Nigerian Breeding Advice - Who do I keep?

JerTheVintner

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I got my first goats 2 years ago and started out with a couple of cute little Nigerians. I got so lucky with those first two a little buckling and a little doeling that were from different farms. They were both purebred but neither had papers. At the time I didn't care because I envisioned keeping them forever and didn't care about lineage etc. They were both so sweet tempered and gentle, I found out just how great they were when I got my next 2 goats. The new ones were also purebred Nigerians without papers. The new goats were very nice but were way more skittish than my first two. It took over a year to really tame them to be easily handled. My wife then set the limit at 4 goats. Flash forward 2 years and we sold that first buckling as a wether and now after kidding this year we have 9 goats. I am now thinking I want to start breeding registered Nigerians and have decided to sell all but three of my current goats and buy a new registered buckling this season and then add a new registered doeling next season and gradually move towards all registered goats.

Here is my question. Which goats do I keep in the mean time. Since none of them will ever be able to be registered, I am thinking I should just keep the ones that I like and not really care about conformation, coloring etc, because in the long run I will be replacing everyone down the road with registered goats. Since none of these goats is registered, doesn't that mean that none of their genetics could ever be part of my registered lines???? I have two baby doelings that are beautiful. One is a tan, gray, and black buckskin with a white face who is the sweetest little thing, but she has bowed out knees. The other is all black with a white patch on her forehead who is just a stunning beauty with very good stature. I can only keep one of these two because I am definitely keeping my very first goat who is also a good milker and our herd queen and I am also keeping another doe who is a yearling but has the best udder and produces the most milk.

I think I heard somewhere that the all black is a recessive gene, so I might not see another one like her for a very long time. Who do I keep?
 

ragdollcatlady

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Well, in my experience, black is pretty common. I do get black kids from most combinations including brown and chocolate buckskin parents on a regular basis. Keep the ones you like the best.... personality, looks, whatever. They are the ones that will keep the stress and work load something you don't mind cause they make it worth all the trouble. It is easier to let go of those you aren't as fond of.

You are correct that the unregistered nigerian dwarf goats can't be registered. The dairy goat associations don't do grade or native on appearance registering for nigerians.
 

samssimonsays

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I am lucky that with my Alpine and Nubians I can register as NOA and then work up towards American registered kids. I will always keep my first goats as they are great milkers and healthy with little parasite issues and that passes to their kids. There will always be people who don't care about papers and just want a good family milker. You would be able to provide them with that out of your non papered goats at a more reasonable cost and you won't be selling a papered goat cheaper or without papers and taking a "loss". Just My thoughts on it. LOL.
 

ragdollcatlady

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I am of the mind set that I can always lower a price on a more valuable animal but you can't raise the price on a less.... Papered, with good animals in the pedigree, will open up your market. In other words, those wanting to show and keep production up might want some of your pedigreed, papered animals but you can also sell the same animals (possibly without their papers) for less to people looking for home milkers and pets if cost is what is preventing the sale. I won't consider buying unregistered nigerians because I can only have a limited number of goats, eventually I want to show, and possibly milk test (I think it would be fun!) so keeping papered, pedigreed animals, keeps the market for my kids wider. More options for me when I need to move animals. It is true that you don't feed paper but it costs me the same to feed a registered vs nonregistered animal.
 

ragdollcatlady

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:hide Of course with that said, my "budget" for purchasing said animals has been "blown" a time or 2....:hide but the joy I get out of my animals and the money they help make back from selling the kids, generally helps sooth my sore wallet.;)
 
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