Kikos - Talk to me about them

[SuburbanFarmChic]

We are looking at running a low maintenance meat herd on about 6 acres of pasture. I would love to hear from people that have had Kiko goats the pros/cons of this breed. Are they what they are hyped to be? Are there, like there can be in any breed, a few great ones that are setting the standards and the rest are eh. We will be shelling out money for good foundation stock and are also interested in breeders.


Our replacement barn is being started soon and should be done by the end of Sept. Then we're running a water line, then dropping in the fencing. Then goats. So we might not be looking at purchasing until Spring but want to start making the contacts and putting out feelers now. About a 4hr driving distance from Shepherdstown, WV is the goal for breeders so think PA, MD, VA, WV, maybe DE. I am going to make the usual craigslist and website round but would love to keep the business "in the family".




How are your kiko goats selling? Are boer bringing better money for straight up meat? Are crosses better? I'm reading all the "this breed of goat rocks" websites but I'd love to hear from people that actually have them.

 

[DonnaBelle]

For those interested in Kiko's:

Three years ago we went to "goat boot camp" put on by Oklahoma State University and Langston University in Ada, Oklahoma. It was three days of intense goat information.

The lead professor was Dr. Dave Sparks, who breeds Kikos. He has a farm about 20 miles from us and we have been over to see his operation. He is very big on Kikos and shows and sells them.

If I were interested in learning about Kiko's I'd get in touch with him.

Go to www.stookeygoatfarm.com to see an interesting story about raising goats in Oklahoma, plus they have great photos.

DonnaBelle

 

[jodief100]

I have them and I love them. The ones I have are more hardy and more parasite resistant than my boers. They also do much better on my foarge based program. There is variance, just like with the boers. I get a little less per pound for them at auction but I do not have to put as much feed in them so I come out ahead.

The kids with kiko dams and boer sires are the best. Small at birth, fast growing and very hardy.

 

[Roll farms]

I don't believe Dave "shows" kikos...he participates in performance tests. I've never heard of a Kiko show...production sales yes, shows, not so much.

Kikos 'ain't' show goats...they are purpose animals...and they will strengthen your genetics if you have boers.

I really, really like Kiko x (boer, Nubian, etc.) better than pure Kiko. Hybrid vigor rocks. I think if you get GOOD proven stock, you'll be pleased. I predict that in another 15 yrs the gene pool of the Kikos will be just as polluted as the boers...I hope not, but us humans LOVE to muck up a good thing.

We had a son of Loverboy....he made awesome kids...but was meaner than any 10 bucks I've had.
We have a Keeper grandaughter...she's not huge, but she hasn't been dewormed in 3 yrs (we can't catch her usually) and her hooves only get done 1x a year. The biggest 2 kids I have right now are a Boer x Nubian kid of mine and a Kiko x boer from Jodie.

As far as I can tell, I was one of the 1st people in IN w/ Kikos. I don't have a big meat market, and most folks wanted the redheads for show....so I sold the mean buck and just started breeding for better udders, parasite resistance, and hardier stock w/ our boers, kept a few Kiko / kiko x and still 'play' w/ making 'SUPER GOATS' every year.

If / after you contact Dave....Contact Troy Loehman in IL...he was one of the original Kiko people and knows more about Kikos than a lot of folks.

 

[DonnaBelle]

Yep, Rolls is right, production shows. I knew Dr. Sparks had been to some kind of show in Tennessee, he showed us the advertisment at the goat camp.

He does raise a lot of them on his 80 acres! His wife is active in the raising of them, and does a lot of the paperwork, or should I say computer work.

I am so lucky to be in Oklahoma, as far as having OSU, etc. close by.

Not so lucky with Oklahoma weather this year. In February we had a record snow fall, now it's record heat. LOL.....

DonnaBelle

 

[20kidsonhill]

We looked into boer and kiko. We decided only having 6 acres wasn't enough room for kikos, since they have a tendency to be on the wildier side and harder to fence in. Plus we have children and we wanted an animal that was easier to handle. We have mostly boer/nubian crosses, a couple full-bloods that we added a couple years ago. The full-blood babies always sell the fastest. Followed by the dark headed crosses, unless a light headed cross just has an amazing frame on it. We added more new full-blood does this year and expect babies on the ground in the spring. Looking forward to seeing how well they sell.

Our children show in 4H and I have never seen a goat appear to be a boer kiko cross at the show or heard anyone mention having one. I guess it is possible, but normally you can tell by their horns, since we don't need to dehorn.

Having kiko would limit your sale as far as show whethers go.

Families with children don't want to deal with them.

Your market would be more limited, you would have a market for replacement stock to other farms wanting to raise kiko and the meat market.

personally I htink they are harder to sell in this area anyway. But I don't have first hand experience. I saw a couple really nice boer kiko crosses for sale on craigslist this summer, she wasn't asking a whole lot for them. and they had black heads, and it still took her a while to sell them. If I had put up for sale black headed percentage boer does, I know they would have sold right away and for more money than she was asking.

But as far as I know there may be a big market for them in the mountains, and meat prices are cetainly doing well. your best time to kid out would be fall so you can get the kids to market before easter and it seems to always be easier to sell breeding stock in the spring. People starting new ventures, atleast in my experience. Kids also always grow better over the winter than during the summer.

Good luck on your decisions.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Thanks guys! This is exactly the kind of information I need. We will be selling directly to a restaurant and direct meat sales to individuals so I hopefully won't have to deal with the 4H preferences for boers. Also kicking around the potential of a boer/nubian/kiko cross and hard culling that which does not cut the mustard for maintenance stuff.

 

[Roll farms]

If you don't, start reading "Goat Rancher" magazine. IMHO, it's the best goat information out there...lots of good info on Kikos, and general goat info.

 

[TheMixedBag]

For those interested in Kiko's:

Three years ago we went to "goat boot camp" put on by Oklahoma State University and Langston University in Ada, Oklahoma. It was three days of intense goat information.

The lead professor was Dr. Dave Sparks, who breeds Kikos. He has a farm about 20 miles from us and we have been over to see his operation. He is very big on Kikos and shows and sells them.

If I were interested in learning about Kiko's I'd get in touch with him.

Go to www.stookeygoatfarm.com to see an interesting story about raising goats in Oklahoma, plus they have great photos.

DonnaBelle

Just a note-I do know these people apparently (I work with their stepson, which is something I didn't know 'til yesterday) and thanks to this thread-I'm picking up my first kiko doeling in 2 months! (I know, total thread hijack, but still).

BUT-(and I haven't had the chance to ask her yet)flicking through this thread more, it seems kikos tend to run on the wild side. Just how wild can I expect my doeling to be if she's dam-raised? Once she gets home I'd be treating her the same as my dairy goats (constant attention and handling), but is it possible she'd always be fairly wild?

 

[Roll farms]

All I can tell you is that all of mine (7 over the course of 6 yrs) have been harder to tame down than any other goats I own. I literally cannot catch Nissan. Can't. Takes 4 people to corner that heifer.