Dairy Goat

[lacyloo]

I love boers, but would like sannens

 

[Citychick]

Are boers ok for milking? We are looking at one due to kid this month and I would like to milk her if I could. How long do they live and what age is a goat OLD? Thanks

 

[MissPrissy]

Boers are raised for meat. They aren't by nature a dairy goat.

 

[lacyloo]

Once we breed our boer do and she kids will milk her and feed her sweet feed to sweeten up her milk

 

[Chatychick]

Alfafa hay or alfafa pellets will help in the milk department...sweet feed will only make them fat...or sick...I use goat chow and pellets and it helps the goats make more and better milk...dont know about Boers as they are meat goats and not for milking.

 

[MissPrissy]

Around this part of the country a 16% sweet feed is always given to dairy goats as standard feed. The mill I get mine from makes it just for the goat farmers. I ration half and half twice a day with other goat feed along with hay and alfalfa cubes plus my goats have a huge area they forage. I get VERY rich milk. when a gallon sits in the fridge I can count on at least 1/3 to 1/4 of it separating into cream. My goats are saanan/nubian cross.

I can only presume that in different parts of the country people have very different ideas on how best to raise a goat for dairy purposes.

 

[sweetshoplady]

I found a person near me who sells their kids, but not the milking does. They are nubians. And they are willing to sell a doe. Most that I have seen only sell the males.

So after Easter, I'll be getting one. After I get an area fenced for them. From what I've read sounds like the cross that Miss Prissy has would be the way to go. Should I start looking for a Saanen buck to for my second goat. Would that work?

 

[helmstead]

Not REALLY. A buck can make the milk taste, well...bucky...so you'd have to keep them well separated...so they wouldn't work as each other's companions. You'll need either a wether or another doe.

 

[sweetshoplady]

The lady that I can get a nubian kid from said that I should wait until the doe is 2 before I breed her. That there isn't milk from the doe until her first pregnancy and her udder fills late in the gestation period, like a cow. That article that I read said that you can stimulate a does udders to produce milk from a virgin doe.

I breed my cows when they are a year old. Every animal is different though.

So if I went that route, I would be waiting better than 2 years before I would get milk. Is this correct?

That's why I was wondering about finding a Saanen as a buck so the offspring would be that Saanen/Nubian cross that Miss Prissy has.

Most of the goats that I am seeing that are available for sale, are bucks or Boers.