# Does anyone else have a variety of breeds?



## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Looking to specialize in one breed of goat, but I'm finding that very difficult... I love many kinds...

I'm thinking of going strictly oberhaslis, but I also like Nubians, their ears, colors, however they are loud. Mine is now behaving WHEW Then I have a Nubian Lamancha doeling too... 

Am I the only one that have a couple different breeds? I'm just a backyard farmer/milker but would eventually like to switch to registered stock, I have a couple already, but just wanted to have better options for customers... I am thinking of breeding my reg Nubian to my registered ober buck and registering the offspring as experimental. 

A part of me just wants to mix and match etc...which probably isn't a bad thing but would it get me anywhere?


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## BOERKING (Jan 5, 2015)

I have both boers and nubians.

Must are purebreds but couple are crosses


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I have Lamancha does and a buck, Nubian does and a buck, an Oberhasli doe, an Alpine doe and have put a deposit on a Nigerian Dwarf buck.

In my original herd, I had Alpines, Saanens, Nubians, LaMancha and an Alpine/Togg mix.

My now ex sold them all. When I started back up, I started with Alpine and Oberhasli. Added Nigerians and Nubians, then Boers.

Sold the Nigerians (not because of them, but because of the breed of dogs I had, the Nigie kids were too tiny to trust the fences) and then the Boers. 

Lost my entire herd to an arsonist. 

Started back up with 2 Nubian does (I had sold them a few months earlier), a Nubian buckling and 3 Lamancha does.

The next year I added a Lamancha buckling and kept 2 NuMancha doelings.

Mixed herd????? You got it!


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## F-A-R-MdotUS (May 18, 2015)

We have all purebred goats surprisingly enough considering we are a rescue... we have nubian, nigerian dwarf, pygmy and boer ... we love them all, even the ones that aren't interested in people .... fortunately no real mean ones have come in yet!


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## F-A-R-MdotUS (May 18, 2015)

lottsagoats1 said:


> Lost my entire herd to an arsonist.


OMG That is horrible! Hope someone got locked up ?!!???


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## FreedomStarr (Oct 21, 2014)

I like lots of different breeds, but decided on one to breed at first. I had unregistered before and it was hard as heck to get rid of the offspring, so that made me go registered. It is good easily get new homes for my non keepers. I knew I wanted bucks and a closed herd, and to not have to take does to be bred. Keeping enough bucks in different breeds to have diverse breeding potential was just too much For me to take on. As it is I have four bucks... Just because they are all different lines I don't know who to get rid of. I won't be keeping them all forever, but since I have 23 acres in in no hurry to get rid of any.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

lottsagoats1 said:


> I have Lamancha does and a buck, Nubian does and a buck, an Oberhasli doe, an Alpine doe and have put a deposit on a Nigerian Dwarf buck.
> 
> In my original herd, I had Alpines, Saanens, Nubians, LaMancha and an Alpine/Togg mix.
> 
> ...


Cool!! Maybe I'll continue with my herd and see where it takes me... I honestly think a healthy disease free goat is worth more than papers, but I'm sure the show ring doesn't reflect that...


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

I think you should keep the goats you like; variety is beautiful.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

But what do sales reflect? Most important is your sales.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

ksalvagno said:


> But what do sales reflect? Most important is your sales.


Good point... Around here the difference is between $50.00-$100.00 between registered and non...


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

We started off with a mixed herd of sale barn goaties. We learned a lot (thank you TGS) and dealt with the steep "goaty learning curve". Once we decided we were hooked on these silly beasts we started figuring out what we wanted to end up with. We tried Kinders, but we now have registered Nubians, a registered mini-Nubie and a mini-Boer.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

I have Nigerians and LaManchas. I love them both, but breeding is a pain in the butt because we don't keep bucks - so we have to travel to different breeders for the different breeds.


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## WitchHazel (May 5, 2015)

We have two mini-Nubians and a mini-Toggenburg. We'd probably have more, but we're inside the urban growth boundary and can only have six total. We're hoping to get some nice kids next spring, so we can't just pick up a goat any time we feel like it.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

WitchHazel said:


> We have two mini-Nubians and a mini-Toggenburg. We'd probably have more, but we're inside the urban growth boundary and can only have six total. We're hoping to get some nice kids next spring, so we can't just pick up a goat any time we feel like it.


That might be a good thing... I started with 2 then 4, then 5 and oh I had 22 in September, now I'm down to 12, with a few more for sale...


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## J.O.Y. Farm (Jan 10, 2012)

I had a mixed herd of LaManchas, Nubians, and Nigerians, love them all, but the Nubians didn't work too well for us, so we just have LaManchas and Nigies now, but I love having a variety


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

Mine are all registered/recorded, however, most people don't care about the papers up here. I never have trouble selling the kids.

And no, no one did jail time or anything. The District attorney refused to prosecute


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I have mostly boers, but I have some boer kiko cross, some Nubians, Nubian boer cross. A now retired lamancha, a bunch of lamancha boer crosses and last year picked up 2 alpine bottle babies (kids talked me into it not my choice lol) since the majority of my here is boer and since that's really what I want to breed I only have registered boer buck. I have buyers wanting crosses, papered as well as commercial so it works. If your leaning to one breed then get a buck of that breed and a few does. Nothing says you have to totally replace your other breeds and as long as there isn't a size difference (like a pigmy do to a boer buck) then there's nothing wrong with crosses. For me there is no point in canning my mutts when I still have so many people buying from me who doesn't care about papers. In the end I end up selling a good amount of papered animals without the papers and end up reducing the price. If I had all high % (as well as high$) animals I would either be crying when I sell them for less or have a million goats lol


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

Most of my adults are purebred. All the kids are crosses.

Adult does

Boer
Pygmy
Alpine
LaMancha
Oberhasli

Adult Bucks

Nigerian Dwarf
Kiko


Doelings

2 Saanen/Nubian/Alpines
2 Oberhasli/Kikos
1 LaMancha/Nigerian Dwarf
1 Boer/Alpine

Buckling
1 LaMancha/Nigerian Dwarf
1 Pygmy/Alpine

Wetherlings

2 Oberhasli/Nigerian Dwarves
1 Saanen/Nubian/Alpine
1 Boer/Alpine

I love the vigour and variety.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

Hey I'm going to put my voice out there. If your interested in showing or selling stock for profit then you likely will want to stick purebred especially if your a beginner. However multiple breeds is not bad at all. I have never owned only one breed of goat. I usually have at least 3 different breeds. Boar, LaMancha, Nubian, and Sannan originally and then I got older and my parents got smart and decided we needed to choose a breed we liked and focus on them. We then got Togg's and I fell in love right then. But as I focus more on showing and improving my breed of choice(Togg) I have brought in other breeds and sold the rest. Right now I only have mostly Togg's with AlpinexTogg's for better tasting milk and bloodline diversity and for other things that I don't get as much of with the present available Togg gene pool and recently I got my first Obe and I'm really liking that breed crossing it with Alpine.
Now I keep a Togg buck and Alpine buck on the property and that helps a lot when it comes to improving breeds, mixing things up some, and ease of breeding. So long as you can keep them in. Otherwise you might get unwanted crosses which is the hazard of keeping multiple breeds of bucks.
I could choose only one breed(Togg), but I don't think it's necessary.


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## russellp (Apr 10, 2013)

I have a plethora of breeds. Saanen and Kiko bucks, does are Spanish, Kiko, Alpine, Boer, and many dairy crosses. Variety is awesome and my babies keep getting stronger and stronger. I will attach a couple of pics that represent my eclectic herd.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

I love my old Saanen doe. I would not part with her for less than about five times what she's worth.


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## Ride4ever (Aug 7, 2013)

Those are gorgeous pictures!!! How did u get such good pica of your goats. Mine usually just climb all over me and never stay still.


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## eqstrnathlete (Mar 16, 2013)

I have a Nubian, a Lamancha, a mini Lamancha, a Nigerian buck, and a Nubian buck. I've always wanted an alpine but can't find any decent ones near me.


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## christinajh (Jan 24, 2013)

I started with an unregistered lamancha/Nubian and unregistered Nubian. Then I added a registered Nubian buck and doe. I decided to dabble in boers, so I added two registered boer does. I decided I liked boers better, so I sold all the dairy except one registered Nubian doe I bred. I did some crosses between my dairy and boer first, and then I decided they were too dairy for me. Now I have five full blood boer does, a full blood boer buck, my purebred Nubian doe, and I just added a registered Nubian buck temporarily because my neighbor was selling him. I really wanted to breed my Nubian to him this fall.


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## RaineyDayFarms (Oct 10, 2013)

I have mini silkies and boers. Plus the nigerian and 2 pygora's. 
All the silkies and boers are registered. Here registration can mean the difference between a $75 goat and $300+(Depending on the quality of course  ) 
Since the silky book is still open I've thought about adding some other breeds to get a better structure on them. I've got the hair, but I'm not always happy with the silkies lack of substance!
There's so many breeds out there that are so neat. I'm sure I'll end up with others in the future. Lol


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## lilaalil (Sep 5, 2014)

I'm just a beginner backyard milker, but I wouldn't want to just have 1 breed; more fun for me to have all different kinds. 

I have:
-1 Alpine doe
-1 Nigerian/ Nubian cross doe
-2 Saanen/ Alpine cross doelings
-2 doelings that are 1/2 Nigerian, 1/4 feral doelings, 1/4 Nubian
-1 Apline/ Boer buckling, who I am trying to sell (I bought him with his in-milk mom, and have no need for him

Each is my favorite at different times 

I'm not really concerned with trying to make money selling kids though. But I think around here, people buying a milk goat just want a good, productive milker who makes tasty milk and is nice and friendly. And I've heard that if you want to sell the males as pets here, then smaller is better (part of full Nigerian). Hardly any goats here have papers that I'm aware of. 

I'd love to have a full Nubian someday, just for the lovely ears.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Yay! I'm not the only one then.. I'm just going to keep my mixed herd for now I love all of them... I have Nubians, oberhaslis, and ober/Saanen mix, Nubian/Lamancha and a Saanen buck, and an oberhasli buck... About a week and a half ago I almost was going to give up on my Nubians, but she has finally settled into the routine, and she is much less vocal, so I'm keeping her and her daughter...


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

We have australian minis, boers, mini boers, boer x Nubian and a Nubian x saneen (spelling?? Haha) x boer


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## russellp (Apr 10, 2013)

A few of our Saanen x Spanish bucklings for Ms Maria.







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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Cute'


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

Janeen, we have a mix of breeds here too. We have the boer mixed with kiko and nubian (mostly....but since we started with several sale barn does, not really sure what the breeds are) and our Nigerians. I don't know if I could just pick one breed. LOL I also have a mix of horse breeds here too (Quarter Horse, Arabian, Mustang, Halflinger, Arab/Appaloosa) The biggest issue with purebred (in my mind anyway) is keeping your breeding separated. If you have more than one breed, you have to either keep bucks or know where you can find them. If there is such a small difference in price between grade and registered....I'd want to keep my variety.


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## Hollowdweller (May 5, 2011)

For me I only have 1 breed.

If I had a lot of help and had a lot of goats I might have more than 1 breed.

Here's my take: The more of any one breed that you have, the more easily you can tell if your breeding program is working.

Now if you are just freshening goats then it doesn't really matter what breeds you have or who you even breed them to.

However if you only have 1 breed then you have more to work with.

Say I have a new buck. As we all know some bucks may produce average goats with a really nice one and really crappy one occasionally.

Some bucks may throw all crappy with a nice one and an average one thrown in.

If I have one breed then I might be able to keep 2 or 3 of his daughters or more and freshen them out and see how each turns out.

If I have like 3 breeds then I may only be able to keep 1 daughter, if that.

If that daughter turns out really nice then I may use the buck again and get all duds because I only had her to use to judge his worth.

So I think for a person like me with a small herd and I can only keep a few daughters one breed works best if my goal is to improve my stock.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

One of my goals is long lactations. I'm going to be milking all 4 through a season to see how they do in production... I actually may only end up doing it with 2 and drying the others up, haven't decided yet. I will breed the doelings in January if their weight and growth is good... One was born in April the other in May... So we'll see... Not sure how all this will pan out, but I'm just going to play it by ear...


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## mariarose (Oct 23, 2014)

*Pictures from RusselP*

My heart is positively THUMPING, russelp! I'm so excited!arty:


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## Hollowdweller (May 5, 2011)

janeen128 said:


> One of my goals is long lactations. I'm going to be milking all 4 through a season to see how they do in production... I actually may only end up doing it with 2 and drying the others up, haven't decided yet. I will breed the doelings in January if their weight and growth is good... One was born in April the other in May... So we'll see... Not sure how all this will pan out, but I'm just going to play it by ear...


Mine too. I have one doe right now, a North Coast Jaison Collin daughter. She earned her star on a one day test last August with 9.8 lbs and 4.1% butterfat.

I milked her thru the winter and in April she milked:

DIM Milk Fat% Prot% Test Date
359 11.3 3.8 3.5 2015/04/30

Not bad for just shy of a year in milk.


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