[tremayne]

Hi all,

I've got a question, okay, more than one. My daughter is involved in FFA. She has a Boer X doe (Cosby) due to kid for the first time later this month. She keeps Cosby at the high school farm where she attends school.

Recently several more young does have been added to the herd. Two of them are up for sale, a white/beige Alpine (reportedly registered) and a brown Nubian, reportedly purebred (not sure about any registration). Neither have been bred, both are tame and used to being around people, both appear healthy (at least to my and my husband's newbie eyes).

The Alpine (Nadine) has bad hooves. Each splays out pretty badly. Is that fixable? Will that be a big problem as time goes by? I worry about the added weight of any upcoming pregnancies, that her feet may break down. I also wonder if Nadine will be DQ'ed because of the hooves, since part of the FFA project is to show the animal at the district fair.

The Nubian is less than a year old. She is an attractive color and has nice hooves, well-trimmed and tight. We would definitely wait to breed her since she is still a growing girl.

Aside from what we see, I can't say much else. I don't know the particular breeds well enough to know general personalities and traits. I know they're both dairy breeds. (Yay, I know something!) I don't have any good detailed photos, but I'll try to get some and post the hoof situation.

Any ideas which to choose? (Yes, my daughter would like to buy both of them, but with kids on the way from Cosby, and my job ending in three weeks, finances are a factor. We get billed at the end of the year for room and board for the goaties).

I want my daughter to ask the goat advisor at school, but I also respect the opinions of you folks here at the Goat Spot and wanted to ask your opinions as well.

Thanks in advance.

 

[goathappy]

How old is the Alpine? If her hooves have been neglected and recently trimmed after neglect they can look splayed like that because they don't know how to walk on them. But if she's splayed pretty badly all the time its not really a problem you can fix. You could breed her to a nice buck that improves feet but thats all I can really say. You may be better off to wait for a better goat. Things are always worth waiting for.

As for choosing, it depends upon what your daughter wants. Does she want to show, milk and breed dairy goats for a 4-H project? If yes I would make sure I was getting something good.

That's just my 2 cents

 

[goatnutty]

IMO I would choose the Nubian over the other goat.Is that what your asking?

 

[tremayne]

Thanks for the input so far, Sara and Sarah :wink:

My daughter typically chooses the underdogs, or undergoats, in this case. We want her to make the best decision she can and learn from it. That's one of the main things about FFA, the learning process. She's still very new to goats and is learning a bit at a time. We're even newer to goats, but using the same criteria we would use choosing any animal, we think the Alpine has some foot problems.

My gut feeling would be to just wait and see what her Boer X doe, Cosby, has and how she does before getting any more goats.

And if it were my choice, I'd probably choose the Nubian, too. She looks better.

Thanks again. :thankU:

 

[StaceyRosado]

For the alpine make sure you see papers before you pay for her as a registered doe. A goat can be registered but if you odn't have her papers it means nothing (had that happen to me unfortunatly! argh)

Depending on the reason for the splayed hooves will depend on it if they are fixable or not. Learning to properly trim a goats hooves will be in order as she will need hoof trimmings every week or so to slowly get them back into shape (that is if lack of hoof trimmings is what is wrong)

The young nubian sounds like a good choice but it really depends on what your daughter wants.