[susie]

I have an oppportunity to get a couple of Boerx does- I would like to have some meat goats because it's easier to sell the babies than dairy stock. I'll still have a couple of milkers tho.
I was wondering if I can run them together or will I need to do two seperate herds? Together would be alot easier, obviously.
I have one Boerx Nubian doeling already, she has horns, as will the new girls ( 2 of them,I think) My nubes don't . I was thinking of banding the doelings horns.. but haven't done it yet. I know that horns will probably be an issue, huh?

Any opinions/experiences welcome-- thanks!

Ps OT-Now I can see where people are getting their cute little icons-- I couldn't see those before-- so now I don't feel left out or stoopid. I don't like change. :sigh

 

[Feral Nature]

Re: Running Boerx's with dairy goats?

Horned goats will dominate and get more food and the Boers breed will dominate and get more food. Put those two together and you have bossy eating machines. Horned Boers vs polled dairy goats did not work for me. I sold all the horned Boers and now will only keep disbudded Boers. That way if they have to be penned together for any reason, they have a more level playing field. Boers are tanks and don't need weapons to go with their brawn. That is my experience. Of course, I raise gentle lady-like LaManchas and not Nubians who may be bigger and "pushier" than my girls

 

[Cotton Eyed Does]

Re: Running Boerx's with dairy goats?

What Diane said. :yeahthat I saw what a dairy goat udder looked like after a boer doe got through ripping half of it off with her horn. UUGGGLLLY! I personally don't think it is a good idea to run them together. Too much can happen with those tanks with horns. Banding is easier said than done. I've been trying for several months to get the horns off of 2 of my boer does. :/

 

[NubianSoaps.com]

You will either have obesse boers or thin dairy stock. I also, although we ran them through the dairy to be milked, via and alleyway out to the woods pen, I raised boer doelings on the lambar with my dairy kids, but not the breeding stock. They simply need little to no care. Mine only got food of any kind the last 50 days of pregnancy and while they nursed their kids, once weaned at 8 weeks the does came out of the maternity pasture and back with the buck. Hay only during the late fall and winter. One bite of grain, and you are ruining their feet, making them obese, and the meat is so expensive that your could sell the goats and go buy filet minon! Also try butchering those fat kids the day you wean, not letting them loose the bulk being weaned and moved to grain. Vicki

 

[Good Goats]

Yep, just what they all said. Boers are way pushier than the dairy goats and will get more food.

Suriyah

 

[susie]

Do these comments apply to Boer crosses? My little Nubian x boer is doing fine with the other girls ( her mom is one of the nubians)
I only feed grain in the milkstand--o/w they get hay and alfalfa pellets.
Thanks fo rthe comments , I will have to think about it.... I may be able to get two boerx's and run them together seperate from the dairy goats, then disbud any doe babies and keep only them... do you guys think that if the Boers are disbudded there are the same issues?
Maybe the best thing to do is just keep my dairy girls and breed to a meat buck...? I'm just exploring the options--
thanks!

Thanks!

 

[Good Goats]

Actually we have kept Boers with our dairy does. At the moment we have one horned doe Boer doe with our other does. We separate the pushy ones at feeding time so that everyone gets what they need. Use your judgement, you cannot say that ALL Boers will be pushy. We have 2 Boer/Nubian doelings that are not pushy at all who are in with our other dairy doelings.

Hope this helps,
Suriyah

 

[NubianSoaps.com]

Boers don't need as much alfalfa as your dairy does do either. They will be nursing maybe 2 kids for 8 weeks, then dry until the following year. On alfalfa pellets, it's not only wasteful but with only meat as your money out of them it's expensive. I would rather butcher dairy bucklings so I can get a real amount of milk out of my girls for 10 months with 2 teats, and have dairy doelings for sale which sell for 3 times more, with bigger litters. The smaller amount of meat on your dairy bucks does not equal having a second breed that has very different needs than your dairy goats. Sure you can run them all together but it certainly isn't a wise business decision if you are truly breeding for milk and for meat.

Now if you only milk a few months and will only butcher one or two kids, well than shoot do what you want Vicki

 

[goatkid]

I ran Boers with my dairy goats and finally sold the last of the Boers this year. They simply got too fat being managed like Nubians. I still have a family pet that is 1/4 Boer. She is huge, both in stature and girth. She will even choose not to eat as much as the other does and still she is large.

 

[farmergirl36]

I also raise boers but have quite a few nubians and alpines. I have 150 boer does and 4 bucks but I have one nubian that runs the herd. She is the dominate female. She has no horns. What i have found is it is more about personality than horns per say. I have a nubian/boer x that is the lowest on the totem pole. I am going to get rid of her because she is so low and cannot compete with anything not even the babies rank lower than her. I feel sorry for her. Just a thought. Hope it all works out. Janey

 

[pokyone42]

we run Alpine (disbudded) with Boer (also disbudded) crosses, and the Alpines dominate...... all is good here...(as Alpines have the strong and bossy personality) we also have one Boer/Nubian who is at the bottom of the food chain......... even our alpine/Boer cross kids smack her around...... and she is 1 1/2 years old................ they all do just fine together tho........we just make sure poor Murphy gets her share of food...........good luck!