Goaty-Goat (pictures)

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Cattle Cait

Cattle Cait

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I FINALLY got a dairy goat! Yay! Yippee! Wheehee!!!

This means MILK! Real, raw MILK! And no more digestive upsets! And cheese, and yogurt, and soap, and butter...

Did I mention MILK?!

Okay, so, she's not lactating yet, but she will be next spring if I have anything to say about it. She's allegedly a Nigerian Dwarf, and I named her Siostra, which means "sister" or in Polish (pronounced shES-strah). I call her Goat for short.

Isn't she cute?? :p

P.S. - If anyone in south-central Michigan has a Nigie buck available, Siossie is due for a date.
 

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Nice to see somebody else who is interested in goats. How old is it and is it vacinated for worms? . They are a really small animal so you may want to get a couple more. Also the benifits to owning multiple goats is that you will be able to have milk year round if you breed them to lactate at differnt stages. Also goats have a tendecy to have health issues so having a few would help with production. As for that buck, you may want to keep him as a resident, female goats get depressed without a male around thus shortening their lifespan. Not trying to be discourageing but just sharing some of my 6 years worth of knowlage with goats. Hope you have plenty of fun with goats. :)
 
She's adorable Cait! Congratulations! You will enjoy that milk, I absolutely love my goats milk. One thing I haven't done is get a freezer so I can put extra away for the winter when the girls dry off. It sucks to have to buy milk at the store for part of the year when I could have frozen in the freezer!
Frozen milk looks watery but that doesn't bother me any, still tast better than store bought! :up:
 
Congratulations on your new goat. I love dairy goats. I used to milk 5 LaManchas which are my favorite. My kids had Nigerian goats. One of them actually produced enough milk to satisfy. Not enough for cheesemaking and such. I think goat wants a few friends. They do better in herds and then you will have even more milk.
 
Demamma":2h0x88w3 said:
I think goat wants a few friends. They do better in herds and then you will have even more milk.
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My sister has an Alpine x Boer doe that we're getting bred soon also. Goat and Big Goat are buddies :)
 
She is a pretty little thing!

Hope you find a nice buck to make her acquaintance soon!
 
very cute goat. They make great pets. They are loaded with personality and just fun to have around. I suffer from goatitis myself we have about forty of them in addition to my thriantas and lionheads. Enjoy them they are great.
 
Well, I will tell you she isn't FULL ND, but that doesn't really matter, my favorite doe is a complete lovely mix! LOL

Is she tested for CAE and CL? She is cute. :) I think she's got Oberhalsi in her, maybe a teensy of Toggenburg. The reason why I am thinking that is because of her swiss marks. Probably Saanen or Kiko in there also.

Are her hooves good? :) I'd imagine since you already have goats you know how to trim.

AND... how old is she? 9 months? 8?

She is very cute!!! And she looks sweet!<br /><br />__________ Fri Sep 13, 2013 9:40 pm __________<br /><br />OH, and getting her tested for CAE, CL, and Johnes will make your chances of getting a buck to breed her to MUCH MUCH MUCH better. I know a ton of people who always require testing for the does their buck will be bred to. How's her poop, also? Worms?
 
Swiss marks? You mean the striping on her face, Grace? You can't seriously think she's mixed because of that!!! :shock:

Googled Swiss Marks and I think you are mistaken. According to a website on Nigerian Dwarf goats, here's the excerpt:

A swiss marked Nigerian will have a mostly black or chocolate body with solid white, creme, or light tan legs, hind end, under the tail, on the ears, on the tip of the muzzle, and then matching stripes down the face to the muzzle; Some will also have a dot of white/creme on the side of each cheek. There are two colors to this pattern. You can have the more common black or the more unusual chocolate swiss marked Nigerian.

Swiss marked and sundgau can sometimes be confused with each other. Easiest way to tell them apart, is the sungau has an lighter tone, easily seen underbelly, while the swiss has the darker body color that usually doesn't break under the belly or doesn't break til it gets to the very center of the underbelly, where there will be a skinny line from chest to rear end that cannot be seen from a side view.
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I don't see a black or chocolate body there! ;)

I admit I'm not super-experienced with goats but claiming she's a mix due to some markings seems silly.

Goat color info here: http://nigeriandwarfcolors.weebly.com/
 
Maybe I am thinking of the wrong description. ;)

She just is a mix. Her body shape is not a nigerian's and her horns show that she is close to a year, which means she would be a lot smaller than that.
 
I raised and showed dairy goats. My children showed and raised Nigerians. My daughters Nigerian was always winning at shows and she had facial markings like that. Though most Nigerians will be not as slight many breeders are trying to emphasize the dairy characteristics in Nigerians. Too many times people mistake a Nigerian for a pygmy. I personally prefer the more dairy characteristics in a Nigerian. Also this goat is for a small homestead situation not the show ring.
Some goats can grow horns quite fast. I had a Nigerian x who's horns grew quite fast. I have seen long horns on goats like that from 5 months on up.
Most beginning herds are not going to pay the high price a CAE tested goat would be. Many big herds are not testing for CAE. It's a good idea if you can but still not the usual. From my understanding testing for CL is unreliable in young goats and also might not be feasible for a starter herd. I think if someone was going to enter the show and big time breeding world it would be advisable but for a small homestead type situation unnecessary.
 
Demamma":3w5amb9d said:
I raised and showed dairy goats. My children showed and raised Nigerians. My daughters Nigerian was always winning at shows and she had facial markings like that. Though most Nigerians will be not as slight many breeders are trying to emphasize the dairy characteristics in Nigerians. Too many times people mistake a Nigerian for a pygmy. I personally prefer the more dairy characteristics in a Nigerian. Also this goat is for a small homestead situation not the show ring.
Some goats can grow horns quite fast. I had a Nigerian x who's horns grew quite fast. I have seen long horns on goats like that from 5 months on up.
Most beginning herds are not going to pay the high price a CAE tested goat would be. Many big herds are not testing for CAE. It's a good idea if you can but still not the usual. From my understanding testing for CL is unreliable in young goats and also might not be feasible for a starter herd. I think if someone was going to enter the show and big time breeding world it would be advisable but for a small homestead type situation unnecessary.
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I've been researching Nigerians for a while now, been REALLY impressed with a friend's lone Nigerian doe. :) Smaller than the average dairy goat, pretty as a picture (seriously, I have yet to see an UGLY Nigerian!!!) and from everyone I've asked, sweet as sugar. :) Demamma? How did you find the Nigerians, as far as upkeep/fencing/et cetera? :D

Grace? Just because a critter isn't show quality doesn't mean it's a mix. ;) The standard exists as an ideal to breed towards, not a template of what each individual in that breed will look like. Declaring her a mix when you can't lay hands on that animal and know exactly how she's put together, and without knowing who she's out of and allsuch, is a little arrogant IMO. ;) I'm quite content to say I don't know if she's pure or mixed, but she looks like a lot of these Nigerian photos I'm seeing, and unless Cait tells me otherwise, I will think of her as a fully-fledged Nigerian doe. :D
 
To be honest I wasn't sure what she was when I got her. The gal who offered her to me told me that she was "a large white dairy goat", so I had been expecting a Saanen when I went to get her. I was quite surprised when I picked up this little girl. She was free and is a goat, so I didn't mind. Her backstory is that her previous owner didn't want his goats anymore, so he let them loose, and this lady rounded them up and was rehoming them, and Siostra was the only one left. She's not a goat person, just wanted to find them good homes. Siostra could be a Himalayan Tree Goat for all I know, but I had several more goat-savvy people confirm that she looks very much like a pet-quality Nigerian. Since I only am familiar with meat goats - Boer, Kiko, Spanish, etc. - I'm taking their word for it.

Initially I did think that she maybe had some Alpine in her. She's about 40lbs, so if she does have a standard breed mixed in it is quite far back I think. She's exactly half the height of my sister's BoerX doe.

As for age, I'm not certain, because again the lady I picked her up from didn't know much about goats, but she's not over a year and a half. She's still got that "teenager" look to her and hasn't quite ladied-out yet like my sister's doe who is two and a half.

Either way, she's a little homestead dairy goat, and that's really all I care. I'm not going to show her, so it doesn't matter to me. I'm the only one in my family who will be using the milk, so it'll be plenty for me between Siostra and Penelope (sister's goat).
 
Kyle upkeep for the Nigerians was the same as for the other dairy goats. Yearly shots, alfalfa hay, mineral block, COB or if nursing or milking sweet 16 or dairy mix, good shelter a few had dog houses and contained with T-posts with livestock wire. I lined the livestock wire with 1x2 fencing when they kidded. Those little goats get out easily.
 

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