# Pure Bred vs Mixed Bred



## HoneyintheHeart (Dec 1, 2011)

Who can offer a low down on experience with the health, production, and behavior of pure vs mixed goats? :whatgoat:


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## Di (Jan 29, 2008)

Well, I can't give much opinion, yet. All of my goats are purebred except one, she's an alpine/oberhasli mix...not sure that is enough of a mis-match to qualify...lol. But, we'll see, she's just a baby.

Welcome!


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## Burns Branch Boers (Apr 11, 2011)

I think either or is just as healthy. So much of a goats health honestly, depends on management. 

It really boils down to...what do you wish to do with your goats? If you are not looking to sell the offspring or show the goats I would go with whatever you like and alot of times the mixes are soooo cute and cost alot less. 

If you wish to sell the offspring, in my opinion-purebred/fullblood vs. precentage cost the exact same to feed---you will be able to recoup more $$ on the sales of full blood offspring. If you want to show the animals then most likely you will want purebred (to show in open shows) or fullblood (to show in the association classes, ex: ABGA, IBGA, ADGA ect.)

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions..ask away :greengrin:


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

I'm curious about the same thing. I have all purebreds, and some are definitely hardier than others. I've heard that mixed breeds have something called "hybrid vigor." Never had a mixed breed though. :shrug:


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## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

All my current does are mixes. Beep is Togg/Alpine, Candice is LaMancha/Saanen/Alpine, Kit-Cat is Saanen/Alpine, Victoria is Nubian/LaMancha and I had a doe that was Nubian/Boar. My buck however is a puredred LaMancha. I have seen no management differances even from people who own both. Breeding playes a huge part whether they are purebred or not. Its really all boils down to papers. People pay more for papers regardless of the animal so you can make more money on purebreds. But as far as feed, aditude, and things like that it all depends on the goat itself.


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## ptgoats45 (Nov 28, 2011)

When I had Boers I had a couple Boer/Nubian crosses. Those does had larger udders than my fullblood boers and could have been used to breed up a high percentage Boer with a better quality udder if you were having udder problems. Of course I did have a Boer buck who put beautiful udders on his girls that were the same no matter what doe they were from; high, tight with excellent attachments and teat placement. He would have been the envy of the dairy world if he had been a dairy buck.

I would say hybrid vigor only works if both parents have excellent qualities. If one parent has some poor qualities it is very likely for those to come through on the kids. Mules are an excellent example of hybrid vigor in equines, stronger than a donkey but with the riding qualities of a horse. Of course mules are a true hybrid having a different number of chromosomes than either parent (63) the donkey has 62 and the horse 64. With goats it is more like crossing a Quarter Horse with an Arab, both are horses but different breed. Or a poodle with a labrador.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

I would think it depends on the starting goats. If you take two weak goats of different breeds and cross them then the kids will potentially be weak as well. 

If you take to resistant hearty goats from the same or different breeds and cross them the kids would be more hearty. 

If you find a preticular weakness in a breed a cross with a breed lacking that weakness would possibly result in kids without the weakness. 

With dogs many have been poorly bred without emphasis on heartiness but looking for money. One great example is the Golden Retreiver. They have been poorly bred for a long time and now it is hard to find one that has good hips and a long lifespan without health issues. If you cross a golden with a breed that has no or rare hip problems then the pups have a better chance of good hips.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

All but 3 of my 8 are crossbreeds... pygmy/nigerian....Actually, I've not had any issues with sickness other than the first time ever case of polio in 11 years of raising my goats. Mine seem to have a good resistance to worm loads too...I do check my own fecals and only one doe this past kidding season showed a higher level of eggs than the others and was wormed accordingly.... I actually don't even worm my goats unless I see an issue.


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## Breezy-Trail (Sep 16, 2011)

I like some of the crosses.

I like the Boer/Nubian, Boer/kiko, Apline/saanen mix breeds. I am sure I would like other mixes as well, but haven't seen any more than these.

I sometimes prefer the crosses because you can sometimes find good quality and color in a cross. Like I have a saanen/alpine doe that has sweat milk and a lot of it, I like her also for her correct udder and her color (white with a brown/tan mane).

The disadvantage is that I will have a hard time selling her cross kids for any more than $100 in my area. I am thinking a 50% -94% registered doe would be easier to sell kids off of than a unknown background doe.


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

I, personally, like mixed breeds. I prefer mutt dogs too. I feel they are hardier and can be just as good for milk and meat. It really depends on why you are raising goats. 
I have purebred Toggenburgs and a registered Nubian and her two purebred daughters. I bred the Toggs to my Nubian/Saanen mix last year. We will see how his kids do this year. I have bred the Nubians to him this year. So it will be another season to see how they do.
My main reason for goats is milk and meat so I will be happy that my girls get freshened and then we will see how their offspring do. If all this breeding turns out a bunch of does who do not milk well I may change my attitude.


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## lissablack (Nov 30, 2009)

Most of my goats are kinders, they are a cross between a nubian and a pygmy in the first generation and then bred kinder to kinder after. There is a registry, the nubian and pygmy have to be registered for them to be registered, so they are both a cross and registered. Sometimes. The cross is sometimes done without registered animals. I suspect everyone is right that it depends on the strengths of the original goats. Kinders are pretty tough, in my experience, but if you used weak goats to start them I don't see why they wouldn't be weak also. There is some vigor you might get from the cross, but I don't know that it would overcome the weaknesses. You just need good sound animals that have the characteristics you want to have.


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