Finding Niegerian Dwarves bred specifically for Dairy production.

[GabrielBane]

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.

Nubians are originally what I pitched to my SO, I grew up having them on our waterfowl farm and they were beasts at clearing fields of elephant grass and other nasty bramble. However, in reality not all 3.5 acres are forested, only about a 1 - 1 1/2 of that is actually still wooded area, so we decided to down-size to this breed because two of our property lines are next to busy roads, and it's easier to contain the Dwarves over the Nubians.

I think my partner is more comfortable with the idea of slowly de-foresting the stuff the goats/hogs don't kill over having large goats that could get into the road or get picked off by one of the neighbors dogs (A LGD is going to be purchased, we just want to be settled before we add the stress of training a dog while moving, brooding chicks and selling our home lol. )

 

[bantamrooster]

Maybe some others with more experience will chime in but we have nigerians and have had a couple nubians in the past.
With our experience i would totally disagree about containing those two breeds. Our nigerians are hard to keep fenced in. They go under over and through fencing. They slip right through any space that is about 6" wide and 12" tall. One jumps our 4' fences and they pull fence up and slip under it. I have three that are horned and they get their heads stuck in any hole bigger then 4" by 4".
We didnt have as good of fencing when we had nubians and they didnt ever get out. They dont test fencing near as bad as our nigerians.
I agree the nigerians have better milk but not to the extent that i wouldnt trade them in a minute for nubians. They give a lot less and are such a pain to milk imo. Their small size makes it harder with my big hands and they are not as calm as the nubians were about the whole ordeal.
I like the nigerians and sure you would too but i miss the freindly flop eared nubians.
May get a couple of each? You can breed nubians does to a nigerian buck and will have no trouble selling the kids as f1 mini nubians.

 

[GabrielBane]

Maybe some others with more experience will chime in but we have nigerians and have had a couple nubians in the past.
With our experience i would totally disagree about containing those two breeds. Our nigerians are hard to keep fenced in. They go under over and through fencing. They slip right through any space that is about 6" wide and 12" tall. One jumps our 4' fences and they pull fence up and slip under it. I have three that are horned and they get their heads stuck in any hole bigger then 4" by 4".
We didnt have as good of fencing when we had nubians and they didnt ever get out. They dont test fencing near as bad as ouIr nigerians.
I agree the nigerians have better milk but not to the extent that i wouldnt trade them in a minute for nubians. They give a lot less and are such a pain to milk imo. Their small size makes it harder with my big hands and they are not as calm as the nubians were about the whole ordeal.
I like the nigerians and sure you would too but i miss the freindly flop eared nubians.
May get a couple of each? You can breed nubians does to a nigerian buck and will have no trouble selling the kids as f1 mini nubians.

This is an option I had not considered, we're trying to see if the stars align and we can make this happen. thank you for the suggestion!