# Meat dairy crosses



## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

Anybody tried any meat diary crosses. I know I see nubian boer crosses for sale but do they maintain any dairy worth having?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I know there are several people on here who do that. Have the dairy doe for bottle feeding or grafting purposes and quickly sell her kids.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I have an Alpine-Boer cross doe and she milks very well, and I would imagine has very high fat milk. So it may be something to look into if you don't want a Nubian, or a Nigerian, but want a decent amount of milk and high butterfat content.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Nubian/boers are best of both worlds and beautiful to look at. 
I had them in the past and loved them, good milk supply. Of course, it all depended on the percentage of the nubian/boer. If you want more milk, longer lasting type, you want the higher percentage nubian/boer.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

At one point I bred all my dairy does to a Boer buck. They were Nubians, Oberhasli and an Alpine. I kept several of the doe kids. They did great at milking. They had their mothers production and about 50% of their fathers muscling. When I decided Boers were not for me, I had no problem finding new herds for the crosses to go to, as several goat farmers really wanted that high milk production for big, fast growing meaty kids.

In fact, one of the guys keeps after me to breed some of my Nubian does to his Boer and he will buy the doe kids for his meat herd!


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

My 50% Boer Nubian milks great!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Well here's some pictures on my boer crosses







This is bugs 9 hours after I weaned her single kid at 3 months old. I never milked her other then the day after she kidded for colostrum, she is boer Nubian








Shortcake boer lamancha roughly 2 weeks before she kidded








Comet boer Nubian 9 days before she kidded. 
So although they are not as impressive as straight dairy girls I don't think they are half bad milk wise. What I really like about the cross is they have extra milk if I need it but if I don't then I don't NEED to milk them. They all have plenty of milk to raise triplets, or if they have twins I can steal some for a bottle baby. I'm not big on milking  also since I'm not totally sure what your plan is, the 1/2 and 1/2 isn't overly stocky, not bad but not big chunks but their off spring are really stocky and the dames have the milk for fast growing kids


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Here was my FF 50% Alpine 50% Boer cross doe. This was I think 3 days before she kidded, so not all the way full yet, her dam is also my least milky doe. She's due on 4-1 this year, so we'll see how much capacity she gains this year. 
If it wasn't so dang cold for several weeks prior to her kidding, she would have been quite a bit heavier. During summer time this girl and her doe kid that I kept were just butterballs  So depending on what you feed them (i.e, feeding them with your high maintenance dairy does), they can get pretty dang heavy.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Wow, Little Bits, very impressive udders!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Do you know how many times I have googled alpineXboer and have never found a picture??!! I have 2 alpine girls I bred to my boer and am quite curious to see what they might have together lol


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

:lol: Well I try not to advertise my halfling, she's the dirty little secret around here. But had I known you were looking I would have posted her :lol: But thank you, her udder isn't too bad, she just looked awful in the pictures.

Also, Jessica, her twin brother was solid black except for some white feet, so you might get some color. 
This doe had a traditional and a solid red last year too.

ETA: Added the pic, they were pretty newborn.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

You you just made my day! I bred both of them to my black dapple hoping for black. I almost put them in with my traditional buck because I figured they would be ugly no matter who I bred them to but decided to just try. So hopefully I get some black kids. So maybe I should stop being so annoyed my kids talked me into them lol


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

You will probably get black then, because those two were out of a traditional, and so was Buffy's red doe.


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## flatmountain (Aug 14, 2010)

Well thanks! That might be something to consider.


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## MagsMollyPenny (Feb 1, 2016)

I have a boer/nubian. Mostly boer. We never really milked her regularly so I can't really say how much she produced, but she did feed quite a few bottle kids along with her own over the years. She always had the fastest growing kids every year. The last year we bred her she lost half of her udder due to mastitis and still raised twins with over half a pound daily gain.


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## BlaqueUnicornAdventures (May 14, 2014)

I have a 4 currently...
All less than a week old. Cute as can be (but aren't all babies.


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Your best cross by far will be Lamancha / Boer. I have put hands on all the different crosses of boers and this cross is always the most impressive.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

TDG-Farms said:


> Your best cross by far will be Lamancha / Boer. I have put hands on all the different crosses of boers and this cross is always the most impressive.


That's the cross I want....


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

You do!! That's my all time favorite cross. For a boer goat ranch I have so many no ears running around


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

The guy who bought my Boer herd has put a hold on all my Lamancha doelings this year. He and his wife want them for their Boer herd. I'll probably end up with all bucks.  lol. I will gladly sell them to them, except for any doe kids from one special "Booby" doe. They also expressed an interest in some Nubian doelings. Woohoo! They loved my dairy/Boer crosses that I sold them many years ago, now they want to redo the mix!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Smart man! The only thing I don't like about the cross is it takes forever to get them with ears! I have a 88% laboer and so her kid would be 93% any ways no ears. I don't care about the no ears but boys end up at the sale and just because of their lack of ears I get at least $10 less for them. So far all the girls I have been able to sell privately so I just cry a little when they are boys lol


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Ya the lack of ears does through a lot of people off. Which is just dumb. You dont eat the ears...


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Exactly! But it's the same thing with frosted ears, just something to pick at I guess. It's the same crap with beef cattle as well. If you bring in a grey animal with a nice long tail they are ok with it, if it has a short rat tail then you get less even though the cross of angus Charolais is clear on both animals


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## VVFarm (Dec 14, 2015)

Oh yes!! 
In my commercial herd I have several Nubian/Boer cross does. I breed them to a full blood Boer buck.
The does give their rich, plentiful Nubian milk and the hybrid kids grow like weeds. Being 75% Boer the kids still have the look & color that meat buyers want. 
For a commercial meat herd, half dairy does are money machines.
If you want to milk a half dairy/half Boer doe, go for it! They won't produce quite as well as a star dairy doe but certainly enough for most families personal use.


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