# best breed for market



## meghank (Aug 18, 2016)

I was wondering what you guys recommend as the best breed for market goats, I currently have: 2 fullblooded registered boer bucks, 2 what I think are 75%boer, 25% kiko does, and 1 what I think is a 50%boer, 50%kiko buck (i was told he was boer, but after seeing a registered buck, his horns look more like a kiko than a boer). He is the father of the 2 does, their mother was a registered fullblood boer. They were gaining between 5-8oz during their 1st month of life. There is a hmong butcher 2 miles from my house that will buy them from me, if I recall correctly, they said muslims make up a large percentage of their clients, he also said that he gets african people that want large (100+lb) intact bucks.

Any recommendations for my herd? I know the registered boers bring good money as breeding stock, but how do they compare for growth, meat yield, feed efficiency (in terms of amount of grain fed per weight gained), hardiness, etc?

I should add that I'm in wisconsin, so i think the meat goat market is more focused on show goats, unless its an ethnic market


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I would find out from that butcher.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Well there is pros about both breeds. Kikos have smaller bones and ideally more meat per the pound. Throwing numbers out there but say you take a 60lb kiko and a 60lb boer to get butchered you would get 40lbs of meat from the kiko and 30 from the boer. Again throwing numbers out there but to give you a idea. Now boers are known for faster ADG (average daily gain). Which is better in the long run? I have no idea. How will you be paid? Live weight? Hanging weight? I doubt how much actual meat they get in the end but you never know. So I would think it would be better to go with what has fastest growth.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Sorry I looked at the time and realized it was time to take the kids to school.
Ok back to it lol I know a lot of people who Breed the two together wanting the smaller bone but yet the fast gain. Really I don't think meat wise you could go wrong with either way. If it was me I would throw a doe with each buck and see what happens lol bottom line any kids you get will sell for meat.
Hardy, you'll get mixed feelings depending on who you talk to on this. Both at one time were known for being super Hardy and low maintenance, I think over the years with the boers breeders have focused on other things and not these selling points. But I've had ones that I was not impressed with and ones that are just down right wonderful. I've learned who to pick and choose who I purchase from and Mahoney grown kids are wonderful. I've only ever had one boer doe that I had a major issue with parasites and she was a pampered show goat that I bought so I think to a point how they are raised plays a big rule in it. Kikos, honestly I've only had just a few and was not impressed with their personalities so they didn't stay long so I can't really say much about them other then what is on Google lol


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## meghank (Aug 18, 2016)

Both my newest boer buck and my kiko buck came from farms that did a lot of culling, (out of 7 boer bucks born on that farm, only 2 were kept intact, and the kiko came from a commercial farm). Ideally I would put one doe with each buck as they are twins, so similar genetics=biggest variation being the bucks genetics, but the kiko is the father of them, lol. 

I've been pretty pleased with how my kiko buck has grown compared with how much grain he gets, where as the boer buck is a beast at 6 months, but he get 2lbs of grain a day (thats what he was getting when I got him, so I just continued it, the kiko got less than 1lb most of the time I had him, and the guy I got him from didn't feed much either) and I really like the kiko horns.

Any experience with some of the other meat breeds out there, like savannah, spanish, or myotonic?


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Honestly there is nothing wrong with breeding back to the sire, it might be a wonderful cross or a very bad cross. If the back or does have any traits that are not all the great, let's say bad udders as a example, then it will be more likely that offspring will for sure have it. But it goes the same for good traits as well. I'm not totally anti linebreeding but I try not to because I'm still rotating does out for better doelings and if I get in a jam and need to line breed I don't want them to be totally in bred for generations lol if that makes sense.
Savannas are basically like boers but are newer to the US then the boers so are known to be more parasite resistant. I have a friend in Nebraska and that's what he raises and he loves them, he also has nothing good to say about boers lol but he is very picky in what he wants his goats to produce and will cull in a heart beat and still has great things to say about them.
Spanish goats are more survivors then anything. Kinda like the kikos people will cross them to a more 'meaty' goat that way they have all the great qualities of a Spanish but yet the meat and mass of the boer or savanna for example. Now one down fall that pretty much everyone has with them are they are NOT tame. I had one once and I could never get her in her pen at night. She was a wonderful mom and even took on a coyote when it went after her kid but still I couldn't get her to come in to the pen. Took 2 quads and ropes to get her and she went straight to the sale.
myotonic I think are beautiful stunning goats! I always see them and admire their butts lol I'm a cattle gal at heart and lack of a backside drives me crazy with goats but they really have it. But they are slow growing. They are a smaller breed compared to the other meat goats and their ADG is so much less then everything else. Now they do have a cross between a myotonic and a kiko and it's called something and for the life of me I can't think of what it's called, but I know quite a few people who love that cross. I would only breed the a myotonic buck to a kiko doe though. Anyways it's the same idea with any of these crosses they are wanting to get the good from both breeds. I myself am just a boer gal lol I love their looks, they are hardy and as a woman with 2 small kids doing everything my self I love how easy they are to handle


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## meghank (Aug 18, 2016)

thanks, that was really helpful info, I've seen some of the myotonic goats from onion creek ranch and those are some BIG goats. I had a fainter breed my dairy does the 1st time I bred them, and was not terribly impressed with them, but those were dairy crosses, I do think they had more 'backside' as you put it, than my kiko does, lol. I do like the boers, and they are what most people think of when they think meat goat, the kiko horns are cool, but you cant eat the horns, lol, I think the 1st boers I got are not as good of genetics as the one I got now, I think between the kiko crosses and the boer buck, it should be a good cross.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

Boer.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Very good advice.


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