mixing goats

[chicken 101]

ok no I have not will it be ok to get the females how many should I get

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Get as many as you want, but goats are always best in bonded pairs, so it's always best to get two together who are related or grew up together if possible.

 

[cafarmgirl]

ok no I have not will it be ok to get the females how many should I get

The answer to this would depend entirely on how many you have room for.

I also agree with oldhenlikesdogs about getting does already familiar with each other, it just makes it so much easier then integrating a bunch of new goats.

 

[chicken 101]

well how many do you need for a family of 7

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You need to determine how much milk you require a day, also factor in that a doe needs to be dried off at least two months before she kids again, so if you want continuous milk you will have to stagger your breeding. You will also need to figure what breed you will get and how much milk they average. Also whether you plan to feed the kids any of the milk. So all things you have to figure out.

 

[misfitmorgan]

The best milk breeds we have in our barn have shown to be saanen, alpine and toggenburg with our alpine girls giving less volume then the other two. However keep in mind milk volume and length of production are related to their bloodlines. Some does can milk for a full year before needing to be bred again and then only needing the two month dry off time others will only milk for say 6 months and need to be dried off for longer. Usually the doe will have similar milking qualities to her mother and to her fathers mother. You should also see if you can taste the milk prior to buying the doe if your buying a doe in milk. Or see if the mother or grandmothers milk is available some breeds have a more musky sort of taste that some people dont like. Generally those breeds are toggenburg and oberhalsi but our toggenburgs give great milk so it all varies. Our nigerians gave about a pint after freshening and our standard size(saanen, alpine, la mancha, etc) 2 pints - a gallon after freshening per day. We milk twice a day though. If you need less milk you can milk once a day. As @oldhenlikesdogs mentioned whether you are feeding kids or not has a lot to do with how much milk you will get for your family use as well.

Our most prolific producer currently is a toggenburg la mancha cross. She is currently giving us roughly a gallon a day and feeding triplets. We plan to cross her to our alpine buck as he produces kids with good udder attachment and hers are wanting on the rear attachments.

As other mentioned boer is a meat bred for and generally are not bred for milk production or milking temperment. Meat breeds are generally boer, kiko, fainting goat, kinder, spanish, and tennessee meat goat.

Diary goat breeds are generally Nubian, La Mancha, oberhasli, alpine, toggenburg, saanen, sable(saanen), and nigerian dwarf.

Some goat are suited well to dual purpose so just do your research. i know people use kinder goats for meat and milk purposes and i also know it is common to cross boer and nubian when breeding meat goats.

You also need to decide what your going to do with the goat kids. Keep them, sell them, breed them, butcher them, etc. We sell most of our buck kids to be 4-h goats in the spring.