# Boer Goat as a milk goat... Question.



## Raynewolfe

Is there any reason you cant use a boer goat as a milk goat? I know that different breeds milks can taste different. Is that the case here or is it a production thing. Just curious. What about boer milk goat crosses? Thanks.


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## reicheru

My nubers [50/50 boer and nubian] aren't old enough to breed but I would say that it depends on the doe and if you intend to bottle feed kids or not. My red doe is an over achiever but others I've seen don't produce nearly as much milk. I never drink their milk anywho because I don't control their browse, which can affect taste. Just seems easier to me to buy a dairy goat if you want milk.


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## steff bugielski

Most of my herd has boer in there some where. We started with three does and one buck. The does were alpine and nubian and he was full blood boer. The offspring milk great, some 12-15 lbs a day. I love them because they are shorter. They all have these little legs. They run about 6-8" shorter than my Nubians. They produce nice kids mostly twins with the occasional triplet. Good moms and did I mention great milkers.


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## ozark_jewels

Boers are bred to have a much shorter lactation than dairy goats. Most of them want to dry off after about 3-5 months. A Boer/Dairy cross can be better about this, sometimes not. Boers are also not bred for milking ease as dairy breeds are and that can be a challenge. Most have smaller teats and not very good teat placement for milking, though its just fine for feeding kids.
Boer milk tastes very good. 
If you have Boers already, sure, try milking them and see. If you are looking for a goat to buy for milk, buy a dairy goat.


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## Rockytopsis

I had a Boer/Sannan milker that was great, but as the others said I could not milk her for very long. I got almost a gallon of milk from her at her peak and with in 5 months after kidding maybe a pint.


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## DQ

alot of them have freaky double and cluster teats too that can make them difficult to milk.


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## farmmom

I have 2 Boer/Nubian does. 50% of each. They are good milkers and seem to have more cream than my fb Nubian. They do dry up about 6months though.


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians

Also the more boer they have the more feed conversion, from feed to milk, is off. Dairy goats are bred to milk, feed goes into making milk. Meat goats are feed to meat. They are mammals and of course will give milk, but supply and demand won't necessairly work for them like it does for dairy goats. Why if I was going to really do dual purpose I would breed dairy goats to Kiko. They have a much longer bone pattern to begin with which is dairy character in the end. 

We ran all our boers through the dairy string once a day to keep them in milk, mostly because I bottled all the doelings for tame resales, and persold bucklings for those who wanted tame bucks, which left does with no kids or one kid. And we needed the milk. Vicki


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