# What to Look For in a Nubian Buckling



## greenfamilyfarms (Feb 8, 2011)

Plan for this year: 

1. Downsize our herd of Boers, but keep 3 does
2. Pd deposit on 2 LaMancha Doelings due to be kidded in April
3. Get Nubian buck to breed them to

I like the looks of a Nubian/Boer and a Nubian/LaMancha cross. This will give our Boers some more "hybrid vigor" along with increasing their milk production. Plus, the kids will look decent. The LaMancha will be able to be milked and the resulting kids could be sold for backyard milkers/wethers. 

So, what should we look for in a Nubian buck in order to meet our goals? 

I know this is probably the least important, but what color should he be?


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 8, 2011)

I would go with a male that is as reddish brown as possible, since he will be more likely to throw red headed and read spotted boer cross kids, This kind of kid sells really well in the whether market. If they have a lot of grey or lightness on them people just don't seem to be as interested.


I would also look for length in the Nubian and not so much the height of the buck.  Long boer cross kids are always desired with straight top-lines.


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## chandasue (Feb 8, 2011)

I like your plans! But you probably already know I love munchies.


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## Ariel301 (Feb 8, 2011)

Munchie-Boer crosses make excellent meat kids, plus if you dam raise, the  does have lots more milk to feed the babies than a Boer doe would. If you're raising meat kids, I'd look into that. 

If you are going to market the Nubian-LaMancha mixes as milkers, you'll want a buck with good milking genetics. Ask to see his dam's udder and find out how well she produced. Make sure he's got two teats and not extras. You'll want to see a wide escutcheon on him (the arch in the hind legs where the udder sits) and a long body. Wide, long does are the best for dairy animals so you want a buck that has that. Personality is important to me, I want a buck who is super gentle and easy to handle. Color doesn't really matter, so get what you like there. For backyard milkers, you will find that beginners/more uneducated owners will often choose a kid to buy based on color and personality before looking at quality, so if that is going to be a good portion of your market, you'll want pretty goats, obviously. Not many people want an ugly goat hanging out in their backyard lol.


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## Roll farms (Feb 8, 2011)

Color genetics in Nubians really don't mean a thing.  

I've bred blue roan to blue roan and gotten brown kids w/ black dorsal stripes.  I've bred brown / white paint to brown and gotten blue roan.
Bred a solid black buck w/ frosted ears to a solid brown doe...and got 2 spotted kids.
Unless the mom and dad and the grandparents were all colored similarly (which isn't common), you'll have lots of color variation...especially when you throw in that the LM's can be about any color.

You can look at our Nubian kids born this year...only one looks like their  dad.

Go for the best-milking lines (both production and udder quality) and be ready for lots of colorful babies / surprises.

If all things are equal and you have a choice between a spotted kid or a plain kid, both from good lines / udders...go for spots....spots sell.


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## Ariel301 (Feb 8, 2011)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> Color genetics in Nubians really don't mean a thing.
> 
> I've bred blue roan to blue roan and gotten brown kids w/ black dorsal stripes.  I've bred brown / white paint to brown and gotten blue roan.
> Bred a solid black buck w/ frosted ears to a solid brown doe...and got 2 spotted kids.
> ...


I've learned this year that LaManchas are the same. I bred a chamoisee and white doe to a black and white buck and got an apricot and white kid and a pale cou clair kid with a faint dorsal stripe. Same buck bred to a black and white doe got me a chocolate kid! Same buck bred to an Oberhasli colored doe got a solid blond kid...

And yes, spots sell.


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## ohne (Feb 8, 2011)

Go for conformation and production and dont worry about color. Thats my personal opinion. All too often I find that when people worry about color they are not paying enough attention to other factors and conformation and/or production suffer. A good goat can be any color but a spotted color pattern does not automatically make a good goat. As my dad would say color doesnt put meat on the table nor milk in the tank!

Spots may sell but people that are looking to buy quality animals wont be worried about color! So it depends on what you want your market to be. (Exception is breeds with a specific color/pattern)

For market weathers some people like a colored animal because it catches the judges attention. This is a double edged sword however because they are going to remember it good or bad. I can tell you that having had the opportunity to judge market classes that had both traditional, spotted, and solid colored animals, that color did not make a bit of difference on placing.


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## Roll farms (Feb 9, 2011)

> Spots may sell but people that are looking to buy quality animals wont be worried about color! So it depends on what you want your market to be. (Exception is breeds with a specific color/pattern)


That's why I stressed go for the better production / udder quality *first*, and then, if they're of equal quality...and if there's a choice between a nice brown buck or a nice spotted buck, take the spots.

I agree that color won't put milk in the bucket...I also like to say you can't milk a pedigree.  

However, when people have 'goat fever', no matter what I say about the dams / sires / production / etc...a colorful kid will usually sell before a plain one.  

I don't make the rules, I just have to play by them. 

My other point was / is...color may not even matter since color genetics are so funny to begin with...so go w/ quality first, since there are no guarantees she'll get the same color(s) from the kids that she has in the parents.


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## greenfamilyfarms (Feb 9, 2011)

I've actually found a Nubian buckling, solid brown with solid ears, within an hour drive of me with Foxwood and Backcountry lines. His dam has a nice udder (in my semi-uneducated opinion) and he can be ADGA registered. I have a chance to go see him and the rest of her herd this weekend, so I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks for the info!


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 9, 2011)

Roll farms said:
			
		

> > Spots may sell but people that are looking to buy quality animals wont be worried about color! So it depends on what you want your market to be. (Exception is breeds with a specific color/pattern)
> 
> 
> That's why I stressed go for the better production / udder quality *first*, and then, if they're of equal quality...and if there's a choice between a nice brown buck or a nice spotted buck, take the spots.
> ...


I was mentioning color, because she had mentioned selling whethers, I got the impression for her boer-cross goats she was wanting to sell whethers, and they wont bring as much money if they aren't full of color. To me color doesn't matter, but time and time again my buyers will pass up my grey headed eared nubian crosses for the exact same percentage animal with a solid head and dark red spots. If you are wanting to concentrate on qulity milking offspring then I would go for the best udder and dairy buck, Confirmation always matters, A nice straight top-line always matters, with a deep full chest and barrel, since this allows the doe to beable to eat more and handle carrying multiples better. 

My solid eared crosses always throw more solid eared kids than by frosted eared crosses, even if they are siblings. But I am using a full-blood dark red-headed buck, so I am not sure what a Nubian buck would throw, I beleive if it comes from parents with lots of dark red in it, Your odds would be pretty good when crossed to you boers that you would get lots of red. But I agree none of it would matter if they aren't good milkers with good confirmation.


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