# Dairy goats, Which breed should I get?



## DixieLandFarm (May 4, 2011)

Ok so I need a little bit of help. I'd like to get a couple dairy goats to add to my farm. I used to have an Alpine buck and loved him to pieces, but unfortunatly had to get rid of him close to a year ago. 

I would like to get a breed that will go with my needs and I am a little stumped on which to get. I want;
- A nice docile breed if possible. 
- Not to picky about quantity of milk, I prefer quality better. 
- I'll be using the milk for possibly drinking(I'm not the hugest fan of milk though, well cow milk), cheese and soap. 
- I'd rather not have to get another buck for breeding as we have family friends with a dairy goat farm that I can take my does to be bred with. But all there goats are either Nubians, Alpines, La Manchas and Saanens(sp?). So I take it breeding with a pygmy is out, what about Nigis? Or another medium breed?.
- Something cute  lol. 

Any ideas? 

Thanks in advance.


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## elevan (May 4, 2011)

you don't want to breed any of those bucks to a nigi either.


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## DixieLandFarm (May 4, 2011)

Thats what I was afraid of. Thanks!


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## elevan (May 4, 2011)

You want your buck to be the same size or smaller than your doe generally.  For the safety of your doe at kidding.


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## elevan (May 4, 2011)

LaManchas are supposed to be a really sweet breed.  I've looked into them myself...but I'd personally prefer a mini-mancha.


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## Ariel301 (May 5, 2011)

I would go with LaManchas, that's what I keep. My girls (and my buck) are super lovey and sweet, they love attention and are eager to please you. They're like big Golden Retriever dogs. They're quiet too, unlike most Nubians. My girls all average a gallon of milk a day each and when they last did a milk test, they were producing 6% butterfat, so the milk is nice and sweet. 

I've also got an Alpine doeling, and she has loads of personality. Her name is Hot Sauce, and it fits. She sticks out her tongue and spits at me when she sees me coming with her bottle.  She and a buck I got rid of are the only two Alpines I have had, and both have been way more stubborn than my Manchas.


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## DixieLandFarm (May 5, 2011)

Ooo I like the sounds of the La Manchas, especially after seeing the buck sitting on someones lap in another threadh . But I don't know if I can get over the lack of ears, there just seems to be sometrhing missing when I look at them. There's a great possiblity I will get over that. 

If a La Mancha was breed with a Boer, would the offspring be a sub par dairy goat?


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## Ariel301 (May 5, 2011)

You would be able to milk a Mancha-Boer mix, but crossing Boer with dairy goats tends to get poorly built udders and lower the milk output. Lots of people around here have that cross, and not having had pure dairy goats, consider their goats to be "great milkers" at 1-2 quarts per day. So yes, you could milk it, and if you are ok with half a gallon a day or less from it, go for it. The cross would give you elf-eared kids. You want to be sure you cross to a two-teated Boer buck if you're planning on milking them though, extra teats make milking more difficult. 

I didn't like the LaMancha ears at first either. I thought they looked like some kind of weird alien. But I got over it fast when I got to know how super sweet my first does were. Now I think their ears are the best and goats with ears look goofy to me.


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## chandasue (May 5, 2011)

Lamanchas x3   You forget all about those ears in no time.

A lot of people around here breed standard dairy goats to boer to get kids that are better butcher weight if you are interested in raising your own meat.


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## foxywench (Jun 9, 2011)

LOL, i felt the same way about lamanchas untill i started doing mroe reserch and have fallen in love with them...
now i plan to have at least 1/2 my small future dairy herd as lamanchas (planning lamancha and nubians )


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## DKRabbitry (Jun 10, 2011)

YAYAYAYAY Lamanchas!  That is my vote.  I have a couple milkers right now, one is mostly Alpine, the other pure Lamancha.  The Alpine is a nice milker, okay personality-wise, but my lamancha is the SWEETEST personality with the milk to match.  She is still milking from last summer when she was a first freshener.  I got her with her kid early this spring and dried her up most of the way because she MAY have been bred again.  Well she wasn't and I really wanted a goat in milk so I just started milking her again hoping she would come back in, and boy did she   I am getting a good 10 cups of milk from her a day now.  AND even though I have standard sized lamanchas, they are not huge or hard to handle at all and come in all sorts of fun colors


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