What kind of goat do I have?

[chickenewbee]

I have two young goats which were given to me, and the person who had them did not have any information on them. I've been told the boy is a Nubian, but I'm not sure about the girl. Can anyone tell what she is from my picture? (It's hard to get a picture of much more than her head, because she wants to chew on the camera ))

I thought at first she might be a Nigerian dwarf , but she is only slightly smaller than the Nubian.

 

[Bunnylady]

I'm leaning towards Alpine, or maybe an Alpine cross. She's a cutie!

 

[Stacykins]

I agree with the alpine cross potentially. One parent is definitely a Nubian or Boer. If she stays lean and dairy like, makes Nubian more likely. She has airplane ears, which means one parent had floppy ears, and one parent had erect ears. If she was pure alpine, then her ears would stand up rather than flop out like that.

 

[Bunnylady]

Yeah, wrong ears for a pure Alpine, but not quite the pendulous ears of a Nubian, and definitely not the convex profile of a Nubian or Boer, either. That's why I said Alpine mix - though I suppose the face could have come from a Toggenburg, too.

 

[chickenewbee]

Okay, thanks....I was wondering if she might be Alpine after looking at pictures, but I see what you mean about the ears.

The rest of the goats they had all looked like her, and not like the Nubian....I think he was a transplant.

So who knows what the rest of her might be?

She is definitely a character.....funny as heck. ) The Nubian seems to have a more serious personality.

 

[chickenewbee]

Wow..I just looked up the Toggenburg because I had never heard of it, and that looks a LOT like her.

 

[chickenewbee]

I decoyed her with the food bucket, and was able to get a side shot of her head.

 

[cassie]

That goat is a Nubian cross. With the airplane ears she is crossed with a Swiss breed, probably Alpine. She looks like the Alpine Nubian crosses I had on occasion. She looks too dairy to have been crossed with a Boer. She does NOT look like a Toggenburg. Wrong color for one thing. Toggs are a very distinctive shade of brown, a little (very little) like a milk chocolate brown and that color usually comes through in crosses.

 

[chickenewbee]

Okay...I'll take your word for it...I've never seen a Toggenburg in person.

Are Alpines smaller than Nubians? I don't know their exact age, but I think both goats are about the same age, and she is smaller than the male Nubian.

Also, the Nubian was in pretty rough condition when I got him...coat like a shag rug, underweight with a huge belly.

I've wormed him twice and am giving him goat pellets, alfalfa and grass hay, loose minerals, as well as cutting tree branches and sunflower plants for them to browse every day. I gave them both BOSS for the first month, and once they gained weight I discontinued it.

His coat is smooth and shiny now, his weight is good, but his belly is still larger than I think it should be. Is there something else I should be doing for him?

 

[feather lane 52]

this is my boy Felix