Best goats for milk?

[mamawolf544]

I have Boer goats and I am wanting 2 or 3 milk goats.
They will not be together.
What is the easiest, best milk goat in your opinion?
I want something that is disease resistant, and very easy to handle.

 

[ksalvagno]

As far as disease resistant, you would want to find a good breeder. There isn't a particular dairy breed that is in general "disease resistant." Sanaans are considered the best milkers. But if you got Nubians, you could breed them to your boer male and the offspring are fairly desirable. Nubians also have a higher butterfat. It is really a matter of looking at milking lines more than anything. I have an Alpine mix that is one heck of a milker and I just lucked out with not knowing what kind of milking lines she came from. I would look at all the dairy breeds and see which one is best for you. Any breed can be an easy milker or give a lot of milk. You may even want to look into getting females that have already been milked and know what to do on the milkstand.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Good advice above. Do you want a higher butterfat for cheese or soapmaking? Or just quantity? You could always get a Saanen, an Alpine and a Nubian or LaMancha and mix their milk for a nice mix of butterfat.

 

[Illia]

If you want a LOT of milk, go with Saanans.

If you want a lot of milk and a LOT of butterfat (to make more cheese, yogurt, etc) go with Kinders. They're a new breed, based on Pygmy x Nubian, and are on the medium/small side, but they're very easy to handle, half the trouble of most other breeds, birth very easy, and not only do they come in some amazing spotted colors but they give up to 1 gallon a day, with their milk ranging to contain 6-10% butterfat. The average cow has a little over 3%; The average dairy goat has a little over 4%

Here's my own little starter herd of a few kids and a 4 year old doe who produces GORGEOUS babies and has the highest butterfat of the group. I've made a lot of cheese from her milk, and she's very sweet.

This herd also replaced my previous LaMancha goats. Honestly I found them to have far too little butterfat, not the best tasting milk, and they were the most troublesome, bratty goats I've ever known. . . .

 

[Cowgirl71]

I've never had milk goats (I have Jersey cows instead), but I have several friends with milk goats, and they all recommend Nubians hands-down! They make lots of milk with a very high butterfat content, have beautiful coloring and long floppy ears, very docile, and are quite common, making them reasonably priced.

 

[mamawolf544]

Thanks for the info yall. I kinda have medical issues so I need something I can handle pretty well. And I was wanting them for soap and/or cheese. I am not allowed to drink raw milk of any kind.