# Who here breeds cross breeds on purpose?



## jay13 (Apr 12, 2009)

I am trying something I guess rather odd with our goats. I want to have dairy milkers but we also want goats that can help clear out some of our inaccessable acreage. We have 7 acres we can't use because you need a machete to walk even two feet! Lots of honeysuckle and briars that our goaties just love. Anyway, so we were thinking that we could breed up a cross between our dairy Alpines and our neighbors Boer goats.

This season's breedings are set already as crosses, but we need to find a buck for permanent residence as driving in the family sedan with goats in the back on their way too and from stud services due to the truck being in the shop is not an option long term. Need to know if this is a feasible idea or if I just need to get a registered alpine and call it good. (Our girls are both registered pure alpine)

A couple of questions, would love ya'lls' opinion:
1. Do you think we could milk the daughters and get any reasonable yeild?
2. Do you all think we will get what they call hybrid vigor or just confused goats?
3. What kinds of challenges do you think we would encounter if we follow this line of breeding?
4. What in the world would you call a Boer/Alpine cross? An Al-Bore? Borpine? Any thoughts?


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## RPC (Nov 6, 2009)

Ok so I am going to start by telling you I am not a breeder really. I have 2 does and kids but thats it. No big goat farm. I know alot of people in my area cross Alpine and boers and say they love them. I have heard they grow really fast. They get fairly tall like an alpine and meaty like a boer. I dont think you will really have challenges with this breeding since they are both big goats everything should be fine. As far as the doe kids milking, I would say they should have good milking abilitys but not as good as their moms since they are 1/2 boer. But I am sure you wont loose much.


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

What's wrong with just using Alpines? They will clear brush as good as any other goat. Even my Nigerians did an awesome job clearing brush at my last house.

Some lines of Boers are delicate (mostly show lines) and they often have poor udders (from a dairy standard).


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

yes, most boers have poor udders and i think if you wanted to crossbreed in a heavier type of dairy goat that wouldwork.. like a nubian, they tend to be a little fleshyier and have really good milk, lots of butterfat. even a lamancha could work, but i'd stick in the dairy goats if your looking for milk mainly.

i've crossed boer and lamancha and gotten super fast growning kids that were huge framed.. but i wanted meat


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

I agree with the others. Most all goat breeds will clear brush about the same, but meat breeds won't give you as much milk and won't have a good easily milkable udder.


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## jay13 (Apr 12, 2009)

As to just sticking to dairy, we are trying to reach a dual purpose utility I guess. And as far as purchasing/acquiring a buck is concerned, its very difficult to find anything BUT boers in this area. I have see the momma of the buck we might buy from, can't get real close to her to examine her but she only has 2 teats and they seem normal enough which is a big improvement over all the extra teats that boer goats tend to carry. What we are trying to do here... (without sounding cruel) is have the milk from the dairy but have the kids be big enough come fall that we can send them to the slaughterhouse to feed us through the year with the extra meat without having to feed them across the winter.


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## heathersboers (Sep 5, 2008)

jay13 said:


> As to just sticking to dairy, we are trying to reach a dual purpose utility I guess. And as far as purchasing/acquiring a buck is concerned, its very difficult to find anything BUT boers in this area. I have see the momma of the buck we might buy from, can't get real close to her to examine her but she only has 2 teats and they seem normal enough which is a big improvement over all the extra teats that boer goats tend to carry. What we are trying to do here... (without sounding cruel) is have the milk from the dairy but have the kids be big enough come fall that we can send them to the slaughterhouse to feed us through the year with the extra meat without having to feed them across the winter.


I will have 2 fullblooded nubian boys ready in about 2 months.... I am not far at all from you...??? PM me if interested-that way you could stay in the milk aspect...


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## CrossCreekTX (Aug 10, 2009)

I put an Alpine buck on my LaMancha and Nubian does this season. I wanted to improve the milk production of the offspring, which will be bred back to the respective LaMancha or Nubian buck. All 3 breeds do great at brush clearing, but you have to be a bit careful where a doe with a large udder goes as she can get udder damage. I have lots of mesquite and I've been trying to clear it out to prevent thorns in udders.

If I were using a Boer buck I'd look for one from lines that raised triplets successfully as you know they are productive. Boers are not known for long lactations however.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Breeding to a Boer buck sounds like it would be the logical choice for you, you want your does in milk and you are wanting meat in your freezer...but with any cross breeding theres always the chance that the kids don't turn out the way you would like them to. Alpines are big goats so size of buck wouldn't be an issue, but given chance that the female offspring could have "not so dairy" udders, would you be willing to put them in your freezer too? 

Any breed of goat can be eaten or milked, it's the quality of the meat or milk that comes from each breed that makes them either a dairy goat or a meat goat. Try it with the Boer buck and see if the resulting kids are what you want, won't hurt and your does will be in milk and you'll have those brush clearers ready for the freezer or to make a plan to use a dairy buck with the next breeding. Boers and Nubians are crossed all the time, to better the dams udder and the meat is tastier.


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

jay13 said:


> I am trying something I guess rather odd with our goats.
> 
> *Why do you consider cross breeding a dairy goat with a meat to be odd? People do it all the time. It generally raises the milking ability of the meat goat, as well as makes the dairy goat meatier. It also produces hybrid vigor which helps the goat to withstand illness, disease, and increases their growth and performance in general.*
> 
> ...


As long as the kids do what you want them to do, who cares?


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## jay13 (Apr 12, 2009)

i guess i thought it was odd due to the fact most people seem to want to stay within a certain breed and then breed for the best features within that breed I guess. We decided to get one of heathersboers little nubian bucklings and try that for our next year's breedings. In the mean time, we shall see what this year's boer/alpine breedings turn out. You should see the papa boer, strong guy great lines. Owner said he was a direct decendent from one of the original groups that came out of south africa. Wish I had a picture of him, he is gorgeous but huge!


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

if showing then yes you want to stay within the breed

but if you needs are different then that then go with what will benifit you


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## goatkid (Jan 17, 2009)

I've had a couple of Boer/Alpine mix and also Boer/La Mancha. You can milk them, but Boer cross have shorter lactations. I don't do Boers anymore. I have a Saanen/Nubian that I bred to my friend's Alpine buck. I'm really hoping for doelings. That buck throws excellent udders and lots of milk. I have mainly Nubians, but like a grade or two for higher milk production.


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## jay13 (Apr 12, 2009)

Around here for some reason, no one has dairy goats, just mostly boers. I am getting a little nubian from heathersboers this year (handsome little guy!), we will see how the crosses turn out after he has a chance to grow up and breed the girls. If our second gal is bred now with a tentative due date in July that would mean our milk supply should be a bit more steady than otherwise would be due to the spacing, might work in our favor, might now ::shrug:: 

We are more interested in breeding a good solid goat that can serve both purposes well for us in putting milk in the fridge and meat on the table in the end.


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## goatbless (Jan 10, 2009)

I have owned crossed goats before and they were very good goats. I will probably be getting crosses again when I get back into goats. I have heard that boer crosses can milk well, but I think it depends a lot on the individual. My own experiences were with nubian-alpines and kinder goats. I particularly like the build and temperament of kinders- and to me they are just the right size, so that will probably be the direction I am headed.. although I'm sort of a softie for pygoras, mini oberhaslis, nubian-alpines, nubian-oberhaslis- and even knew a really sweet alpine-toggenburg once. It would really depend on circumstances, but for my current situation I am almost certain that kinders are my ideal goat. I hope your crosses go well for you- it can be so interesting to see what markings you get and which parent they take after!


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## RhinoWhite (Nov 17, 2013)

hlala: I wonder, if Northern Cape Speckled Goats could be transformed to milk goats via selective breeding:


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