Hey SW

[Steve Wood]

not normally, I used to have a lot of high percentage Boer nannies, but, they are lousy mothers so I bred back to Spanish and Kiko because they are good mothers and have good milk.  I normally have a lot of Boer in the billies, but I like to change blood lines ever three-four years to keep the vigor up.  This billy should throw some good kids that bring good money altho I have done very well the past couple of years pricewise in spite of the drought.

[stevemon]

Sounds good Steve. Don't recognize those breeds I guess b/c my NW Oklahoma high school vo-ag curriculum was shy on goat husbandry.
I bet a lot of other ranchers wished they were in the goat business with the lousy weather lately.

 

[Steve Wood]

The Boer is a
South African breed that became popular over here in the 90's, I think.  Big goats...my original billies grew to be over 400 lbs...they were/or very popular in the show goat business.  It seems that many are terrible mothers and lose a high percentage of their kids.  I suspect this was because people were breeding them for the show market and not paying attention to the factors that make a goat good for producing out in the open pasture.

The Kiko is a New Zealand goat that was produced by crossing feral goats with milk goats....the Spanish goat goes back to the goats brought to this country by the Spanish.  For awhile it was somewhat ignored as an inferior goat to late model imports, but, when selectively bred for size, it can be a pretty big goat that is extremely hardy and parasite resistant unlike the "imports" and it requires less food to keep it going.   Breeding a good Spanish goat to a good Boer goat will give you offspring that is 80% of the Boer on a lot less food plus you will raise 95% of the kids instead of 75%.

The trick is to cull the herd regularly and keep the best of the nanny kids as breeding stock each year.  Took me awhile to understand this...

[stevemon]

How are their manners? Can you pretty much approach any of these breeds & handle them? That Boer Billie doesn't look like one I'd go walking up on. 

[Just a Six?]

How are their manners? Can you pretty much approach any of these breeds & handle them? That Boer Billie doesn't look like one I'd go walking up on. 

Not without a Taser!! 

[Steve Wood]

Generally, it depends on how they are raised.  Usually, they stay just out of reach if they have been fed regularly.  If not, they stay further out of the way.  If I am supplementing by feeding out of a bag, they will follow my truck when I blow the horn and I can lead them across the place.

When I get them into the pens to doctor/cull them, whatever, it is easy to get run over and you have to pay attention to stay out of the way.    Now, billies, being bigger, are something that you have to pay heed to as they can do some serious damage.  Some of them have to be handled with particular care, particularly as they get older.  You can usually tell when you get them into a small pen.  If they "puff up" and don't want to move with the rest of the herd, you can figure out they have forgotten who is in charge of the operation and it can get dangerous very fast.  Then it is time to use a cattle prod to give them a reason to stay away from you. 

I have had billies that were simply too big to handle, but, were not mean.  Those, we usually trap behind a gate and squeeze them up against the fence with the gate while giving them their shots, or whatever.  If they are beginning to act up, I send them to auction.  A goat is incredibly strong and fast.  With a head that is intended for fighting, you have to be careful.  Bottle raised, pet goats are the most dangerous.  People  tend to play with them and push them on the head when little, and then they grow up to be 175 lbs and more and they think it is still acceptable to walk up and butt you.   

Here is a picture showing a big old red Kiko goat and his white son behind him.    The old goat was a pussy cat.  You could walk up, grab him by the horns, and do anything you wanted to without resistance.  On the other hand, he would tear thru a good fence, go to my neighbors, beat the hell out of his Boer billy and breed his show goats.  He was not very popular on that account.  His son was the wildest goat I have ever owned and could jump a five ft fence.  He was not particularly mean, but he was extremely dangerous in a pen.  I grabbed him by a horn one day when he ran past me.  He hit the fence on the other side of the pen with me still attached, wheeled around and launched himself thru the air....with me hanging on.  I landed about ten ft from where he took off.  I opened my eyes to two other guys looking at me with a terrified expression on their faces.  When I started cussing, they started laughing.  The vote was unanimous to send him to sale no matter what he was really worth being a Kiko.  He did not know he was domesticated even tho his daddy was tame as he could be.  It was not that he was mean; it was because he was simply too wild to handle safely.

[stevemon]

Chumlee rates this thread

[larrym]

He is a stout one!

[Steve Wood]

Small Puffing Adder....only a couple of feet long...these things can scare you when they get bigger and rise up with the head spread out like a cobra and hissing like mad...could not get this one to raise up long enuf to take a picture...he was hissing, tho-back to the pasture for him!

[gbsean]

Thanks Steve was a good read...

[Steve Wood]

Brand new

[daveismissing]

Cute. Still had no rain? The vegetation seems to hangin' in there?

[Steve Wood]

no rain here...most has burned up...that is some ragweed under the trees, I think...rest is brown

[Just a Six?]

He looks mean Steve...but I guess I would be too if they hung a price tag in my ear. 

LOL!!!   

[Steve Wood]

another set of twins