# The best Goat crosses???



## crookedoak (Feb 16, 2011)

What are the best type of goat crosses, if you do not want to go the full blood route.


----------



## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Are you wanting them for milk or meat or both?


----------



## Creamers (Aug 3, 2010)

Yes, depends on what you're wanting. With dairy, the 1st gen crossed like Alpine/Saanen will generally give more milk than the Purebred counterparts, but their kids will not produce as well as the 1st gen cross, typically. For this reason, I wouldn't cross, but that IS JUST me.
If you're crossing for meat - Nubian/Boer.


----------



## Lada (Jun 7, 2008)

I know a lot of people say that an Alpine/Nubian are really healthy, robust goats who give lots of milk, but still have the butterfat of the Nubians. I've also heard people say that a Boer/Nubian cross will be meaty, but the moms will be good mothers (Boers sometimes tend to not be) and give plenty of milk.

Honestly, crossing is too big of a pain for me! I'm lazy! And, the people who drink our milk CAN tell if there's been any Alpine in the pan!  As for meat, Nubian kids are plenty meaty, and if you can sell them as kids, they're worth more than a cross would be.


----------



## saanengirl (Apr 7, 2009)

If you are wanting milk and meat, go with Saanen/Boer does and breed to a Boer buck. The Saanen blood will give you a better udder and more milk production while the Boer will give you the muscling. I have had people tell me that their fastest growing meat kids were 3/4 Boer 1/4 Saanen. I wouldn't try to keep any of those kids for milk though. Just keep the F1 does, and eat the kids.


----------



## copperpennykids (Sep 6, 2004)

saanengirl said:


> If you are wanting milk and meat, go with Saanen/Boer does and breed to a Boer buck. The Saanen blood will give you a better udder and more milk production while the Boer will give you the muscling. I have had people tell me that their fastest growing meat kids were 3/4 Boer 1/4 Saanen. I wouldn't try to keep any of those kids for milk though. Just keep the F1 does, and eat the kids.


What she said. :buds:


----------



## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

If your wanting meat, the best crosses in my experience are Boer/Lamancha, Boer/Saanen, and then Boer/Nubian. In that order.

If your wanting milk, my favorite crosses are Lamancha/Alpine, Lamancha/Saanen, and Lamancha/Nubians. Notice all the Lamancha?? Seriously, I've never had a crossbred that I liked better than Lamancha/anything.

And of course, the quality of the animals being bred to produce the crossbreds, makes all the difference to the desirability of the resulting crossbreds. There is crap in any breed. Even when buying crossbreds, you need to look at quality crossbreds.


----------



## Rechellef (Oct 5, 2010)

I have also read that for milk a Saanen/Nubian cross are also excellent because you get the volume of the Saanen and the higher butter fat content of the Nubian. I only have experience with dairy goats, but I know a lot of meat breeders cross their Boers with other dairy breeds all the time with success.


----------



## Conrad Fryar (Feb 28, 2011)

For Meat, I am working on a three way cross, Myotonic mothers bred to a boer kiko cross. Hopefully they will easy keepers,with a meaty hindquarter....


----------



## Mironsfarm (Feb 3, 2011)

i have a sannen/nubian cross and she puts out the milk! she is nursing 2 kids and the are huge and i still get a quart out of here a day!


----------



## 6e (Sep 10, 2005)

Love Saanen/LaMancha cross!


----------



## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

My Saanen/LaMancha was nursing twins that I also trained to the bottle so I could sell them. They went to the new owner on Saturday. I'm getting 7.5 pounds per day now, and she's a FF!


----------



## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

My Lamancha Nubian cross milked about 7 lbs a day as a yearling FF, and her dam was not a good milker either. Milked like half a gallon a day. The nubian buck has milk behind him though.


----------



## Wolf Flower (Dec 21, 2005)

I'm really intrigued by Kinder goats or Nubian/Pygmy crosses. Seems like a true dual-purpose animal in a manageable size.


----------



## colemangirly (Sep 30, 2010)

We have Kinders and just LOVE them. They still give quite a bit of high butterfat milk and are not shabby on the meat side of things. They can butcher out at around 60-63% so not bad. They are smaller and don't give quite as much milk but don't take as much to feed either. They are also easier to handle in my opinion. We have a nubian for crossing with the pygmy, but we DEFINATELY like our Kinders way better.


----------



## crookedoak (Feb 16, 2011)

Ok, next question... Mini's or standard size goats????


----------



## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Depends on what you like, what demands a good price in your area and what is available locally. Me? I like big goats!


----------



## copperpennykids (Sep 6, 2004)

Saanen crossed with anything gets you lots of milk and the lovely Saanen temperament.

My favorite is Saanen X Saanen. 

Something you might want to consider - not all small goats are more manageable than their larger counterparts. We had folks switch from Nigerian Dwarves to Saanens and it is easier for both Mom and kids (granted, these ND sounded like the naughtiest goats I had ever heard of!) 

It gets repeated over and over here, but make sure that your goats are disease free (CAE negative and CL Free) but also healthy (don't get into the rescue "I felt sorry for them" goats).


----------

