# saanen boer crosses



## wmroth (Mar 13, 2011)

We are trying to start a dairy and a meat goat herd in Zambia.  Goats in Zambia are small and give little milk and less meat.  Good goats are very difficult to find.  After much searching and with the help of the Lord we were able to get 8 saanen does, 2 saanen buck and 2 boer bucks.   We can not find boer does in Zambia; we can get them in South Africa but they are cost prohibitive. 

We are thinking about crossing the saanens and the boer.  Do you have any suggestions?  Thanks


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## ksalvagno (Mar 13, 2011)

I would think that cross should work out ok. Good luck!


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## mogolady (Mar 13, 2011)

We have crossed the two and come out nice. 

My only concern for your situation is that you would be putting a Boer buck (large framed) on a Saanen doe (small framed), if I understand correctly. If we cross, we usually put the buck of smaller breed (Saanen) on the larger framed doe (Boer). Otherwise, you run the risk of a small Saanen doe carrying a large kid that they cannot deliver, especially that big boer head. Hope that makes sense.

I know this first hand because we had a Saanen doe "ooops" bred by a Boer buck and I didn't think we would ever get those kids out. I made sure that never happened again. Best of luck!


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## chandasue (Mar 13, 2011)

If you want to play it safe, I think I'd want to see all the does bred to the saanen bucks the first year to watch for any that have trouble kidding. After that you'll know if there's a few that had trouble with a normal breeding not to breed those does to the boers. If a couple of the does are larger you could go a head and chance it with the boer bucks. Are the does young or have they kidded before?


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## Ariel301 (Mar 13, 2011)

It should be a good cross. I know people who are crossing Boer bucks over dairy does to produce meat kids and it works out well. The does can produce more milk than a meat type doe, so they can feed the kids extra well--i.e. lots of growth before weaning. And once the kids are weaned, the does can be milked, also providing dairy products for the household, so they become a multi-purpose herd. The crossbred kids have more vigor and often grow faster than purebred kids, and I've been told that dairy/Boer cross meat kids have the best meat to bone ratio of all goat types, even better than purebred Boer. 

I wouldn't worry about crossing the big buck with Saanens. They're not all that dainty, all the ones I have seen are pretty hefty girls. As long as they are not poorly conformed (narrow hips, lack of body depth) they should not have issues.


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## wmroth (Mar 14, 2011)

Thank you all for your remarks.  You were very helpful.


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