# Does your herd have to be all the same breed?



## Mini-M Ranch (Jul 25, 2009)

I posted on another board (about attachment parenting. I don't know for sure why we were talking about farm animals  ) that we might be getting nigis and a mini-nubian and people seemed appauled that I would try to keep the two breeds together.  

I mean, I get that they will be different sizes, but as I don't plan on having any bucks...does it really matter?  I'm lost.  

I LOVE nigis.  My DH loves Nubians.  For him to agree to help me put up the goat fence, I agreed to get a Nubian.

I guess I didn't know goats practice race discrimination?


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## ksalvagno (Jul 25, 2009)

I know someone who has Nigerian Dwarfs, Nubians (both mini & regular) and LaManche. They do breed them. I don't see why you would have to have all the same type of goat whether you breed or not. The important thing is you being happy with what you have. I guess the only other thing I could think of is the dynamics of the herd and if they get along but that would really be personalities of the individual goats that you have and not necessarily breeds.


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## freemotion (Jul 25, 2009)

Actually, many animals will show color preference and stick to one color or group and pick on another color.  Sheesh! 

But certainly not always.


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## username taken (Jul 25, 2009)

Okay, so my herd contains:

Angoras
Boer 
Boer cross
Three different dairy breeds
plus two different sheep breeds

So .... no .... your herd does not have to be the same breed! lol


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## Mini-M Ranch (Jul 25, 2009)

Well, I didn't think it would matter, but they seemed pretty positive that I was doing it all wrong.


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## Roll farms (Jul 26, 2009)

Some of our 200-250# whopper does would whip the tar out of a 75-100# doe of smaller stature, would be my only concern.  Of course, I've seen 50# doelings take on 150#'ers and win so...you never know.
We have 5 different breeds but none are "minis".


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## haviris (Jul 26, 2009)

I have 11 nigis (no horns), 2 boers (both horned), 2 nubians (one horned and one not), and a LaMancha (no horns).

They all live peacefully together, w/ goats you will have to occational bully, but over all you should be fine!


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## Chirpy (Jul 26, 2009)

I have Nigis, Alpines and Nubians together and they do just fine.  I think it has more to do with personalities of the individual goats also.  (none of mine have horns)


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## nightshade (Jul 26, 2009)

I have nubians, a pygmy and a pygmy nigi x currently  a herd of 12 in all. (with hopes of again Lamanachas in the future.) They all live together and with a mini horse that is like a big goat to them, no problems.  I also have a mix horned and non horned goats. Personally I would like to see mixed herds then ones that all look the same.


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## Chaty (Jul 27, 2009)

I have nigerians, Nubiand, La Manchas and Alpines and they seem to all get along. There will be battles for Queen but other than that they should get along ok as mine butt sometimes but who gets along all the time? I love my herd of goats and its to the 40ish number and other than the bucks in a differnt pen its pretty colorful out in the pasture when they go to graze or browse. I just dont do horms...thats where you can get into trouble sometimes.


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## cmjust0 (Jul 27, 2009)

We keep boers, nubians, and boer/nubi crosses..  

Seems to me that it's more important to keep the bucks seperate from the does so you know who's breeding whom and when, and further to make sure nobody's getting bullied to the point of exclusion (kept from the hay, grain, water, shelter, etc).  That goes for any herd, though -- mixed or homogenous.

I mean...they fight...that's just the nature of a goat..  They can be downright brutal with one another, in fact, but I wouldn't suspect to see a "breed war" or anything.

And, as for the horns/no-horns thing...we've currently got two bucklings together in that situation.  The nubian is disbudded, and the boer-cross has a really nice set of horns coming along.  He's also quite a bit 'beefier' than the nubian and could easily boss him around.

The only consequence thus far is that the nubian really seems to enjoy scratching the top of his head on the boer-cross's horns.  Otherwise, they pretty much take turns laying across one another when they get sleepy, and you never see one eating or drinking or just walking around without the other..


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## Buster (Jul 31, 2009)

Mini-M Ranch said:
			
		

> people seemed appauled that I would try to keep the two breeds together.


Did they say why?


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