Which breed would you reccomend? (Dairy Goats)

[aggieterpkatie]

I'd say get Togg wethers as your cart goats and Oberhasli does for your milk.

 

[kstaven]

Toggenburgs ,Sannens,or Alpines.

Toggs are VERY easy milkers. Toggs and Alps have good sized teats. Sannens not so much.

That's why Mom milks Lanie.

If you are encountering goats with small teats you can thank the dairy industry and selective breeding for that. The same thing has been going on for some time with dairy cows/heifers. I have jerseys here with smaller teats than some of the goats. They aren't breeding them with hand milking in mind.

 

[sawfish99]

We just started dairy goats for our family about 6 weeks ago. Right now we have 2 Oberhaslis, 1 Oberhasli/Toggenburg cross, and 1 Lamancha. I'm happy with all of them. 1 of the Oberhaslis is dry and we are getting about 9 gal of milk a week from the 3 in milk. The Oberhaslis are a little smaller, than the other 2, but we chose the breed because we like how they look. We decided against Saanens simply because we didn't want a plain white goat.
All 4 of our goats were 4H show goats and not being agressively milked before we got them. I think production would actually be higher if they had been dairy producers and not show goats, but 9 gal a week isn't bad. We are freezing all the excess (about 3 gal a week) for the dry period.

I can't comment on the cart/wagon because I don't have experience with it. I can say that I am happy with all the breeds we have. I don't really have a preference between them - they all have slightly different personalities. Since all of ours were show goats, they are easy to handle. Consider contacting local 4H groups. We got all of ours from people who didn't need them for showing next year and Sept/Oct was the end of the show season around here.

Don't over think it. Just get goats.