# The ten thousand dollar Nigerian Dwarfs.



## Steampunked (Mar 23, 2015)

And they are likely worth more that - I think the intact full male sold for over $20,000. (And good lord, do I ever want to write 'Dwarves' instead of Dwarfs!)

I thought it might be interesting for our US and European folks to know how difficult it is in Australia to get animals. I have been following this avidly since this is the breed I want, but the man making it possible, Michael Garwood, has been through some very rough times.

Mr. Garwood is pioneering this breed in Australia. While I have only met him at one show, he was very generous in giving me his time and allowing me to see and handle his goats. He is also improving the genetics of dairy miniatures in Australia - we have our own Australian Miniature, but it is not a dairy breed. It has come from wild goats, and is therefore a very tough, determined little animal. They make good pets, and members on this forum breed them.

Importing breeding animals is not possible due to our quarantine laws, which exist because as an island nation we are effectively cut off from many diseases and illnesses. Diseases such as rabies are unknown here, though we do have CAE and Johnes disease.

Therefore any imports must be of sperm and embryos only at the importer's risk and equipment expense. They can then be implanted into goats here. Mr. Garwood went to considerable trouble for this - it is almost impossible to overestimate the difficulties. Australia requires that all donor animals must be euthanised and tissue taken from the brain, spine and other areas for testing. Goats cannot be younger than five years. All donors are killed. As one can imagine, with this level of expense Australia doesn't want to import anything but the best - and no one in the US wants their best animals to be euthanised.

Once this occurs goats here have to be implanted. The first year, it turned out that the goats being used had contracted a parasite which caused the majority (over twenty, I believe) to abort, though six or seven kids were born from those who hung in. The kids were of excellent type due to the generous nature of those in the US who were willing to sacrifice their animals, though Mr. Garwood of course paid. One buck kid was sold on and so we now have half Nigerians, many of whom have wiped the floor at shows. I see half Nigerian bucks selling for between $2000 and $3000 to introduce dairy into mini-lines.

Just recently, Mr. Garwood was able to acquire more donor animals in order to widen the genetic pool here. Once more, one can imagine the difficulty and expense in time, research, compulsory tests and tissue extraction, as well as line. It took him three years to source those willing to provide genetics at a high enough quality.

Unfortunately, during shipping, it appears that the liquid nitrogen tank was dropped from a high height, such as directly off the back of the plane. It was smashed at the neck, and all genetic material destroyed - embryos and semen. No one 'knows' who did it, of course. While the contents were insured, the fact is the work involved means it's almost impossible to replicate.

So here is one of the stories work in introducing new lines into Australia. With some other animals, Australia requires that the parents be kept birth to death in totally controlled conditions, and THEN euthanised, so you can only imagine the expense. Dedicated groups have still continued, which means that poultry stock is being refreshed in Australia, which is of great value given how inbred our lines were. Other groups have less options still - I believe it is entirely impossible to import any genetic material from pigs, meaning that kune kunes and so forth just don't exist here.

The tight quarantine has very sound reasons, but I do feel very much for Mr. Garwood and wish him well.


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

Yes I'm in Australia also. I feel so sorry for Michael and all he lost recently  I am very fortunate to live close to 'First Fleet Apollo ND 100%' that is from Michaels first group. He is just stunning!! I recently bought my first 50% ND buck kid he is not an Apollo kid but from 100% semen to a mini doe. My boy is attending his first show this weekend! My boy I brought up from NSW and took 18ish months to find the Buck kid that I was looking for. I was so very picky. I was excited about the new lines coming in to AI my does to get more 50% kids. It is just heart breaking for the ND breed in Australia


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## ZebAkers (Nov 29, 2016)

WOW, I had no idea how difficult it was to establish a new breed in Australia. Make me very thankful to have NDs readily available around me for affordable prices. Thanks for posting


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Holy Moly! Thanks for sharing this info. Very enlightening. Mr. Garwood must be very dedicated!


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

groovyoldlady said:


> Holy Moly! Thanks for sharing this info. Very enlightening. Mr. Garwood must be very dedicated!


He is and has an amazing little herd of NDs!! I hope one day to have a little herd of high % NDs that are as good as his!








My little boy Zodiac Hiawatha 50% ND and laying down behind him his Louis who is a 37.5% ND wether 







The 2 of them again


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Wow!!!! He's really dedicated :shocked: I had read little on how hard it was to import goats in Australia, but man. That is incredible.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Very interesting!


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## Goatzrule (Feb 7, 2013)

Im going to speak for all of us when saying we would try to smuggle some cuties in for you if it were possible


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## Steampunked (Mar 23, 2015)

Bree, you were the miniature breeder I was thinking of . Still, I know how hard it can be to have room, so I guess you should send me Louis straight away - no need to pay me, I'll take care of him for free!

Does Zodiac have really long eyelashes? The photos look like it. Very pretty! And thanks, Goatzrule - at least with people like Michael and Bree breeding to excellent standards, and being very dedicated to it, things will gradually work out.


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

Yes little zodiac Hiawatha (we call him Howie) does have fairly long eyelashes. He is a pretty buck haha. Louis and Howie are best friends and never apart! 
It is going to be a long road but very much worth it!


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Interesting, I had no idea it was that difficult.


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## Damfino (Dec 29, 2013)

Wow... With prices like that, it makes black market goat smuggling look like a very lucrative venture.


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## BrokenArrowRanch (Jun 6, 2013)

Holy cow. And i complain about $1,000 goats and having to drive anything over 3 hours on way...


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

BrokenArrowRanch said:


> Holy cow. And i complain about $1,000 goats and having to drive anything over 3 hours on way...


Haha yer we drove 8 hours each way for our little 50% boy!! Well worth it though


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## GoatGirlInTraining (Mar 26, 2017)

so cute


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## Steampunked (Mar 23, 2015)

There are some advantages to the craziness! Disease spread in Australia is tightly monitored, so we just don't tend to get so many of the issues that the Americas or Europe does. The downside is that the genetic pools get quite limited for those animals on high quarantine...there are chicken breeds we have that are called exactly the same thing as in the US. But there's no relation at all - they're simply bred to look like the other variety for lack of ability to bring in the lines. And they're often rather badly inbred at that.


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

Yes the advantage is that we don't have the diseases here. My buck is from one line and I will be getting 10-15 of my does AId to other lines (3-4 different bucks) to try and keep gene pool as open as possible. As long as new lines are continued to be brought in it should be good.


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## JK_Farms (Nov 12, 2016)

My goodness I feel for you guys! What I don't understand is why do the goats that are high quality get euthanized for giving an embryo or sperm?


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## Steampunked (Mar 23, 2015)

JK_Farms said:


> My goodness I feel for you guys! What I don't understand is why do the goats that are high quality get euthanized for giving an embryo or sperm?


So they can take a microscope slide set of the brain slices to check for specific illnesses not present in Australia - there's a range of tests on spinal fluid, internal organs, brain development, and the tests are fatal for the animal they are conducted on. Only if the animal passes these tests are the ova or sperm permitted to enter Australia.

Basically, Australia has some big regrets over previous importations of disease organisms, flora and fauna which have turned into environmental damage. Unfortunately, it means that the breeders on the edge of it take all the financial risk personally.


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## BrokenArrowRanch (Jun 6, 2013)

I did drive 15 hours one way for a doeling. But i already was going to be about 3 hours away checking out a stallion i wanted to breed my horse too. I refuse to do it again.


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## Steampunked (Mar 23, 2015)

BrokenArrowRanch said:


> I did drive 15 hours one way for a doeling. But i already was going to be about 3 hours away checking out a stallion i wanted to breed my horse too. I refuse to do it again.


It's a three hour round trip for me to get to work EACH day, so I'd happily go a long way for a goat 

The goat is more fun, of course, which might be a sliiiight impact.


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## janeen128 (Dec 31, 2012)

Wow! That's crazy..... I can kind of understand it though....


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

That's really awful! I wouldn't want to be a party to killing all those animals. I would think better tests have become available since the law was written. Just about any organ can be biopsied without killing the animal anyway, if the sample is small.


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## CrazyDogLady (Aug 9, 2014)

I don't know, I was reading on a FB group about this. The bucks are well treated, tests performed, they're collected then humanely euthanized. I don't see it as much different than eating my extra boys.


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