# How much fat/cream is in goats milk?



## TSYORK (Mar 16, 2006)

Was wondering if anyone had any information of how much fat is in goats milk. Do Lamancha's tend to have a high fat content in their milk? I know Jersey's and Guernsey's are the top of the line for fat content in milk in the bovine world, but was wondering about goats milk. My intentions are to feed a couple of bottle calves and a pig on the milk, and also make some cheese.

Thanks,


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## Tracy in Idaho (Dec 8, 2002)

It really is more of an individual goat thing than a breed thing.... it varies a LOT within a breed, although I know the Nigerian Dwarves have pretty amazing BF on a regular basis.

My Alpines are running from 4-6% right now. 

Tracy


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

Like what Tracy said, but also add it's nutrition also, there are things you can feed to increase butterfat also. Warning, feeding fat can actually depress butterfat  Most breeds close to meat goats...dawrfs who are really out of Pygmy originally and Nubians of course across the breed would have more butterfat, higher fat the first 8 weeks to feed the kids, lower volume of milk, lower protein. Swiss breeds lower fat, more protein, higher volume. Tempered with Tracy's point, it's mostly genetic in the breed itself. Vicki


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## TSYORK (Mar 16, 2006)

How does 4-8% bf in goats equate to what a Jersey would give, what's the bf content?


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## Tracy in Idaho (Dec 8, 2002)

TSYORK said:


> How does 4-8% bf in goats equate to what a Jersey would give, what's the bf content?



It's measured exactly the same -- as a percentage of the total milk.

Here's a link that has your average cow percentages --

http://www.milk.mb.ca/Dairy/milk-story.asp

Jerseys come in with 5.40% on average.

Tracy


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## AnnaS (Nov 29, 2003)

Here's the official breed comparisons 

http://adga.org/DHIR/06breed_lactation_averages.htm

Most does will make high fat % at the beginning of the lactation, go down as the milk lbs increase and come up again toward the end of lactation. There is also a year-long correlation between milk lbs and BF% where a doe with a low volume milk doe will have a higher average BF% than a high yielding doe. 

There are lines within breeds that have been selected for higher fat & will have higher fat yields on the same diet as does from other lines.

A lot of BF production is diet, especially a high fiber diet. High fiber diets with hay and cracked or whole grains will have a higher BF yield than a diet with lush pasture and finely ground grains.


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

I have NDs and they are giving me 9% and 10% butterfat according to my last DHI test. Although one doe is known for her high butterfat, I was pleasantly surprised that she posted her highest test December 8 (for butterfat) and one of my other does was right behind her. Of course, the lactation curve has a lot to do with it as butterfat tends to rise as they progress through it. Also, feeding more hay vs. grain tends to bring the butterfat up too. 

"What's the difference between a Nigerian Dwarf and a Pygmy goat?

Although they have similar origins, Nigerian Dwarfs and African Pygmies are separate and distinct breeds, with recognized differences. Pygmies are bred to be "cobby" and heavy boned. Dwarfs are bred to have the length of body and more elegant structure that's similar to their larger dairy goat counterparts. Pygmies are also primarily "agouti" patterned, with black, silver and caramel being the most common colors."

from http://www.ndga.org/about/aboutnd.htm

"Although both Nigerian Dwarfs and African Pygmies are both of West African origin, they are two separate and distinct breeds. It can be easy to confuse the Nigerian with the Pygmy because of the similarities of size and origin, but the similarities stop there."

from http://www.juliesjungle.com/nigeriangoat.php

"The Nigerian Dwarf breed originated from the same genetic foundation as the Pygmy, but these goats have been selected to resemble miniature dairy goats with more slender bodies."

from http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/nigerian.html


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

"The Nigerian Dwarf breed originated from the same genetic foundation as the Pygmy, but these goats have been selected to resemble miniature dairy goats with more slender bodies."
.......................................

They are not seperate distinct breeds, but orginated out of the same goat. You can't have the first two paragraphs if the last one is correct.

Selection of more dairy type animals, longer flatter bone, gave you ND while shorter more meat bones stayed pygmy's. And as recently as less than 10 generations, ND were given acceptance into AGS and other breed regsiteries with pictures, no ancestory, no pedigree, just a picture of a more dairy pygmy type animal. Like ADGA does NOA. Only our native on appearance were not given purebred status, but grade status.

I was on breed standard when ADGA allowed ND access, if they had come in on their own with the 10 cross rule in effect, many ND would not be purebreds in ADGA but are in AGS, because of this picture idea of registering. Vicki


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## hoofinitnorth (Oct 18, 2006)

Enough selective breeding does in fact produce a separate breed. It just takes MANY generations and a large enough difference to easily recognize. Dogs came from wolves but they are definitely separate and distinct breeds within the dog world (poodle versus greyhound versus malamute). Same thing with horses, cats, and just about anything humans have bred. But this is off-topic.

I wonder why more folks don't milk their pygmies. I know a few people that do and they love the milk as it is very high in butterfat. One friend is going to put her pygmies on milk test (at least send the samples to the lab) with her NDs.


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