Finding Niegerian Dwarves bred specifically for Dairy production.

[GabrielBane]

Good morning everyone,
So, my SO and I have decided it'd be financially more accommodating, and actually all-around more fun to purchase goats to de-forest our 3 1/2 acres vs buying the forestry supplies and THEN replacing the land with a beef dairy. After weeks of research and debate, I finally broke the numbers down well enough to convince my SO that goats are a better investment of our time and energy on our homestead vs a few dairy cattle (plus, I'm lactose intolerant, so why even produce something I can't enjoy?), and we decided on Nigerian Dwarves due to the high buttermilk fat content in their milk and ability to produce in large quantity, however, the only Dwarves we've found in the south are either pet quality, or exhibition quality, but we haven't found anyone who has good, healthy Dairy-production lines. We'd love to venture out across the country but we unfortunately do not have a livestock trailer so our options are limited, in that sense.
Does anyone know of any online breeders or directories in which I can find what I'm looking for? Sifting through local livestock ads isn't producing much besides the occasional Nubian or Boer breeder.

 

[henny1129]

Hello! The thing with dairy goats is a lot of people that breed are breeding for show goats that produce a lot of milk. So, while show goats would be the kind of production you want, they're show quality meaning they're more expensive! I have a few questions for you though so I can help you more.......

1. How many goats do you plan on buying?

2. Would you be willing to look in to other breeds of goats?

3. What will you do with all the milk the goats produce? (It might be hard to drink it all )

I look forward to talking to you more and helping you.

 

[GabrielBane]

1. How many goats do you plan on buying?

2. Would you be willing to look in to other breeds of goats?

Personally, I wanted Nubians. I knew they are generally easier to find and deal well with our summer months better than most breeds, however, the hubby is concerned about containing larger breeds since our property has a inter-state adacent to a property line. He's generally more comfortable with the idea of the Nigerian Dwarves. Plus the high buttermilk content works well for a lot of the "cottage foods" we plan on selling. (see below!)

3. What will you do with all the milk the goats produce? (It might be hard to drink it all

)
At the moment, we're going to be using it for home-made cheese/ice-cream/desserts/replacing most of our personal dairy use with it (my lactose intolerance is so awful, I love dairy products, but the pain is just not worth it), but all the extra will be used for our broiler's "conditioning" feed before butchering, we'll be soaking their feed in it. At the moment, we're classified as a residential property so we can only sell Eggs and Crops, but we are working with our local Ag extensions to get greenbelt status so in the long-run we can produce meat/processed products to our local markets.

I look forward to talking to you more and helping you.

 

[henny1129]

It's definitely unfortunate, I wish that there could be amazing milk producers that were less expensive, but an animal like that is so hard to come by. And right now, Nigerian's are the "rage" in the goat world, so people are just jacking the price up on them!

Alright, so the reason I asked that first question is because if you are willing to travel farther to purchase goats, you may be able to since you're only staring out with 3. The great thing about goats (especially smaller breeds like Nigerians) is you can transport them in your car/truck/van using a ginormous dog cage. So, I don't know if your willing to invest in a big dog cage or two but this is an option for transportation........the only thing is that a giant cage might not fit in a car, so this method may only work if you have a truck or van because the cage can go inside the van or in the bed of a truck. Another option for transportation besides using a livestock trailer is getting/making a "goat tote". This is what we use to transport our goats. Now, if you use a "tote", you have to have a truck (which you may or may not have) because the "tote goes in the truck bed. Here are a few examples of goat totes:

This (above) is basically exactly what we use to transport our goats. You make the wood frame and then staple cattle paneling to the frame. It slides right into the back of your truck bed and you can transport goats in it. We put rubber mats down on the truck bed so the goats have a comfortable surface to lay on while traveling. If it's raining you can put a tarp over top the "tote".
(I had a pic here, but its not loading, if you go online and search goat totes you will be sure to find the pre-made ones)
You can also buy something like this (above). It's basically the same thing as the home-made "tote", but metal and more expensive. If it was me, I would make the "tote", but if you're not one for building, buying is an option too.

Okay, I was just wondering because breeds like Boers are very easy to find and are great milk producers too! I can understand wanting Nigerian Dwarfs though.

Sounds like you have a good, tasty plan for the milk! I just wanted to be sure you were prepared for the amount of milk goats produce and I wasn't quite sure how many goats you were planning on getting since you thought you might need a livestock trailer.

Honestly, I don't know how much I can help you with finding a good milk producing Nigerian breeder. I don't own dairy goats, just a couple Boer wethers and hopefully some Boer does soon. I'm grateful I've been able to share some of my goat knowledge though so you can hopefully expand your searches more. I will do some more research and try to find a site with ND breeders of Florida on it.

 

[GabrielBane]

It's definitely unfortunate, I wish that there could be amazing milk producers that were less expensive, but an animal like that is so hard to come by. And right now, Nigerian's are the "rage" in the goat world, so people are just jacking the price up on them!

Alright, so the reason I asked that first question is because if you are willing to travel farther to purchase goats, you may be able to since you're only staring out with 3. The great thing about goats (especially smaller breeds like Nigerians) is you can transport them in your car/truck/van using a ginormous dog cage. So, I don't know if your willing to invest in a big dog cage or two but this is an option for transportation........the only thing is that a giant cage might not fit in a car, so this method may only work if you have a truck or van because the cage can go inside the van or in the bed of a truck. Another option for transportation besides using a livestock trailer is getting/making a "goat tote". This is what we use to transport our goats. Now, if you use a "tote", you have to have a truck (which you may or may not have) because the "tote goes in the truck bed. Here are a few examples of goat totes:

This (above) is basically exactly what we use to transport our goats. You make the wood frame and then staple cattle paneling to the frame. It slides right into the back of your truck bed and you can transport goats in it. We put rubber mats down on the truck bed so the goats have a comfortable surface to lay on while traveling. If it's raining you can put a tarp over top the "tote".
(I had a pic here, but its not loading, if you go online and search goat totes you will be sure to find the pre-made ones)
You can also buy something like this (above). It's basically the same thing as the home-made "tote", but metal and more expensive. If it was me, I would make the "tote", but if you're not one for building, buying is an option too.

Okay, I was just wondering because breeds like Boers are very easy to find and are great milk producers too! I can understand wanting Nigerian Dwarfs though.

Sounds like you have a good, tasty plan for the milk! I just wanted to be sure you were prepared for the amount of milk goats produce and I wasn't quite sure how many goats you were planning on getting since you thought you might need a livestock trailer.

Honestly, I don't know how much I can help you with finding a good milk producing Nigerian breeder. I don't own dairy goats, just a couple Boer wethers and hopefully some Boer does soon. I'm grateful I've been able to share some of my goat knowledge though so you can hopefully expand your searches more. I will do some more research and try to find a site with ND breeders of Florida on it.

All of this is great info! We are purchasing a pickup truck soon, so this is definitely a great bit of info to have! If you find anything, please do not hesitate to ping me a PM at any time!

 

[henny1129]

All of this is great info! We are purchasing a pickup truck soon, so this is definitely a great bit of info to have! If you find anything, please do not hesitate to ping me a PM at any time!

So glad you found it helpful! That's great! You'll probably have better luck finding goats if you can travel farther!

I'll be looking around and I'll be sure to PM you if I find anything.

 

[henny1129]

And welcome to BYC by the way!

 

[GabrielBane]

And welcome to BYC by the way!

Thank you! I used to have an account during my high school days, and when I got a new property and had the capacity to have livestock, I *knew* I had to re-join, I missed BYC!

 

[henny1129]

Thank you! I used to have an account during my high school days, and when I got a new property and had the capacity to have livestock, I *knew* I had to re-join, I missed BYC! 

It's great that you rejoined! BYC is awesome!

 

[waddles99]

Good morning everyone,
So, my SO and I have decided it'd be financially more accommodating, and actually all-around more fun to purchase goats to de-forest our 3 1/2 acres vs buying the forestry supplies and THEN replacing the land with a beef dairy. After weeks of research and debate, I finally broke the numbers down well enough to convince my SO that goats are a better investment of our time and energy on our homestead vs a few dairy cattle (plus, I'm lactose intolerant, so why even produce something I can't enjoy?), and we decided on Nigerian Dwarves due to the high buttermilk fat content in their milk and ability to produce in large quantity, however, the only Dwarves we've found in the south are either pet quality, or exhibition quality, but we haven't found anyone who has good, healthy Dairy-production lines. We'd love to venture out across the country but we unfortunately do not have a livestock trailer so our options are limited, in that sense.
Does anyone know of any online breeders or directories in which I can find what I'm looking for? Sifting through local livestock ads isn't producing much besides the occasional Nubian or Boer breeder.

I know you have your heart set on Nigerians, but have you given Nubians a thought? They are better brush clearers, produce more milk, and are more readily available than Nigerians. Their milk is 5% butterfat compared to Nigerian's 6%, and they produce over twice as much.

Another thing to take into consideration- you have 3.5 acres. I laugh at the thought of 2 nigerians trying to deforest 3.5 acres. The truth is, stuff will grow back faster than they can eat it. Nubians are triple the weight, triple the consumption. Plus, they are larger and have longer legs to climb through the brush and reach vines. Nigerians are tiny, short legged, and will probably not be able to do much compared to a Nubian.

In short? It's totally up to you. Nigerians are a great breed. I'm just trying to point out that Nubians probably would fit your requirements more than Nigerians.