# Mini-saanan? Pics..



## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

Someone nearby needed to rehome their three goats pretty quick. They couldn't contain them and the goats were simply running amuck in the country side and they were terrified something was going to happen to their goats. I was told it was a Saanan doe, a Nigerian Dwarf buck, and their resulting doeling. So we get there expecting a saanan, and he leads us to where he has them contained for the moment. Instead of a tall leggy cow of a goat(my husband and I joked some of those saanans at the fair have udders that would put some cows to shame). There is this little teeny tiny smooth coated doe, a furry little buck, and their furry little offspring. 

The buck is very obviously a pygmy goat, he has the long silky like hair(reminds me of a dog just coming from the groomers) and is all the wrong shape and size to be a nigerian dwarf. So someone sold them a pygmy and told them it was a nigi. 

The doe was obviously not a saanan, but she does have a very similar face and body structure of a saanan and a surprisingly large udder for her size. I googled "Pygmy does" thinking that she was a pygmy as well, and she doesn't look like a pygmy. She's very smooth coated(compared to the pygmy buck and her half pygmy baby) with a beard. Maybe a mini-saanan? Couldn't find a whole lot of pictures of them. So I'll take a couple of pictures and see what ya'll think. She is TINY! "If" we were to keep the mini dairy around, I don't even know anything small enough to breed her too. I think even the nigi's down the street would be big for her!

(Loading pics now.)


----------



## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

Here she is in the stanchion. The stanchion is made of 2X4s and there is a pallet behind the goat, to help size reference her. Oh, I also milked her while she was there, couldn't resist the curiousity. She milked almost half a quart, not too bad for being with her baby.










She has been kept with her doeling(born December), so I guess maybe the doeling is milking lopsided. I got her whole hind end in the pic, so you can see how big the udder is in reference to her back legs.










And here is her face with her doeling(who is obviously half pygmy, she's so fluffy lol ).










So what do you think she is? A pygmy? A mini-saanan? Some crazy mini mixture of a goat? If she is a mini-saanan, it could explain why her owners thought she was a saanan and they just missed the "mini" part..

I'm interested to hear what ya'll think. I know she's not posed very nice in the picture, she is not very tame, and wasn't thrilled to be "stuck". She did stand like a champ to be milked, I was expecting a fight..


----------



## GeorgiaGirl (Jun 1, 2009)

Not sure but they are definitely cute! She does look like she has some Saanen in her. Her size is not right for a Saanen but the color is


----------



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

White does not a Saanen make. Her udder isn't Saanen looking at all.


----------



## CarolynRenee (Jan 30, 2008)

Don't have an opinion / answer for your, but here are some pictures of my goats...
Below picture is a F1 Mini-Saanen, 1 year old standing on the blue barrels (1/2 Saanen, 1/2 Nigerian Dwarf). The larger white goat is a purebred Saanen.









Below picture is another F1 Mini-Saanen, 2 years old with two of her week old kids (kids are 3/4 Nigerian, 1/4 Saanen).


----------



## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

She's most likely a mix of something, maybe there's Saneen in the bloodline & that's where the smooth coat & color come from. I don't know anything about Saneens but the doe & doeling are awfully cute. 
I'm sure your right & the buck is pygmy & not Nigie but most bucks I have seen get the long hair & real full coats, even in the summer their coats are longer & fuller than any of the does' I've ever had anyways. Mine are Nigerian & I also have a Mini Nubia.


----------



## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

I really like her. She is probably just a white nigerian. She is well proportioned. How tall is she?


----------



## Creamers (Aug 3, 2010)

She looks larger than some of my Nigis, but I'd say she is a Pygmy/Nigi cross or PB Nigi. . . Minis would run around 75lbs - is she that big? If she is around 50lbs -I'd say there is no large breed in her


----------



## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

Creamers, I think you're right about the size. She surely wouldn't be an F1 mini, due to her size. I hung around the goat barn at the fair and got a good look at the saanans and knew she definitely wasn't pure, just because of size. Imagine my surprise when they insisted she was a saanan over the phone and then showed me her when I got there. LOL!

I didn't think about her being a nigi... She looks a bit different from the nigi's up the street(more refined maybe? the nigi's up the street look like they have shorter broader faces and "dairy character"(wide ribs?)), but after googling nigerian dwarf does, she does look very similar to many of them(granted her udder isn't nearly as beautiful as some of them). It's hard to compare disbudded goats to horned, it's funny how much the horns change their shape!

Here is a size reference picture. She is actually touching that 5 gallon bucket, so she is quite petite.. but not short and cobby looking like the pygmy buck. 











According to the previous owners, they drove about 4 hours to buy this doe from the breeder. Which seems really odd to me because all the nigi breeders I know disbud. They didn't have papers on her, so who knows what she really is. I was just curious and thought I would ask more experienced eyes.


----------



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

The good news is that she looks REALLY healthy. Are you getting CAE testing done on her?


----------



## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> The good news is that she looks REALLY healthy. Are you getting CAE testing done on her?


No testing yet, they are being kept seperate from our stock(and are fed and watered last). A friend of a friend of ours really wants them for pets on their horse farm, so they're here while they are prepping their facilities. If we were to keep them, they would be tested.

Thank goodness they are wanted as pets because I have my hands full with nubians and boers! And they are super cute...


----------



## cjb (May 2, 2006)

She is cute and I would have guessed mostly ND as they often come in white. Her udder and top line just might prevent a show career, though...


----------

