Would the Alpine breed be a good one for me?

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I know NOTHING about goats. Seriously...nothing. But, clearly have caught the goat bug.

We have:

Crudy, rocky terrain.

Lots of woods, with mainly Oak and Beech trees.

No pasture.

Lots of Love.



We want:

Dairy goats that don't have to be babysat 24/7 because currently we work full time jobs off the farm.

Any of you with experience with Alpines have any thoughts on this? Any "must know" about Alpines?

We are not going to rush right out this weekend and get some. But I am in the "research" stage.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Yes a goat person!! You've turned to the right side.

I don't know alot about any dairy goat except Nigerians. I know Alpines are very pretty, large and have some neat horns.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I am relatively new to the dairy goat world myself. I woudl say that you can go with any Dairy goat. Here is the advice that I was given and have followed:

1) How much milk do you want per day?
2) What do you plan to do with it, do you want higher fat content or just volume of milk?
3) What do you want to look at? I know it sounds crazy, but you have to look at them ever day.
4) If you are going to milk, how big are your hands (Can you milk a Nigerian Dwarf's Udder)?


I love Nubians, I love their floppy ears, so that is what I went with. Also, several breeders told me that Nubian milk was the closest thing to Cows Milk. But I did just buy a LaMancha, becasue I like the opposite of long floppy ears, which is no ears at all.

My two ceents.

 

[woodsie]

Not sure I am tons of help but I have two Alpine/Boer cross does. They have been great, somewhat vocal (they cry at me when they hear me open the door of the house) but not overly annoying. They are fairly meaty but I think that is more the boer as the purebred Alpines appear to be much more lanky. I guess it depends on what you are planning on doing with the babies...might consider crossing with a kiko or boer so you can sell the boys for meat.

I have lots of pasture which they do well on, but they LOVE my rose bushes and apple tree prunings...they haven't been great at eating my weeds. I am assuming you would be brining in hay? They will eat the bark off some of the trees (especially young tender shoots) they haven't touched any mature trees...but unless you want to kill the trees I'm not sure they could live off tree bark and leaves alone unless you have a really large area. Maybe someone else can be more help on this one? I'm just guessing. Plus the milk may take on some funky flavours if they are eating a lot of woody stuff...I think most dairy breeds are fed grass/hay/alfafa, grain and limited forage as what they eat can flavour the milk.

Mine are pregnant but I haven't milked yet to comment on their milk...but Alpine is supposed to be the most quantity but least in butterfat content...good for milk but not so great for cheese as it takes more milk to make same quantity of cheese etc. From what I have read there are mixed reviews on flavour of Alpine milk...Nubian seems to be sweetest (our Nubians milk was sooo tasty with no goaty flavour) and a lot of people say Alpine milk is not the greatest for taste...but everyone seems to have differing opinions....it may depend on lots of factors including the doe, her diet, how fast you chill the milk etc. But very few complaints on Nubian's taste for milk...can't say the say for Alpine (I read someones comment that it was only good for soap...I sure hope not) I can't wait to find out however, I like strong goaty feta anyhow!

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Thanks all. Those are some great starting questions for me.

Hmmmm....the farmer is not a fan of feta. (say that 5 times fast!) But cheese making is a big thing to consider. With that being said, I should probably look into a breed that has more butterfat content. We would like the milk for milk, cheese and soap. I had actually heard about the perception of the Alpine taste, but had forgot about it. I haven't really thought about what quantity I would want.

Yes, we would definitely have grain, hay, minerals accessable. I just meant that they will have woodland area to roam.

In regards to hand size, we are average sized people. So I am guessing I could milk a Nigerian Dwarf.

As far as Nubians go: They look super cute, but we have been told around our area that the big ears sometimes will actually freeze as they are more desert animals as oppossed to the frozen tundra of Maine. Don't know if that is all true or not, just sayin.

 

[StoneWallFarmer]

Welcome to the dark side! GAS is surely in your future.

I have Alpines and Nigerians. I haven't been doing this very long but to date, I much prefer Nigerians. *My* Alpines are not as laid back as my NDs. Granted that could be due to the way they were raised, I got them both at about 6mo of age. The NDs are less picky about their food and seem to thrive better on browse and hay. We are just getting into milking so I can't really compare there quite yet. I will say that my Alpines teats look rather inviting compared to my FF Nigerian I'm milking now... And the alpine isn't even bred! Lol

Another plus for NDs are all the possible color combinations. I can't help it, I like spots! And blondes!

Do your research like you said, maybe try to visit a few farms with the different breeds.

Good luck! And have fun!

 

[Southern by choice]

The rocky terrain is great for their hooves and goats in general prefer browse... so trees and vines they love! BUT as another poster said it can effect the taste of the milk.

I have ND's and a Lamancha. I will cross my Lamancha with a ND for mini manchas and the following kidding I will cross with a Kiko buck.
There is a breeder about an hour from me that has Alpines, loves them but has been crossing them with a Kiko buck for better parasite resistance and the Kikos are good milkers so it just adds to a good dairy situation.

Hope something helped.

 

[OneFineAcre]

I think it all boils down to what you prefer.
Alpines are a great breed. We have some friends from the "show" world who raise Alpines.

If it is a hobby and you are just going to have a couple, go with what ever suits you.

I would say that most people go with whichever they find to have the most pleasing appearance, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

Some produce more volume of milk, some higher butter fat.

Not having pasture is fine for any breed, they do prefer browse. Ours are essentially "dry lot" at this point, since we have no pasure and no browse at this point. Our goats main source of roughage is hay. Which personally, I think has a positive impact on the taste of the milk, and it definitely reduces the instance of a parasite (worm) issue.

We raise Nigerian Dwarfs. Our reason was simple, they are smaller, we have less room and a 9 year old daughter. And they work well for us.

ND's have the highest butterfat content and I can tell you for a fact their milk is great for making cheese. My wife mostly makes a soft "chevre" (I think that's how you spell it) which is like a cream cheese. We spice it with dill and garlic salt, or celery seed and pepper, Old Bay Seasoning etc. ( I call the variety with Old Bay "Chesapeake Bay Chevre")

She also makes a cheddar variety. She hasn't gotten to exotic yet. Mostly stick with the chevre because it's easy, and very good. We have several clients for our "bootleg" cheese

The milk is all we drink.

They're teats are definitely smaller, which makes them more challenging to milk by hand. We have a small hand milker we use.

The main thing is just go out and get you some goats

Any kind, they're all cool