# Kiko Buttermilk



## lord lycoperdon (Jul 12, 2010)

Hi,

I've heard that boers goats produce more buttermilk. Does anyone know if the same is true for kikos?

Thanks 
Dusty


----------



## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Actually, Boers have a higher percentage of _butter*fat*_ in their milk, and yes, that is true for Kikos as well. 

However, that does not mean that you will get as much butterfat from a Boer or Kiko than you would an Alpine or a Saanen. Boers and Kikos produce a lot LESS milk for a shorter period of time (a 5 month lactation cycle rather than the 10 month lactation cycle of dairy goats). 

So, say your Kiko has an amazing 7% butterfat in her milk, while my Alpine only has 3.8% butterfat. Your Kiko, however, produces a quart per day (which would be a lot of a Kiko) while my Alpine is producing a gallon per day. In the end:

You will get 2.24 ounces of butterfat from your Kiko per day, for 5 months, meaning in a year you will end up with approximately 10.5 quarts of butterfat (cream) from your Kiko.

I will get 4.86 ounces of butterfat per day from my Alpine, for her 10 month lactation cycle, so at the end of the year, I will end up with 45.6 quarts of butterfat (cream) from my Alpine.

So, if i was just going for volume of butterfat produced, due to the longer lactation cycles, it is better to breed dairy goats rather than meat goats.

I hope this information has helped in some way.


----------



## Dragonid (Mar 6, 2012)

CaliannG said:


> Actually, Boers have a higher percentage of _butter*fat*_ in their milk, and yes, that is true for Kikos as well.
> ...
> So, say your Kiko has an amazing 7% butterfat in her milk, while my Alpine only has 3.8% butterfat. Your Kiko, however, produces a quart per day (which would be a lot of a Kiko) while my Alpine is producing a gallon per day. In the end:


I wouldn't presume a Kiko to be an inherently lower milk producer. The original goats left on NZ were dairy goats, and the stock they were bred to in the formation of the breed were dairy goats (British toggenburgs and saanen). While most people raising them do so for their rapid meat production (how are those kids putting on weight so fast if all they consume is milk for several months?), they still have a dairy background. And some have asked the question of do they still retain the production capacity, from what I've seen, the answer is yes. One example:








This doe starts with outproducing, and at the end of this two month trial is still outproducing, a pair of dairy girls. The dairy girls have been milked before, the Kiko had not been. Link to the article. The same folks have another article where they milked a Kiko doe to relieve her udder ... for 5 months after weaning. 

I wouldn't presume them to be 'just' a meat goat because that is what they are known for. Their heritage is at least half dairy.


----------



## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

We accidentally found out that our kiko/nubian does have even richer milk than the pure nubian. The herd is primarily for brush control and to sell for meat but we milk as needed. The does all have nice udders and milk for extended periods. The kids are born big and grow like weeds. They are nice dual purpose homestead goats


----------



## CaliannG (Apr 29, 2005)

Definitely not "dissing" the Kiko, and I even know people that milk their Boers! So you Kiko fans can just ease up a little bit. ~grinz~

Dragonid, the doe tested and compared to the Nubians was 75% Kiko and 25%...what? Nubian? Alpine? Saanen? Boer? That does have a lot to do with the test.

Also, numbers not given were what stage of their cycle these goats were in. Up-trend? Peaking? Down-trend? Where they at different stages of their cycle?

Also, even the Kiko, who won this little race, was providing a quart per day, on a once-per-day milk test. Their Nubians were providing less than a quart per day, about 29 ounces, in one milking.

Now, if you consider that normal numbers for a healthy, well fed doe, then yes, Kikos are amazing. But they are not.

_BOTH of my *miniature* Nubians produce over a quart per milking._ Since I currently milk 3 times per day (for a total of 3/4 of a gallon, or approximately 6.5lbs), my itsy, bitsy, miniature Nubians are out-producing both that Kiko you linked to, and the Nubians she was in competition with.

Yes, Kikos came from half dairy stock some time ago. But they were not selectively BRED for production during that time. Heck, even our full dairy breeds that have been selectively bred for shows and conformation, rather than production, do not often do so well on DHI tests, compared to their less noble, dairy-working sisters whose pedigree contains proven milkers rather than proven show winners.  (Not getting on to show people. SOME show people have been concentrating on production as WELL as conformation. But a lot have not.)

Kikos, who have been bred from various feral stock, and selected for meat production for many, many generations, WILL NOT produce as much as a dairy goat that has been selectively bred for many generations for production. They MIGHT produce as much, or more, than a dairy goat that has been selectively bred for generations for conformation.

But my numbers, even when compared to your wonderful girl who beat out the Nubians, are still good.

Nigerians, with the very highest butterfat, stand at 6.1%. Alpines average at 3.5%. If your Kiko has the SAME butterfat content as a Nigerian (which it most assuredly does NOT, but I could not find hard numbers, so we will use the Nigerian.), I'm still getting more butterfat in a year, because I am getting 3-4 times the volume.

Crossbreeds, such as a Kiko/Nubian or a Boer/Nubian, will sometimes bless you with an exceptional animal. Such as a meaty goat with the long lactation cycle and production of a Nubian, but with the butterfat of a Kiko or Boer. Such animals should be cherished, because you aren't going to get that with ALL crosses.

But to expect nice udders, long lactation cycles, and dairy production from a 100% Kiko or Boer herd? Ummm, yeah, and my friend's Percheron is going to win the Derby this year, and I am entering my Thoroughbred in a draft pulling contest. I expect her to win.


----------



## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Yeah I would have no idea how much these crosses would produce if fed for production and milked twice a day. A few of them have nice sized udders. But we are just the two of us here now and don't need much milk. I prefer to just steal milk from a nursing doe as it's needed by penning the kids at night rather than have to milk every day for milk I don't need. Even then I will only take a quart or so and let the kids out to have the rest. Lol needless to say the longer the does will go before weaning kids the better I like it  Works well for growing big babies for auction or meat too.


----------



## bluespade00 (Apr 30, 2015)

The advantage of kikos are their endurance, hardiness, ease of birth, growt rate and parasite resistance and resilience, and ability to subsist/convert on sub standard forage. They may or may not do well in a commercial dairy herd under optimal dairy production conditions due to concerns previously mentioned in this thread because they are not optimized for diary production. Put them in a stressed environment and they will survive, thrive and outproduce a dairy optimized breed in the stressed environment. In other words, they are less negatively affected by adversity than, suppose, a saanen might be. They look to be an ideal choice if one had to chose a single breed for a homestead.The advantage of kikos are their endurance, hardiness, ease of birth, growt rate and parasite resistance and resilience, and ability to subsist/convert on sub standard forage. They may or may not do well in a commercial dairy herd under optimal dairy production conditions due to concerns previously mentioned in this thread because they are not optimized for diary production. Put them in a stressed environment and they will survive, thrive and outproduce a dairy optimized breed in the stressed environment. In other words, they are less negatively affected by adversity than, suppose, a saanen might be.
Additionally, they are touted as being able to move faster as pack animals than alpines, togs, saanens. Nubians on the other hand, have a reputation as being especially lazy pack animals. Togs followed by alpines have the best reputations for alertness in the wilderness. La Manchas are said to be the most intelligent and easiest to train as pack animals, but also the most curious and likely to get into trouble (entering tents, playing around the fire, interloping in the kitchen.)


----------



## Croenan (Aug 14, 2003)

Plus Kikos are ---- adorable!


----------

