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Nigerian Dwarf Goats
Today is May 31, 2009 and my herd has grown to 50 adult goats. I am milking 14 every morning. There is finally plenty of milk for my kefir grains. Plus I have extra for cheese making and drinking sweet. I didn't get to drink too much sweet milk in 2008. It all went into kefir making. This is a real blessing having lots of milk this year. That sweet goat above is a doeling I'm keeping out of Lolita, a purebred Nigerian Dwarf senior doe. Lolita stands about 18 inches tall and gives a hefty 3 pounds of high butterfat milk per day. I have high hopes for this daughter because her sire, Mickey, comes from heavy milking lines from easy milking teats. Sometimes the smaller the goat, the smaller the teats, which isn't so convenient for big hands. Lolita is my easiest milker of all my little goats. I want to keep that trend going.
I freshened 22 does so far this year and have 30 kids left bouncing around here as of June 1, 2009. Some are for sale. I have some bucks that qualify for herd sire, the rest of the bucks will be wethered and will make fine pets. They are all little goats. Polka Dot had three teeny tiny half mini-Nubian bucks. Two are sold and one already went to his forever home. The one closest to Polka Dot, at her head is still for sale. He is the mid-sze kid but still way smaller than anything ever born here before. The one on the left is still so small even at 3 weeks that he isn't up to birth size in a normal little goat. I realized that when he was standing next to a brand new kid, who was twice his size. This little guy was sold the day after he was born.2008 Kids
We've had a great kidding season so far. It was a cold March and it seems everyone wanted to be born at 4:00 in the morning. I was ready for them being present at each birth to help deliver if necessary and dry them off. I also made several goat sweaters on my new Bond Knitting machine so that kept the kids warm on all those 10 degree mornings. Here is a picture of what we have for sale. These two boys will steal your heart. I took this picture April 21, 2008 when these little guys were just 8 days old. They are first generation mini-Nubians out of a purebred Nigerian Dwarf and a third generation mini-Nubian buck. They are $100 as bucks; $50 as wethers. They are ready to go any time. **Both bucks sold. Thank you Gina.
Reese had quads this March 21, 2008 at four in the morning on the coldest day of the year. I saved all four. I bred her to my mini-LaMancha buck. The only kid with LaMancha ears is the doe. What are the odds? The three bucks are for sale. They have been disbudded and will be banded very soon. Asking $50 each or make an offer. Here they are snug as a bug in their Poly Dome sporting blud and red goat coats. The wethers are sold. Thank you Crystal.Nigerian Dwarf Goats
I have three new additions to my herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats. Holly
had triplets, October 11, 2005, two does and a buck. Thank you,
Charlotte, for buying Jeff. This is Tiny Dancer, Holly's littlest kid weighing in at 1# 11 oz. Holly is a Nubian/Nigerian Dwarf cross, also known as a mini-Nubian. She is a little taller than a Nigerian Dwarf, but about half the height of a standard size goat. Both Nubians and Nigerian Dwarfs are known for breeding out of season. Holly is no exception as she herself was born in December. My plan is to breed Holly and her kids every May for an October kidding. All the other goats will be bred in November for a normal April kidding. The idea is to have good goat milk year round.
I anticipate having milking does for sale in 2007. In contrast to everyone else selling Nigerian Dwarf goats as kids, and before they are born at that, I have a different plan. I am going to retain every doeling born, raise them, breed them, milk them, and then sell any extras. That way anyone purchasing from me will know exactly what she is getting. I have never felt comfortable selling (or buying) a doeling simply because you don't know how she will milk. Even though pedigrees and performance of the doe's sire and dam can tell you a lot, the proof of her value is when she is in milk.
I admit I bought three kids in the spring of 2005, not only before they were born, but before they were conceived. I wanted a milking doe but that wasn't going to happen, not with this popular breed. I feel lucky that I found some that weren't already sold. Believe me I studied their pedigrees carefully but I also went on the integrity of the seller. The lady who sold them to me gave me Holly for a bonus and bred her for me before I took her home. So not only do I have two does to add to my herd, I have winter milk. Thank you, Leslie, for getting me started in these fine miniature dairy goats. BTW, they have completely weed-eated the edge of the pond. This scored many points with my husband because it used to be a never ending job to keep the pond looking neat. Now the goats do it.
Cheese Experiment
I bought a purebred Saanen Dairy Goat several weeks ago. I made butter one time and got one ounce out of 96 ounces of kefir. I consider that nearly skimmed milk. I get 8 ounces of butter out of 96 ounces of Holly's kefir. Next I wanted to test the solids of each breed so I made some soft cheese. I used all the milk from one milking from both goats. Holly gives a quart, Monique gives two quarts.I got 15.5 ounces of soft cheese from 64 ounces of Saanen milk. Monique.
I got 13.5 ounces of soft cheese from 32 ounces of Nigerian Dwarf/Nubian - Holly. This is the one with 7.7 % butterfat.
Kefir is typically runny from Monique's milk. Holly's milk makes kefir just as thick as Jersey or Guernsey milk. I love it.
Two of my Nigerian look like they are going to pop any day now. Today is June 23, 2006. This will be great to have more of this concentrated milk.
One of the selling points for me about Nigerians was that their milk was on the order of sheep milk for richness. I am not disappointed.
Lest anyone think I don't like Monique because her milk is not rich, this is not true. She has a mild disposition, not hyper like Holly, who tests whether her feet are locked down every time I milk her. Monique doesn't need her feet strapped down. Most goats don't. When Monique first came home her milk was so-so. It wasn't goaty but it surely wouldn't have won any prizes. I put her on min/max minerals for goats. These are minerals especially formulated to provide adequate amounts of copper and cobalt, that goats have such high requirements for. These are the minerals responsible to make milk taste good or not so good if in short supply. In two weeks, Monique's milk started tasting like vanilla ice cream. I wonder how that vanilla flavor got in there. LOL.
2-12-08
This has turned into my goat blog so I have changed the title of this page from Nigerian Dwarf Goats.
I had so many doe kids born in 2007, plus ones I kept from 2006 that I needed to get some outcross bucks. I decided to go with mini-Nubian. Holly helped me make that decision since I still had two daughters out of her from 2005, three grand daughters from her in 2006, plus she gave me four more daughters in 2007. These last four were out of a mini-Nubian buck who came from Western Michigan with outstanding milk and show lines. I wanted a couple bucks that would yet improve my herd. Green Gables had just what I was looking for. But we had to go all the way to Wisconsin for them.
I had several choices. Hire someone to haul. Way too much $$$ for my budget. Go myself and teach daughter to milk the goats while I am gone. She already knows how to milk goats since we started our kids when they were eight years old. But just the idea of her having to do all my chores plus her own was overwhelming. It was a lot easier for her to pick up the goats in Wisconsin and for me to do her chores. The two day trip went well and now I have two very fine dairy bucks. I am so thankful. They enjoy all the jobs I give them. This summer I should have some kids for sale out of them. Even now I have a couple of does bred to one of them I would turn loose before they freshen. I can't guarantee the kids will have floppy ears because these does look exactly like Nigerian Dwarf goats even though they are only 3/4.
As of this date I have 17 bred does, most to the new Mini-Nubian bucks, a couple to LaMancha bucks and to my Saanens in there and some LaManchas. To be continued...