Kiko Goats

[Southern by choice]

@goatgurl I like the Savanna's also. I REALLY like the Spanish Goats!
Our Kiko's have been great no complaints especially since it is wet and marshy. Many will bring a kiko buck in to a dairy herd for the purpose of increasing parasite resistance. Boers do awful here.
We sold most of the Kikos because my farm partner cannot put in the time for them right now... but we kept the does with the best udders. Hence the experiment- HIGH butterfat and the fact they can raise kids to high wean weights. Cannot wait to make cheese!

 

[Alastrina]

Never heard of Savannas. I'll look into those as well. Do they give decent milk?

 

[Southern by choice]

Don't know.

 

[Alastrina]

Hmm. I'll Google them after the current topic. They sound like they might be interesting.

 

[Alastrina]

Sounds like they're solely a meat breed. None of the sites put any emphasis on milk. They are a hardy, self-reliant meat breed though. Maybe if a milk breed was bred to a Savanna?

 

[jodief100]

We raise kiko goats. We started with boers and Uhg....... that was a mess. Kikos tend to be more parasite resistant, hardier and lower maintenance all around- if you buy good stock. Just like any animal, you buy bad stock and you get bad animals. I have a doe that I milked after I weaned her kids and she gave 3 quarts with one milking a day. I have another that gave 2 quarts a day. They do produce a LOT of milk for a meat goat. They will be smaller, not as muscular and grow slower than boers. The people who come to our farm and butcher one themselves prefer them to the boers, not as fat. The graded auction in Richmond, not so much but I get decent prices. Depending on the time of year $1.60-$2.20/ lb. The slower growth rate allows me to take them when the prices are higher in the winter.

When you buy, ask for records, you want weaning weights and how many kids the does are weaning. Observe how they are being raised. If you have a forage based system, buy forage based goats. If they are lot raised, they will have fewer opportunity for worms and illness and might not flourish when met with a challenge.

We have around 40 breeding does on 32 acres. We rotate every 1-3 weeks, we FAMACHA check every month, unless the ground is frozen. We feed some grain, more in the winter, less in the summer. Some does are wormed 2-3 times a summer, others not at all. Neither of my bucks has ever been wormed. I invested in good quality, parasite resistant bucks and it has paid off. I have fewer worm problems every year.

Feel free to contact me offline. I will help you as much as I can.

 

[Alastrina]

Thank you for the detailed reply! There was a lot of good information there. I will probably contact you later, but you've answered all my questions for now.