# micro mini pygmy goats



## kritterkeeper

last week we had our county fair and the girls took 6 goats and the judge of the goat show said he raised micro mini pygmys has any one every heard of them he said full grown they are only 12 to 13 iches tall... my 3 mo old Ava (Pymgy) is that tall.

Donna B


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## SDK

*Re: mirco mini pygmy goats*

i think he means they are too small. minimum height for a mature pygmy is 16 inches


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## kritterkeeper

*Re: mirco mini pygmy goats*

No he said he raised them that small and got 1,000 dollars for a pair.

Donna B


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## badnewsboers

*Re: mirco mini pygmy goats*

Its just a new fad. Like in dogs with 'teacup' chihuahuas and the like. They aren't really a breed and will end up having all sorts of health and birthing problems because of their size.


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## KW Farms

*Re: mirco mini pygmy goats*

Wow, that's kinda stupid, imo. Micro mini pygmy goats huh? Like another poster said sounds like they'll have health and birthing issues and won't live a quality life....kinda sad actually.


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## liz

*Re: mirco mini pygmy goats*

I agree...I mean to even have a pygmy in the minimum height requirements would be super scary to breed...as cobby and heavy boned the breed is theres enough issues allready with mamas having difficult births....a fad that ends up costing a poor animal her life.


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## Ivy

*Re: mirco mini pygmy goats*

Different way to look at it.
A Nubian is a larger breed of goat.
No one has a prob with mini nubians.
Pygmies are a small breed of goat.
I dont see anything wrong with a mini pygmy.
The may look micro mini but they really are no different than any other mini breed.
They just started out from an already small breed by natures design.

I had a line of extra small pygmies. I just bred small ones to small ones and they all come out being smaller than average. No health probs or anything.
I had a doe that never was bigger than 25 pounds.

I just wouldnt breed a small doe to a regular sized pygmy buck, then there could be probs.

I can see the desire for a mini pygmy.
With so many 1 acre and less type livestock keepers, smaller means they can have that little herd on that small lot of land.


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## StaceyRosado

*Re: mirco mini pygmy goats*

I dont know how many pygmies you have bred Ivy but for me even those which were on the large scale had difficulties every time. I would never want to breed them smaller.


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## goatheaven

*Re: mirco mini pygmy goats*

I agree with Stacey. One pygmy birth we had here actually made me retire. It was awful. Getting the kid's head out took over an hour then we had 3 hours of trying to pull out a live kid. It was horrible. I've never seen my husband pray so hard in my life. We also had another pygmy who the vet had to get the kid out. I was pulling her front end he the back and she ended up dying because it tore her uterus pulling the kid. C-sections aren't much better and are needed often with Pygmies. They often die after a Csection. We also had one of those too. That's when we switched to Nigerians.


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## alyssa_romine

*Re: mirco mini pygmy goats*

I met a guy not too far from me and he breeds the micro pygmys. He doesnt want them any taller than 12" which IMHO is WAYYYY too small. The only true pygmy I had that didnt have complications kidding was a first freshener and she kidded twins. One died giving birth and the others werent with us long enough to give birth.


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## Ivy

Wow. Pygmies were our first meat goats. We never had a problem with them when kidding.
Pygmies were such a success that we moved up to Boers.
Last year I had several kids born single and weights between 5-6 pounds.
The most I had to do was help pulled a few but it wasn't a big deal and we never lost a kid.


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## StaceyRosado

you were and are extremly blessed. Pygmy heads are just so big and if a moms pelvis is not wide enough kids so easily get stuck. So a smaller mom is just to risky in my oppion. i guess people have success with it but then they may have a superior breeding program they have developed over the years :shrug:


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## KW Farms

I've had pygmies for probably 4 years now. We've had 2 C-Sections and the rest have done fine on there own. Although I have to say, we have had mothers have REALLY tough births on there own (didn't know they were kidding) and are so exhausted they don't take care of the kids and just lay there. Not saying this is just pygmies, but I haven't had any birthing probablems with my nigis except for a first freshener with a huge single I had to help pull...just a tad. So just thinking about breeding them smaller and smaller seems to be unfair and quite risky. I had some does that were around 14 inches that I didn't even want to breed so 12 in. or under seems to be extremely risky. I wonder how many issues the breeders of these "micro minis" have with birthing and whatnot.

EDITED for spelling errors!


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## capriola-nd

We raised pygmies for several years and had one c-section and a couple rough births - I think all of them we ended up taking to the vet to pull. 

We did have a super tiny pygmy doe (we raised purebred, registered goats) - she was SO SMALL! I should have measured her but I bet she was no where close to 15 inches at the shoulders. Anywho, she got bred through a fence (total accident, not planned!) and kidded at 14 months with not a bit of trouble. She kidded again the following year w/ no trouble at all. 
Kidding difficulties are mainly from genetics. Her dam was a super kidder and our buck came from VERY easy kidding lines and threw small kids himself. She was of good weight (not too thin nor too fat, actually she could have been a bit heavier). She had plenty of minerals and good feed, lots of exercise. We never even knew she was kidding! We'd leave and an hour later (w/ no signs of labor!) she'd have twins on the ground and nursing!
Anyways, long story but I wouldn't breed for "micro-mini" pygmies - they are already small enough and already have difficulties kidding, why make the problem worse??? That's what a lot of NPGA pygmy breeders have done already and are now trying to go back and fix it.
The biggest problem w/ pygmy kiddings are the cobby build of the babies - it's hard to kid a big, muscly kid. We never had any problems with the head being too big, but the body being big was a problem. All of our does who kidded and had trouble were overconditioned (which was our fault). Kiddings would have been better if they were not too fat.
Kidding problems were the reason we switched to Nigerians. We haven't had a single difficulty with the Nigerians kidding. . . . and hopefully will not!
Just my thoughts. . . .


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## Ivy

My herd originated from farms all around me and they too never really had any more probs with pygs than dairy goats, which both breeds are very common here.

Maybe its all the years the locals have been breeding. Heck, many just let the goats free breed and dont really help out with anything.
Maybe that has something to do with it. Only the ones that do fine on their own live to breed again.

None of my Pygs were registered or anything. All were just common farm goats.
Several birthed without us in the fields, a few in winter and all did fine, including kids.


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## capriola-nd

Just curious Ivy. . . . how could u sell pygmies for meat?? I know they are meat goats in Africa but here they have been bred to be so cute and cuddly. How did u manage to sell them for meat? I just love the pygmy babies, they are so cute! Just curious is all.


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## Ivy

capriola-nd said:


> Just curious Ivy. . . . how could u sell pygmies for meat?? I know they are meat goats in Africa but here they have been bred to be so cute and cuddly. How did u manage to sell them for meat? I just love the pygmy babies, they are so cute! Just curious is all.


We dont sell goats. We eat them ourselves.
We dont buy any meats for our family. We raise all that we eat.
We also help extended family with food too.


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## capriola-nd

Oh, okay. Do u butcher yourselves? I'm too much of a "softy" I guess, I couldn't handle that type of thing. I ate goat once and it was only because I didn't know what it was. Hate to admit it, but it did taste really good.


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## Ivy

We butcher everything ourselves, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens and ducks.
It wouldn't make sense for us not to, as paying someone else would just make our food that much more costly.
Its bad enough with feed prices doubling over the past year.
Um, make that quading over the past year. LOL
Cracked corn was 3.50 last year and this year its 13.00.


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## StaceyRosado

I would love to try goat meat, but never one of my own. Part of me actualy wants to have a "comerical herd" that I dont touch (on a regular basis that is) and then have my pet herd so that I can raise my own meat. I wouldnt need much as I am not a huge meat fan, but if I have a family then it would be totaly worth it.


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## capriola-nd

Yeah, feed is so ridiculously expensive now. . . . it's crazy. I found COB for $10.99 a bag last week and was so excited!! I remember when it was $6 a bag now I'm happy paying $11!

That would be a good idea to have a commercial herd - just don't mess w/ them too much. My cousins raise Boer goats and do very little with them, they don't butcher themselves, they have a friend from Fiji who does it. I read that goat meat is about the healthiest meat you can eat, lower in fat than any other.


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## kritterkeeper

*capriola-nd*

What kind of goat do you have pictured with your name IT IS SO CUTE!

how old is it?

Micro mini

I have 5 pygmys- the first 3 we got our boys from a guy down the road from us... he had three does and the only problem he had in the time I new him was one doe had triples and the first was real big and was born dead and the second weighed about 5 lbs and the 3rd one weighed 1 lb 14 oz and for what ever reason he would not nurse or she would not let him so we ended up with him.. he is now 2 yr old and a very spoiled boy...

This winter he called and asked if I wanted two of the does I took one and gave one to a friend.. both were breed when we got them and mine Nanny had twins with no trouble and the other one had one with no trouble..

we were very blessed this year we have a three babies and had not one problem... Abbye was born in March and was born to Aja who is Nubian, Alpine and then the pygmy twins..

Donna B


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## capriola-nd

Thanks! I just happened to get that cute pic. That little guy was born in March. When we had pygmies last year, our pygmy buck escaped and bred one of our Nigerian does (thank goodness he only bred one!) - she had triplets in March, two bucks and a doe. This was one of them, we named him Timothy (his brother and sister were named Alfalfa and Clover).  I think he was 2-3 weeks in that pic. 

It is always so nice when you have healthy kids born with no complications.


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