# Mini goat



## Sheepdog (Jan 23, 2012)

Okay, so this is going to be a pretty silly question... I know nothing about goats...                 only ever have had one goat, he was just a white whether that was my lawn mower, played with the dogs and thought he was a dog. Mr Goat, was just a pet and I made a harness and cart for him and I would lead him around and collect firewood in the cart. He was a pretty awesome goat when he wasn't eating my garden, or standing on the hood of my car!!!!! 

Not really thinking about getting into goats, but you just never know, there is a slight possibililty. 

I  just love the look of the boer goats, maybe because I have dorper sheep... the similarity with the coloured heads..... and I love the floppy ears, which is why I love the look of the nubians. Just for pets, not for milking or meat, I was wondering if there was a miniature Nubian or even better a miniature Boer (which I know would defeat the purpose... especially for meat goats, why would you have a miniature meat goat, that woulnd't make any sense....) but from a pet owners point of view... a cute floppy eared thick set, miniature goat... do they exist, is there anyone even breeding them or trying to breed them. Just curious. 

Also maybe a pygmy/nubian/boer mix... I guess I am looking for something that doesn't really exist, but a long eared mini goat that was thick but not a barrel on legs like the pygmys... how easy is it to breed down size and get small? How strong are the genes for the floppy ears, when cross breeding Nubians or Boers, how many of the progeny retain the floppy ears? Very curious.


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## KellyHM (Jan 23, 2012)

http://miniaturedairygoats.com/


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## Sheepdog (Jan 23, 2012)

Wow Kelly, wish I lived closer Would love to see how they turn out... make sure you take lots of pics, I would love to see the babies.... maybe you could start a new breed... I have read somewhere that there are Mini Nubians.... which I think would be just gorgeous... but I would be really interested in a mini boer with the longer ears of the Nubi.... that would be very cool


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## marlowmanor (Jan 23, 2012)

http://www.mininubians.com/memberlist.html#Oklahoma

Here is the breeder list for mini nubians through the Mini Nubian Registery. There are not any listed for Oklahoma, but there are some in neighboring states. 

I bet you could make some mini boers! I would think crossing with a pygmy buck on a boer doe would produce the best kid for meat. If you wanted more dairy lines I would cross a boer doe with a nigerian buck. Just my guess though. I did find one woman in Utah when I searched for mini boers on google that claimed to have mini boers. This was on another forum though and she never provided pictures. I looked up her farm and she has boers but they look like normal sized boers.


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## Sheepdog (Jan 23, 2012)

marlowmanor said:
			
		

> http://www.mininubians.com/memberlist.html#Oklahoma
> 
> Here is the breeder list for mini nubians through the Mini Nubian Registery. There are not any listed for Oklahoma, but there are some in neighboring states.
> 
> I bet you could make some mini boers! I would think crossing with a pygmy buck on a boer doe would produce the best kid for meat. If you wanted more dairy lines I would cross a boer doe with a nigerian buck. Just my guess though. I did find one woman in Utah when I searched for mini boers on google that claimed to have mini boers. This was on another forum though and she never provided pictures. I looked up her farm and she has boers but they look like normal sized boers.


Thanks for that, could be interesting to look into...  I am not interested in the actually meat side of things, just more for pets... sounds bizarre I know... I like the pymys but I would really like a mini goat that was more in proportion... not a short legged little barrel on legs... and if I could get the size down, with the floppy ears of the Nubian or the Boer, that would be (in my eyes) a cute little goat for a pet goat.... if I was looking at meat production like with the Dorper sheep, then it would make sense to go with straight Boer, but for a bit of fun and something different, it would be fun to experiment with mini boers!! 

Will look up the mini Nubians, though, thanks again... maybe we could go with mini nubian x with boer and try and keep the size down..... I know if I get my teeth into this, my fiance is going to roll his eyes and shake his head   and think I have gone completely crazy LOL...


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## Mamaboid (Jan 23, 2012)

You might try using a Fainter or Mini Fainter Buck.  My Fainter buck at a year old stands knee high.  They are solid goats and come in all colors, sizes, and hair lengths.  They are wonderful pet quality goats, because of the Myotonia they don't jump fences and are calmer overall than a lot of other breeds.

http://www.myotonicgoatregistry.net/

http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/myotonicgoats.html


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## Sheepdog (Jan 23, 2012)

Mamaboid said:
			
		

> You might try using a Fainter or Mini Fainter Buck.  My Fainter buck at a year old stands knee high.  They are solid goats and come in all colors, sizes, and hair lengths.  They are wonderful pet quality goats, because of the Myotonia they don't jump fences and are calmer overall than a lot of other breeds.
> 
> http://www.myotonicgoatregistry.net/
> 
> http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/myotonicgoats.html


I thought of them,  but I know nothing about them and no offence, but I think it would worry me when they faint... like I said, I am totally clueless about all goats and even moreso about the mytonic goats... can you get those that don't faint??? What are the chances of getting one that doesn't faint when crossing with another breed? I also wanted the floppy ears... I guess I need to research a bit more... that could be dangerous though, coz I may get addicted


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## Mamaboid (Jan 23, 2012)

They don't actually faint.  They more like freeze up for a few seconds.  In some of them this causes them to fall over if they are off balance.  There are different levels of myotonia from 1-6 with 1 being very rarely faints, to 6 which is what my one buck is and he falls over if you look at him cross-eyed.  You wouldn't have to worry about the babies fainting tho, because they don't faint unless they are pure fainter, so none of your babies would faint.  They all have airplane ears, and when mixed with Nubian, would probably produce slightly smaller floppy ears, or larger airplane ears.  

This is my youngest buck Dude he is about a 4 or 5 on the fainting scale






This is my 3 yr old buck Eli he is about an 8 on a scale to 6 





This is my 3 yr old doe Elsie.  She is only about a 2, she doesn't fall over, she just stiffens in her back legs  and doesn't do that very easily.


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## CrazyCatNChickenLady (Jan 23, 2012)

From what I've read the Nigerian dwarfs are more proportionate. I'm not a fan of the pygmies because of the rolly poly look but I have 2 ND's! They're small but still really cute. I also have a nubian/boar bottle baby and I do love his ears.


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## Queen Mum (Jan 25, 2012)

Sheepdog said:
			
		

> Okay, so this is going to be a pretty silly question... I know nothing about goats...                 only ever have had one goat, he was just a white whether that was my lawn mower, played with the dogs and thought he was a dog. Mr Goat, was just a pet and I made a harness and cart for him and I would lead him around and collect firewood in the cart. He was a pretty awesome goat when he wasn't eating my garden, or standing on the hood of my car!!!!!
> 
> Not really thinking about getting into goats, but you just never know, there is a slight possibililty.
> 
> ...


OK, here's what I can do for you, since I live in Oklahoma.  I have a miniture La Mancha buck,  Houdini.  We have Nubian dairy goats.   And I live very close to a Boer goat farm.  I can "borrow" a boer doe that is slated as a "toss away" and breed her to Houdini.  And it will probably produce miniature floppy eared Boer babies.  

The reason I know this is because the farm I just left in Texas had about 10 miniature Boer/La Mancha goats that were NOT MUCH bigger than Houdini. Snowflake is about 18 inches at the shoulder.  She is part Boer and part Mini La Mancha.  Here is a picture of Snowflake.  You can tell how tall she is by looking at the fence behind her.  Each one of those squares is 4 inches high.


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## marlowmanor (Jan 25, 2012)

Queen Mum said:
			
		

> Sheepdog said:
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I would so take Sara up on this offer if we lived closer. If for no other reason than to have Houdini babies!  If you have not read about Houdini's adventures yet you need to go read Queen Mum's journal!
ETA: Here is the link to the journal that has Houdini's adventures. http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=14521 
I believe there are tons of people on the forum who would love the opportunity to own a Houdini baby!


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## Mamaboid (Jan 25, 2012)

I'll take 2 Houdini babies to go, please!!


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## Queen Mum (Jan 25, 2012)

Jelly Bean is only having two babies at the maximum, I think.  I'm not sure who the daddy is for Mama's and Brownie's babies yet.  But Brownie's babies if they ARE Houdini's could conceivably have floppy ears.  Let's see Brownie is 1/4 Nubian, 1/4 Alpine and 1/2 Oberhauslie.  So her babies would be 1/2 Mini La Mancha, 1/8 Nubian, 1/8 Alpine  and 1/4 Oberhauslie making them the ever famous and rare LaMobmanu Houdini Goats   (pronounced Lah Mob Maw New  Hoo Dee Knee).  This is better known as the Heinza breed in laymen's terms.


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## Sheepdog (Jan 26, 2012)

Mamaboid said:
			
		

> They don't actually faint.  They more like freeze up for a few seconds.  In some of them this causes them to fall over if they are off balance.  There are different levels of myotonia from 1-6 with 1 being very rarely faints, to 6 which is what my one buck is and he falls over if you look at him cross-eyed.  You wouldn't have to worry about the babies fainting tho, because they don't faint unless they are pure fainter, so none of your babies would faint.  They all have airplane ears, and when mixed with Nubian, would probably produce slightly smaller floppy ears, or larger airplane ears.
> 
> This is my youngest buck Dude he is about a 4 or 5 on the fainting scale
> http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4738_goats_again_046.jpg
> ...


Mamaboid, I love Dude, he is awesome!!!!!


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## Sheepdog (Jan 26, 2012)

Queen Mum said:
			
		

> Sheepdog said:
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yes thats the mini goat I am looking for LOL Like snowflake, she is the goat I have a vision of in my mind, small, floppy ears and in proportian.. I a solid little goat but I was wanting one in proportion.... I am now off to read about Houdinis adventures....


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## Mamaboid (Jan 26, 2012)

Mamaboid, I love Dude, he is awesome!!!!!

We think so.  He is my little Mama's baby.  Wherever I go, he comes and stands right by me.  We are hoping to have little 1/2 Dudes to 2 does in May.  One of the does is full Nubian, and the other has a little of everything in her.  Cannot wait for little dudes or dudettes.


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