# What is the best cross?



## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

Lately I've been having so many people ask if I have goats milk. I raise Boers so I don't lol. 
I've always loved dairy goats but my favorite have always been the boers. Because I do love all goats we have been thinking about adding a milking doe to the herd. But are wondering which breed would work best for us. We would really like something that could be bred to one of our boer bucks and still produce market kids. 
I know a lot of people do this with Nubians. Not that I don't love them they just aren't my first choice if another breed can do the job. What do you guys think would make the best cross?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

LaMancha is a good one.


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## nicolemackenzie (Dec 27, 2014)

I second lamanchas


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

I am a big fan of laboers. My Nubian boer cross always turns out smaller framed and just not all that fond of the cross. Laboers are little tanks. The only down fall is the ears. You can not hide the lack of ears. I always get docked at the sale because of the ears. I haven't really figured out the math though because although yes I do get less for them for their size but they get huge fast! You say market so are we talking fair kids? At our fair they wouldn't place very well because they are very big on boer kids, I know other places are not as.......picky/stupid about that so maybe look into that. But honestly if your making money off the milk and you even have to take the kids to the sale I'm sure it will be a pretty good profit.
Other then lamanchas I'm not sure what else to suggest. Alpines are pretty good and raise good boer kids but still are very dairy looking for fair kids. I had a saanen once and she raised wonderful kids but it was just the one doe so I'm not sure if that's what they always do. Other then her kids I've never seen the cross before.


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## spidy1 (Jan 9, 2014)

LaBoers!!!!My LaBoer at 8 months next to a purebred Boer doe that is about 4 years old...


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

Jessica84 said:


> I am a big fan of laboers. My Nubian boer cross always turns out smaller framed and just not all that fond of the cross. Laboers are little tanks. The only down fall is the ears. You can not hide the lack of ears. I always get docked at the sale because of the ears. I haven't really figured out the math though because although yes I do get less for them for their size but they get huge fast! You say market so are we talking fair kids? At our fair they wouldn't place very well because they are very big on boer kids, I know other places are not as.......picky/stupid about that so maybe look into that. But honestly if your making money off the milk and you even have to take the kids to the sale I'm sure it will be a pretty good profit.
> Other then lamanchas I'm not sure what else to suggest. Alpines are pretty good and raise good boer kids but still are very dairy looking for fair kids. I had a saanen once and she raised wonderful kids but it was just the one doe so I'm not sure if that's what they always do. Other then her kids I've never seen the cross before.


I just want them to sell. I honestly don't care to who. I just don't want to be stuck with goats lol. 
I'm not a huge fan of the no ears, and honestly I would want something I could possibly keep and breed back for % kids. 
In my area we do have some boer/Nubians in market classes. I am taking one this year he isn't 50/50 buy his dam has some Nubian in her lines.


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

Thank you for all the responses. I will definitely think about them. I'm not sure about the no ears thing though.


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## heidivand (Aug 17, 2015)

This is a 3/4 boer 1/4 lamancha kid she grew fast and you wouldn't even know she had lamancha in her


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## heidivand (Aug 17, 2015)

I have a couple toggenburgs in my herd to feed my boer bottle kids I can't tell you what cross the boer will look like because this will be my first year breeding them I got them last year. But I really like that breed easy keepers and they are friendly and a ton of milk. once I dried them off they went in with my boer nannys no problems with keeping weight on them in there or anything


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

LibertysBoerGoatRanch said:


> Thank you for all the responses. I will definitely think about them. I'm not sure about the no ears thing though.


Yeah, I'm the same. LaManchas may be nice and all but, no thanks.


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

heidivand said:


> I have a couple toggenburgs in my herd to feed my boer bottle kids I can't tell you what cross the boer will look like because this will be my first year breeding them I got them last year. But I really like that breed easy keepers and they are friendly and a ton of milk. once I dried them off they went in with my boer nannys no problems with keeping weight on them in there or anything


If we do get a dairy goat it will definitely be down the road so let me know how they turn out and if you like the cross. I actually like toggenburgs. So that might be on my list.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

My daughter breeds her pet boer to my lamancha buck..those kids sell faster then when she bred to nubian..nice stocky kids...


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## Goatzrule (Feb 7, 2013)

Nubian maybe if you like boer they are kind of similar with the ears. They are lazy and stubborn but I know people who love them.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

You can still breed them back to a boer for % goats. I have all the way to a 94% that started out with my old lamanchas bred to a boer. A good chunk of my herd is her kids, grandkids great grand yatta yatta lol let me get home and if I don't pass out after I eat dinner I'll up load some pictures for you......may be in the morning


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

Jessica84 said:


> You can still breed them back to a boer for % goats. I have all the way to a 94% that started out with my old lamanchas bred to a boer. A good chunk of my herd is her kids, grandkids great grand yatta yatta lol let me get home and if I don't pass out after I eat dinner I'll up load some pictures for you......may be in the morning


Do they ever get their ears back? I feel dumb that that's my main reason not liking them. But Im really not sure about it lol. I would love to see pictures of them! I will show them to my mom ( She has a few goats with me so its up to her as well what she wants in the herd.) and see what she says.


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## RaineyDayFarms (Oct 10, 2013)

I was wondering the same thing the other day. I wouldn't mind a few dairy does that would cross well to make some meatier, easier to sell kids. I don't see many lamanchas in my area, but might have to keep an eye out. I do kind of like the no ear thing lol. Are the does big enough to cross with a boer buck?


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

They do! Some it seems to take longer, I saw a 97% with no ears for sale with her little 98% no eared baby. I think once you get ears and you breed back to the boer they keep going with having ears I have a 50% with ears and she has hallways had ears.....hang on let me get these pictures up with their % and you can see. As for not being able to sell, you can sell them! The only ones I haven't be able to sell privately is the boys but that's only because that brings in butcher people and they are such a pain in the behind to deal with so I don't even try I just ship them to the sale. No bartering no headache I sit and watch and drive home with a check. But these are just pictures of what I have







Gabby and her 50% kids, she is the start of it all lol







One of the ones next to her grew to be this as a yearling.......I'll just put them on random now, I have a lot of laboers 







The yearling, this was her 75% this year (yearling picture is old I didn't have her kid at a year old lol)







50% doeling, I can't remember how old she was here :/







75% out of the red 50%







75% I don't have her I stole this picture from my friend lol







75% I don't have her mother any more







50%







75%







88%


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

94%







94%







50% not related to gabby. There's a lady in Nevada who has a dairy, on the does that she does not want replacement doelings from she has a boer buck that covers them, I spent $40 on her as a bottle baby and when I called her she had over 100 kids, by the time I got there, 8 hours later she had 30 left







Same doeling I stole the picture from but she was 2 1/2 months old here







50%







50%







50%







75%







88%







75% she is out of the white yearling picture sister is the white 75%


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Both 75% same black dapple and that little guy some out of the red lamancha sister is the chubby one with ears







75%







75%
These are just pictures but seriously I have yet to have a lamancha cross that does not put all the other kids to shame on their growth rate. I can't find the weaning weights I did this year but they were huge kids when I sold them.


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## RaineyDayFarms (Oct 10, 2013)

Thanks Jessica, now I really want some lamanchas and laboers lol


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

lol I was looking back, ok the picture I stole she was mine at one time, I wasn't just taking people's animal pictures and saying what they were lol but I honestly love the cross. The kids are great as I have raved about, but my favorite part about 50% and higher is they have a lot of milk but I usually don't have to milk them, I can if I need the milk, but they are not like the full lamancha where she would suffer badly with twins if I didn't milk her. She has raised so many kids, so I'm not complaining about the milk but I was happy when I retired her and didn't have to milk her any more. 
And there personalities! LOVE their personalities. All of them are dame raised except for the one I got from Nevada and they are all so sweet, even the boys with me knowing what their future is and me trying to keep my distance from them.


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## Bree_6293 (Aug 4, 2014)

Which we could do the laboer cross here! Lamanchas have only recently been imported through semen and we have 50% and some 75% lamanchas in Australia.. would love to get one and put to. A boer but I think the $$ they are worth is just way too much!


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

Jessica you are CA right? Just asking because I've seen pictures of you goats and if you are I might in the future be interested in buying from you?


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

So your just like me! I recognize people from their goats lol  yes I'm in California! And of course you can buy my goats lol I just put the one buck in with the does, after I recover from ridding all day yesterday I'll have the other two in as well. So I'll be a long wait  but already have 13 bred in 48 hours so I'll have a bunch


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

Mom hates the no ears lol. She said "um no thank you! I love my babies ears!" 

Where abouts are you Jessica? I'm in Southern California, and I've bought from the only 2 breeders with quality goats that I can find near me.


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

lol some people can not stand the no ears. I wants a big fan of the no ears, I bought gabby simply for her milk and it didn't take long for me to fall in love lol but if she's set on ears maybe look and see if you can find any saanen boer crosses and see what those look like. I'm not sure if like the lamanchas there's two different styles of sannens or what. Mine was a BIG girl, the ones I see threw the sale are very small framed. I know that's not the best to compare to but even the boers that are down in the dumps you can tell are nice thick gals just need to be filled in.
I'm in coarsegold, it's between Fresno and Yosemite. My brother works in Temecula, if he doesn't get his transfer and you want transport that can happen, you would just have to be patient since he's a firefighter so the rule is make no plans after may since you never know if they will be on a fire or not lol


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

Your actually not that far from me around 6 hours or so, compared to a few that are 8/10 hours away. I'm wanting something in particular with my next doe. I'll post a picture if I can find one.


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

This are NOT my pictures I found them on Google...But I have seen some does with the "paint pattern" but dappled and I die every time I see them!!! I love love love red does and this is just perfect in my eyes lol. So I am on the look out for a Pb or Fb doe that looks like that, that isn't $2,000 lol


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## Wild Hearts Ranch (Dec 26, 2011)

In addition to the pendulum ears a big reason folks use Nubians for crossing is they tend to carry more meat than the Swiss breeds.


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## spidy1 (Jan 9, 2014)

I had a small Lamancha (I don't any more) that when bred to an Alpine the first year had no ears, the same buck the second year had Alpine ears! I can't wait to see the LaBoers out of my other doe this year!!!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Well I haven't had a dapple paint out of my black dapple yet :/ I got quite a few from the buck I lost but maybe the new guy will give something good lol all I wanted for years was a black paint and when I got a black dapple paint I was over the moon! She's will go in with the new guy so maybe......
And no lol I do not charge $2000 for my goats. I try to charge what I would pay and I would not pay $2000 for a doe. I've spent more then that on my buck lol but I figure I can get 100s of kids for that money and with a doe your looking at basically 2 a year, that's a big gamble on getting my money back the first year........but that's how I look at it, I seem to always view things in a different way lol


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

I will deferentially watch what kids you have then!


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

Jessica are you on Facebook as Anderson ranch?


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Anderson ranch boers.....my picture is a black dapple buck


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## LibertysBoerGoatRanch (Aug 26, 2016)

I thought that was you! Love some of the Dappled girls you have!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Thank you  I think my herd is always a work in progress, I want nice looking girls but also meet my picky things I want in goats, like good moms, good weight gain with little supplements.......I figure it will take another 10 years to be totally happy with what I have lol


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## ArborGoats (Jan 24, 2013)

I have a 50% Boer/50% Alpine and according to the scale at the vet's office weighed 168# completely dried off and open on grass. At 5 months of age she was larger than her dam who weighed 120# at the time. I haven't weighed her daughter, but her son a 25% Boer, 50% Oberhasli, and 25% Alpine went to market and had a hanging weight over 80# when he was less than a year old. I think the's doe's genetics, conformation and size, are probably more important than choosing a specific breed based on what your goals for the doe are. 

Here is my motley crew for comparison.


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