Considering mini dairy goats... Mini-mancha vs. Mini-Nubian?

[EweSheep]

Also be objective if you see one with "fully" endowed udders.....if they are too big, it hinders their walking and udder/teat injuries would be more common than the small and medium sized or proportionally correct for the breed. You certainly do not want one like a Holstein with HUGE udders that they could barely walk.

 

[Skyesrocket]

Criteria that are important to us are that they be good/easy milkers, have sweet personalities, and be calm and quiet, as far as that's possible.

My vote would be Lamancha. If you can't find mini's then go with the full size. You might have to supplement with some hay. Saanan, full size could work too.
My experience has been that full sized goats aren't all that different than the mini's, space wise, when you are only going to have two. Plus the full size goats can't squeeze through the small spots in the fencing.
Good Luck!​

 

[KellyHM]

I've never had any of the mini Nubians, but my full sized ones are super quiet compared to the 1 pygmy I have...she can out-yell any other goat I've ever met. My Nubians are also the sweetest things ever! I love love love them!

 

[SeaChick]

This is all great input everyone! Thanks and keep it coming

 

[fratermus]

My family had Nubians (full size) and I loved them. Funny and gentle. I don't remember them being loud but it's been a while.

Dear Wife and I always like to visit the LaManchas at the state fair of Tx.

 

[PotterWatch]

I've only had mini-manchas so I can't compare, but I loved them! LaManchas are by far my favorite breed. The nubians I have known were quite loud, but I think with goats, that's a pretty flexible term as all goats make a fair bit of noise from time to time.

 

[SeaChick]

Well, that's interesting, potterwatch... can you describe how much noise your Mini-Manchas make? I'm wondering if it's going to be too much noise for the neighborhood. Do you think it's comparable, or less or more, than our small flock of hens? They only bok-ba-gawk after eggs and whine for treats, but you can definitely hear it couple houses away...

We already have a big veg garden and the chickens, and the neighbors have been great about that, but if we are sort of pushing it, some might think, to bring more farm animals into the neighborhood. Especially if they're at all disruptive, y'know?

If the 2 goats would make anything more than occasional, not-too-loud noise, we may have to forget it. Which will break all our hearts! But----- I definitely don't want to get them and then have to part with them later on

 

[Skyesrocket]

The quietest goats are goats with another goat for a friend. And stay away from bottle babies, or adults that were raised as bottle babies. They are more likely to call for you every time you step out of the door.

You are looking for people friendly goats, but don't go for the ones that run up for all of the attention. Those are the noisy buggers.
I have 2 nannys here right now. The one is very friendly, but she doesn't scream for attention. She was raised with a mom. The other is a bottle baby and screams everytime she see's me!

I have had goats for years and it always seems to work out that way.

 

[PotterWatch]

I had two does that made a ton of noise when we first brought them home because of course, they were upset and trying to reassure each other. The first day we had them, we though we had made a big mistake. After the first day or two, they quieted down a lot. They would still be noisy when they wanted attention or food, but they weren't that bad.

When they had kids, the kids would naturally hide themselves in any little space they could find. When their mama couldn't find them, she would call out for them until she did manage to find them. We would go out, drag the babies from their hiding spot (they loved to get under the bbq grill and fall asleep), and give them back to their mama just so she would shut up because the kids just ignored her calls.

When it was milking time in the morning, the goats would let me know. Ours were shut up in a smaller area at night and they would definitely make enough noise in the morning to wake me up (their house was right next to my bedroom window). I didn't want them waking the neighbors so I never let them cry for very long before I let them out and did milking (usually around 6am).

When it was time to sell the kids we weren't keeping, things were great until the second boy got picked up. That doe was upset about her babies being gone and let everyone know it. She called and cryed for them all night, but luckily it was only one night. We didn't have that issue with our other doe because we had boarded our goats with the lady that was buying her kid while we were on vacation. She separated them while we were gone so she was used to not having her kid around by the time we picked them up.

It seemed like the amount of noise they made went in stages. They were very quiet once the settled in and until the kids were born. There was a fair bit of noise when the kids were little and then it settled down again as the kids got older. When the does started going into heat again, one of them would be really noisy, sometimes in the middle of the night; just all of a sudden. Once the were re-bred, it would quiet down again. For us, the noise did get to be a problem because we are in the middle of a normal, residential neighborhood where the houses are pretty close together and I always worried we were going to bother the neighbors too much. Ultimately, we sold our goats due to a number of reasons, noise only being a small one. Mostly my husband was just tired of hearing me say... "I can't do that, I have to get home and do milking", and our property doesn't work well for goats because they weren't able to have their own space during the day so they spent most of their time on our patio and my husband was tired of cleaning up pee and poop just so we could sit outside. I still love goats and do plan to have them again someday when we have a property that works better for them. Good luck in your decision!

ETA: Compared to the eight hens I have now, I think the goats made noise less often (unless there was something going on like taking kids away or a doe in heat), but the noise seemed to be greater when it did occur.

 

[SeaChick]

Thanks so much for taking the time to post all that... very helpful especially since you were also in a neighborhood. We have nearly an acre, but it's still pretty "neighborhood-y". We'll have to think about this very carefully, I can see! Luckily, it's not something we'd do this year, so we have time. I'll listen more carefully when I'm visiting farms with goats, now, for sure...