again but you won't ever get out of the 1st generation status with the resulting kids


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