[ktbeasleyze]

Hey,
I having been breeding commercial boer goats on and off for a few years. Well, a friend of mind dropped of a 3 month old percentage doe that looks to have some alpine in her due to somewhat upright ears. The other is a 2yr old solid red fullblood doe that is underweight. To my surprise, my friend came back the next day with a very correct boer buckling that I couldn't resist.My question is, I would like to breed some alpines in my herd but have been unsuccessful finding any...so could I just start breeding these two does when they are old enough and healthy to a nice alpine buck? I already have offers on my boer buckling to stand live cover when he is a year old, so I will keep him in a pen with a wether. How many generations will it take before I have a decent milk goat? Thanks!
-ktbeasleyze

 

[ogfabby]

Boers actually have one of the highest butterfat content of any breed. They just don't produce as much or as long as the dairy breeds. I would think that you would get a pretty decent miller from a first cross if you breed to a buck from excellent milking lines.

 

[WarPony]

My very very favourite milking doe of all is a first generation Boer/Alpine cross and if offered more i would take them in a heartbeat. I only get 3/4 of a gallon a day at peak out of her but her milk is AMAZING. My husband asks me to keep hers separate from the other does and label it so he can be sure to get her specific milk. It is sweeter than cow milk, and rich and creamy. She milked for 10 months for me last time (would have kept milking but she was the only one I had left in milk and i was hoping to get her bred and I thought taking the winter off from milking might be nice. I was wrong, lol), though her half sisters (by the same Boer buck, out of Oberhasli does) had almost as good milk, slightly less, and dried up after 6 months.

Now, i don't think you can register them as dairy if they have any meat breed in them at all, so if you are looking to breed up that is a consideration. But if you are just looking to breed up for grade dairy I think a little bit of boer does wonderful things if you are aiming for quality rather than quantity. I have my mini Nubian, my Togg and my Nubian does for quantity (and their milk is great, don't get me wrong), but for pure 'sit down and have an ice cold glass of plain milk" quality I will take that Boer/Alpine cross doe's milk any day of the week. I have her daughter by a LaMancha buck who i hope hope HOPE will have her dam's quality with increased production. <3