# Kikos



## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Does anyone here have Kikos and if so what has your experience been with them?

Thanks!


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

I know @Boers4ever has. 🙂


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

My hypothetical plan is that we would get some alpine doelings from a friend of ours and breed them to a Kiko buck...and then slowly phase to all Kiko.


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## Boer Mama (10 mo ago)

Is Kiko a dual breed goat? My minds drawing a blank right now.
I know a lot of people cross with Boers.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

From my understanding, can be a dual breed depending on what breeder you get them from but they are primarily a meat breed. I could be wrong on that though.


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## Boer Mama (10 mo ago)

I wasn’t sure if you were going for dairy or meat goats, since starting out with alpine does 😊


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

We’re going with the Alpines only because that’s what our friends have and we know what their husbandry practices are.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

And because alpines are really cute


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

I have Kiko x boers. Kiko to me is a smaller bone boer. They are about the same height but the bone is much smaller. My girls have been easy to raise, are more disease resistant, and worm resistant. Im breeding them into my boer lines. To add health and resistance in my boers. Boers have been so inbred and line bred, alot of the original qualities are fading. They want a certain look, not the hardy durable boer. So I have enjoyed my kiko x boer does.


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## Boer Mama (10 mo ago)

I like how alpines look too 😍

@Moers kiko boars haveyou heard of savannahs? ‘The white boer’
I see them posted on my local CL and they really tote their disease resistance and mothering abilities. I was thinking about getting a 50/50 savannah /boer cross buck in a cpl years maybe… my dads really set on the Boers after reading about them. I think he’s equating them to his beefmaster breed in cows 😅
So I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get a % buck or not…


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

I have 3 Savannah x boer does. Im breeding 2 of them this year. If I have a buckling he wil be able to register at 50% on ABGA. The buckling would actually be 75% Boer, but since Mom isnt registered then he could be at 50 %. The girls I have are taller in withers than the Boer doelings. They are more resistant to worms & less feet problems. Again Im adding that to my Boer line, since it was inbred out. They only wanted show lines
I prefer healthy registered lines. Im breeding last years daughters next month. So they have grown fast and thick. I am excited to see what they produce in March😘


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

We had 5 savannah cross does and then kept their offspring over the years after being crossed with boers. They were my favorite girls, hardly ever had feet problems, were good mothers but were rather bossy. I loved their ear freckles.


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## Katrina Anon (6 mo ago)

One of the recommendations is to cross breed kikos with Boer bucks. It is suppose to make a really good meat goat that is more parasite resistant.

They and Spanish goats crossbred with Boers are suppose to be really good meat goats.


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

Ive had Spanish goats. I would not reccomend that for meat goats. They were smaller boned and.alot harder to handle. They wouldn't tame down, and delivery if kids, was a fight. I had 5 Spanish does for 2 years and sold them all, no profit, none of them were what I would call meat goats.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

I might eventually go with boer bucks but I think for now I'd like to try something new this go around. 

We mostly want to just have some fun, personable, colorful weed control that pays for itself eventually.


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## Katrina Anon (6 mo ago)

Lstein said:


> I might eventually go with boer bucks but I think for now I'd like to try something new this go around.
> 
> We mostly want to just have some fun, personable, colorful weed control that pays for itself eventually.


One of the OSU vets says the Kiko/Boer goats make a very parasite resistant does and bucks much more than either Kikos or Boers. The parasite reistance is the big plus of the cross breeds if your are in it for the meat, though pure bred Kikos significantly do better against parasites than Boers alone.


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## Boer Mama (10 mo ago)

I’ve got straight Boers (unregistered) and have not had any parasite troubles at all. I haven’t had to use any chemicals to deworm for 4 years.
Just so Boers aren’t getting a completely bad rap 😉
I do live in the desert tho, and they love orange peels and have plenty of chicory to eat… so that all helps too. Lol


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## needmoredoez (12 mo ago)

I joined a kiko page on facebook because I was curious

I was a bit surprised at the lack of meat / poor carcass quality.

In australia we have kalahari or boer x rangeland composites that are similar but way more meaty... however they dont have a fancy name


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## Boer Mama (10 mo ago)

Kalahari sounds fancy to me 😂

do you have a pic or 2 of the breed?


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## needmoredoez (12 mo ago)

Boer Mama said:


> Kalahari sounds fancy to me 😂
> 
> do you have a pic or 2 of the breed?


Kalahari reds look like red boers





They have a reputation for being hardier and better mothers than boers.


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## Sophie123 (Feb 18, 2019)

We have Kikos and Kiko Boer mixes and a pure Boer buck. The Kikos are much healthier and really good moms , plus have lots of kids . The Boers have much more meat on them. So we have mostly Kiko does and either Boer /Kiko bucks or Boer bucks. We just got a "mutt" of a buck ( Boer, Kiko and Spanish goat mix, farmer we got him from has several hundred mixed breed goats) to prevent too much inbreeding in our herd but he's a little young and the goats I put in with him didn't want anything to do with him 
photo is some 7 month old kiko/boers


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Moers kiko boars said:


> I have Kiko x boers. Kiko to me is a smaller bone boer. They are about the same height but the bone is much smaller. My girls have been easy to raise, are more disease resistant, and worm resistant. Im breeding them into my boer lines. To add health and resistance in my boers. Boers have been so inbred and line bred, alot of the original qualities are fading. They want a certain look, not the hardy durable boer. So I have enjoyed my kiko x boer does.


Do you sell any of your kids at a sales barn or commercially? Just curious if you get docked at all if they aren't white with a red head.

I really want to try something new and build a Kiko herd but don't want to completely put myself at a disadvantage with sales. I've been watching our state classifieds for the last couple months and have only seen kiko's on there once...pretty sure they are still there too. Everything else is boers and dairy goats.

I'm not completely against boers....I mostly just don't want to relive the experience of having big bucks like that again, ours were just awful, the fighting and destruction that they did was insane. Plus just how the does beat each other up...though this go around, we would just dehorn all the kids...so that won't be an issue either way. I was also having a lot of parasite issues but that could happen with any herd I suppose. 

We are all but certain to be getting some goats again this spring, but they will more than likely be March kids...so I technically don't have to worry about a buck until 2024 but I still like to plan it out.


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## Moers kiko boars (Apr 23, 2018)

My bucks are Boers.The doelings that are Boerx kiko look like boer, red head, white body. Alot of people would not know the difference of these 2 breeds in the does looks. 
Ive never been docked in color or price of any goat Ive sold. The only docking Ive seen is whether the goats were healthy or not. My kikoxs are easier to put weight on. 
Ive heard of dapples being docked, but if I would have been their, I would have snatched them up. I prefer dapples. To me, even in showing, it should be the muscle to bone ratio, not fat coverage, or color. 
I enjoy my kikoxs. Honestly I dont know how the market will be in 2023. I wish I did. I would share it with you.


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## Sophie123 (Feb 18, 2019)

Our Kiko bucks are WAY more big and destructive than the Boers. The first one we had was huge and destroyed 3 doors in the barn plus no amount of fencing could keep him in when he wanted to get to the girls so we sold him. The Boers are shorter and less "mobile" somehow. But we just keep them for a few years and then use a new younger one. Bucks can breed goats at a young age, they don't need to be full grown


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## tiffin (Mar 3, 2021)

Moers kiko boars said:


> Ive had Spanish goats. I would not reccomend that for meat goats. They were smaller boned and.alot harder to handle. They wouldn't tame down, and delivery if kids, was a fight. I had 5 Spanish does for 2 years and sold them all, no profit, none of them were what I would call meat goats.


I have heard same from others. I know someone who had spanish and sold them all for the same reasons, never could tame them. We like a goat we don't have to chase and catch to vet.


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## tiffin (Mar 3, 2021)

We bought a Savannah and a kiko doe this year, both were already bred to New Zealand kiko buck. 

We much prefer the look of the Savannah, she is bigger boned and meatier than the kiko. Kiko's seem scrawny scrub looking goats to me. 

From the babies, the ones that took the look of their Kiko sire appear scrawnier whereas the ones that took after the Savannah mother - well let's just say we are keeping one of the bucks- and will breed next year to a couple of boer doelings we bought this year.

We decided against kiko and we will go Savannah boer cross. We will keep the kiko doe and cross with our boer buck. But we're fencing more pasture and if we get more - we will go savannah.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Sophie123 said:


> Our Kiko bucks are WAY more big and destructive than the Boers. The first one we had was huge and destroyed 3 doors in the barn plus no amount of fencing could keep him in when he wanted to get to the girls so we sold him. The Boers are shorter and less "mobile" somehow. But we just keep them for a few years and then use a new younger one. Bucks can breed goats at a young age, they don't need to be full grown


_Sigh_, that's not encouraging. I still have a couple perfect buck shaped dents in the side of my pole barn and a welded wire gate that's bent in an almost perfect "V" from our old bucks. But escaping is definitely the greater concern for me.

This go around, my buck pen is going to be bull proof with some electric wire incorporated. But being able to climb over is a lot harder to manage.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Maybe we will just go the hair sheep route..🤨. and keep like two alpine does. Good thing I have all winter to flip flop back and forth.

Fencing in general for goats is going to be more difficult as an entire side of our pasture is no longer woven wire. It's our neighbors fence (used to contain buffalo) and now they just run cattle and replaced it all with three barb wires. I'm starting to second guess weather or not adding a couple electric wires to it would even hold goats. 

I've been spoiled the last couple years with our three dairy cows, they are just so easy going.


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## Sophie123 (Feb 18, 2019)

Lstein said:


> Maybe we will just go the hair sheep route..🤨. and keep like two alpine does. Good thing I have all winter to flip flop back and forth.


We have hair sheep too but to be honest, I like my goats better !! They are in general much smarter and easier to train , like I can take our goats free ranging and they will come when called ( because they get grain)
They are also better moms . The sheep sometimes have 2 perfectly good lambs, and they will push one away and not feed it. It happens every year with at least a few. The goats never do that, at least not ours. 
The sheep actually get sick more often also. I have to vaccinate them against pneumonia. I think we have only had like 2 goats ever get pneumonia.

but no 3 strands of barbed wire is going to keep neither sheep nor goats in...they will just go under it or through it

our fencing for the goats: 4 ft goat fencing or in some areas larger squares that was there already , not sure what you even call it. Then 1 strand of barbed wire on top of that then 1 strand of electric on that , then electric tape on the bottom so the dogs don't dig under, then 2 ft chicken wire along the larger squares in some areas so they won't get their horns stuck. Are you ready to get cows again lol?

The sheep do fine with 3 strands of electric tape


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## Katiesdoegoats (2 mo ago)

Kikos were developed in New Zealand from wild goats crossed on dairy. So you'll see some resemblance to Alpine. 

Parasite resistance can vary in the Kiko breed, though that was one of the goals and what breeders strive for. Kikos aren't shown nor have a breed standard but there are testing programs at certain research universities. They take in bucks from breeders and do a non biased testing for parasite resistance, hoof quality, ability to maintain and grow only on forage and eventually carcass quality. 

Parasite issues can be due to management and circumstances. I know of a dairy breeder who keeps her goats on dry lots and hay. Parasite problems non existant there. 

Kikos, for their size live weight, are proported to give more meat to bone ratios than heavier breeds. They are great for maternal qualities and kidding, less maintenance and it's desired the doe wean her weight in kids each season. A moderate size doe that produces well while not requiring much feed is a goal. The kids are up quick and nursing and grow fast. With the dairy background the does are usually great milk producers = fast growing kids. It's common for triplets and quads with the doe feeding them herself. 

The Kiko/Boer cross is very popular. I personally see more care and maintenance needed in the straight Boers I've had and when the Boer percentage get over 50% in my keeper stock. 

In general, Kikos might not look like much at first to some people. But they can produce very well, with less cost and maintenance, over all. It also pays to do your research on the bloodline($) and those who do the university testing. Currently, the breed has been going through a craze and prices at sales are rather ridiculous. I can't touch some of the lines I'd love to work for me. So beware of some folks selling 'papers' because they paid through the nose. And be sure the goat is up to the reputation (again $). Because they essentially still sell by the pound.


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