What breed(s) are my goats?

[Epona142]

Hi all! I bought these two goats last month, and all I know is that they are miniature goats.

Well now I know there's different breeds of miniature goats! So I'm curious on what I really have.

Sorry for the awful pictures, these were taken when I first got them and they were still shy.

This is the doe: Hope. She was a little thin when I got her, but has put on weight and is doing well. Possibly pregnant by a pretty white buck. Would be her third kidding.

And this is the wether, Uno. He was born in January, and is not Hope's kid, but I bought him to keep her company, I'd never have a goat by itself! He was very leery of me at first, but is coming around nicely and is turning out to be a sweetie. As you can see it was hard to get pictures of him when they first came home.

I hope these pictures are adequate, but if not, I can possibly get better ones if needed.

So what do you think?

 

[GwenFarms]

Hope looks like your average brush goat, some folks on byc call them spanish goats. She'll do a great job cleaning up around your place. Now Uno look like he is possibly a Nigerian Dwarf, or atleast like he has alot in him. Could be half. It's hard to tell looking at his pics for sure, but I'm sticking with probably half nig. dwarf.

 

[Epona142]

Thank you for your reply.

I got a couple of opinions from the chat, that they are nigerian, or at least a cross of such.

Is it okay to milk Hope? So far she is giving a nice milk, not a huge amount, but being a mini, I don't expect, or need, a ton of it.

 

[GwenFarms]

Oh yeah. You can milk her. Brush goat is just a term for a small built goat of undetermined parentage. In other words, a mix. Usually a brush goat like your doe is the result of brush goat bred to brush goat, but Uno looks to be to be a result of a pure nig. dwarf to something else...maybe brush goat. In any case they are both nice looking goats that I'm sure you will enjoy. I had one brush doe that had as good of udders as any Alpine, or Nubian. She was one of the best milkers I've ever owned. It will be fine to milk her.

 

[Epona142]

Thanks again!

I sure do enjoy them already, no matter what breed(s) they are. I am really just curious about it. Hope has, at least in my newly educated opinion, a lovely udder and nice, sweet milk. I hope she's pregnant.

 

[Chatychick]

I raise Nigferians and she looks to be a Nigerian or possibly Nigi mix...Uno also looks to be maybe a mix and yes you can milk Nigis as I do and. I have a goat that looks almost like her and Uno and they are my unregistered Nigerians. Good luck and hope she gives you some pretty babies.
Spanish goats have longer ears almost like Nubians. I used to have some when I lived in Texas. These goats of yours you can tell by the fine bone structure that they are Nigi's.

 

[helmstead]

I agree, they look Nigi. Too fine built to be Pygmy. Definately not Spanish.

 

[Nupine]

My educated guesses-
Doe-Half alpine/Half pygmy
Wether-nd/pygmy

 

[GwenFarms]

Spanish goats are built differently in different areas. As I said in this area they are called brush goats and come from pygmy descent. They are all fine, small built goats. I found pictures of what I think some people are calling spanish goats and they seem to refer to a meat goat, more from boar lineage, but I've heard some call our little brush goats spanish goats. I see what you mean about spanish goats, some of them are huge, but other pictures will be captioned spanish and the pictures are of the fine built brush goats we have around here. It just essentially means a mixed breed goat here. I feel like the doe's nose is too long to be nigi. The little whether could be, at the least is half I think. Here are some pics. You can decide for yourself.

Common brush goat, none of these look exactly like the next. So this one won't look exactly like yours, but it does resemble it.


http://images.google.com/imgres?img...=brush+goat&start=54&gbv=2&ndsp=18&hl=en&sa=N


Nigerian Dwarf:

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...rev=/images?q=nigerian+dwarf&gbv=2&hl=en&sa=G

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...erian+dwarf&start=18&gbv=2&ndsp=18&hl=en&sa=N

Either way, your goats are beautiful and it doesn't really matter. As I said earlier the best milker I ever had looked like your doe and was a nice built goat with huge utters. Pedigrees only matter if your going to get into showing. It's something I've never had any interest in, but alot of people enjoy. Your probably like me though and just want to know as much as you can about your animals. Enjoy your goats!!

 

[Epona142]

Thanks again for all the great replies!

I don't think we'll ever know exactly what they are, and I don't really mind. The other goats that they were with all looked like either Hope or Uno, so no telling! The buck she would have been bred too was white and looked like her in confirmation, only slightly smaller. He's most likely Uno's sire as well.

Anyways, I've been spending alot of time with them and they are turning out to be great little goats. I can't wait to see if she has kids, and will definitely post pictures!

Keep posting all the great goat info on this board!