# WELL< here is the plan. I hope. I have questions too.



## redtailgal (Jun 7, 2011)

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## 20kidsonhill (Jun 7, 2011)

We have boer nubain cross, A 50% boer/nubain can be butchered, but you would be happier with a 75% boer/nubian or even an 87.5% boer/nubian, they will have a quit a bit more meat on them than the 50/50.  They carry quit a large farm, because of the nubian in them. 

From every thing I have read, they can have a few more problems than a nigerean dwarf or pygmy breed. Can carry a little more of a worm load. 
 Boers cycle monthly, hence the problem of keeping the buck in with them. They will breed back the does as soon as they come back into heat after kidding, possibly in a month or two after, which may be fine, if they are well taken care of, but can wear the girls out. 

The biggest problem with keeping the male with the does, is breeding back your young doelings to early.  It is hard on a doe to be bred at 4 or 5 months of age. And they most certainly will breed them.  You would either have to have a pen for the males, or a place to put the babies and wean at 8 weeks of age.  Unless you keep them with mom until 3 or 4 months of age and then just butcher all of them, then it wouldn't really matter. 

I don't have any problems with them kidding, but you can if you over feed while they are pregnant, especially the higher percent boers, they can really pack the pounds on their babies and end up with a  huge kids.  After all, gaining weight and carrying a lot of flesh is what they are bred for.  I have notice when feeding my boer/nubian crosses with my boer,  the onse with nubian in them could use a little more feed during pregnancy, their babies aren't as likely to get as chunky, but since I feed them all together, I figure it is better to have a couple smaller babies at first that can gain weight after being born, than have a dead doe from not being able to have a huge kid. 

We ran our buck with our does for the first two years we had goats, We didn't have any seperations in our field. It takes a pretty sturdy pen/fencing to seperat you bucks from the girls. You might want to think about trying to leave them in with the girls and pull out the babies at 8 weeks. The pen wouldn't have to be as sturdy, but would have to have no gaps or holes in it for babies to come through, and could be smaller in size.  

Keep in mind when running the buck with the girls all the time, you would have little idea when they got bred,and when they are due to kid. They would be kidding all different times of the years, since they can breed any month of the year. 

We keep our buck with the girls up until the first doe starts to kid, and then we pull them out, so we can control when the they are bred back.  We wean at 8 weeks anyway, so that isn't really a concern for us, but we need our goats kidding in the late winter,since we sell show whethers for fair projects.


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## Goatherd (Jun 7, 2011)

Here is my Nubian/Boer buck...spots, ears and all!


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## helmstead (Jun 7, 2011)

Goatherd said:
			
		

> Here is my Nubian/Boer buck...spots, ears and all!


He is so cool!


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## freemotion (Jun 7, 2011)

We can see our goats from the house unless they are in the barn or behind it, and I bred four does last winter.  I didn't plan on running the buck with the does, but they had other plans and I learned some important lessons about fencing a buck.  (We now have an 8' fence between the buck and the does!)  But because of my small numbers and the view from the house, I was able to observe who was in heat and getting bred and was able to determine all due dates....so far.  One more to go.

How much you are able to keep them together also depends on their individual temperaments and how much room you have...can the lower ones get away from the more dominant/aggressive ones?  Four is the max for my communal stall, and I ended up hanging an old door in the center of it to block the view of the lowest goat from the queen.  She was kicking the poor thing out in bad weather.  She is ok if she can see the other doe's legs, but has a fit if she sees her body/face.  Silly goats.  But the hanging door made all the difference....and they like to crawl under it to scratch their backs.   It swings so no one can get trapped against it.

Yay, I'm glad you are getting goats!


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## Roll farms (Jun 7, 2011)

I sure wish you were closer...I could totally hook you up w/ % boer / Nub kids.

RPC on here is getting that avatar buckling, sorry...but I'll make more


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## RPC (Jun 7, 2011)

I can not wait to get that little buckling of Rolls. I hope I get some spotted kids from him. 
I think your plan sounds good and Nubian/Boer kids are great because you get both the milking and the meat sides from both so its the best of both worlds. Good luck to you and I hope everything works out.


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## redtailgal (Jun 7, 2011)

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## SuburbanFarmChic (Jun 8, 2011)

Just curious about where you are.  

 We just traded some mini nubians for 2 bred boer does.  They are only about 4-6 weeks along so I won't have kids until this fall and they won't be "ready" probably until next spring. 

Also somebody is borrowing my HUGE Nubian buck this summer/fall to put some dairy in his meat herd and I'm getting a doe as payment.  Prob won't keep her either as she'll be his daughter.  But again, she's a next spring. 

I'm in WV.


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## redtailgal (Jun 8, 2011)

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## elevan (Jun 8, 2011)

redtailgal said:
			
		

> I am about 30 minutes north of Charlotte NC.
> 
> Hubby says we have to get a buckling or doeling to raise and eat it before he will let me breed any.  lol, he is such a caveman.


Please take no offense to your cooking here...but if he wants to try goat before committing to goat then he should try it properly cooked the very first time...which might take some experimentation from you if it's your first time.  I would find a local person willing to sell you some meat and give you some direction and experiment and taste before going to the raise it up phase and before you give any to him make sure it's the best thing you've ever ate.  Just a thought.


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## redtailgal (Jun 8, 2011)

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