# Kiko vs Boer



## Onikiri (Nov 28, 2015)

I've worked with Boer goats before and know they make good meat goats, however I've recently heard of this breed called the Kiko goat, I havnt been able to find a whole lot about them as they don't seem to be to popular a breed here in the states. From what I gather they're a hybrid of a New Zealand meat goat and local mountain goats creating a good meat goat with the metabolism of a mountain goat, however never seeing one of these goats and not having a lot of sources of information on them I'm not sure, they weigh in at about 160-180lbs versus the boer's 220-260lbs, however allegedly there slower mountain goat metabolism allows them to put on weight far more easily than a boer and doesn't require anywhere near of much feed to be ready for butcher. I also have no idea on the temperament of the Kiko breed and given the size of there horns an aggressive temperament could be deadly.

So my question, has anyone owned or excessively been around Kiko goats and could give some insight on them? I'm trying to decide which breed would be better off for a small herd for meat purposes on a homestead.


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## SouthGAMan (May 5, 2014)

I know several people who raise meat goats here in the Southern part of the state of Georgia. Many have tried both Boers and Kikos. I only have recently added a 7/8 Kiko buck (who was part of triplets from a first time mother who uncharacteristically didn't mother them well and he was bottle fed by loving but first time goat owners), so I can't talk about my own personal experiences much but only what several people have told me about their experiences. 

From what I have been told the Boer does better in a dryer environment than a Kiko (as far as parasite resistance and overall health is concerned) so the Kiko is becoming more popular than it was here in the hot humid Southeast. The Boer grows larger when fully grown but the Kiko seems to adapt well to different environments faster and forages better for itself so in some instances it has outgrown similar aged Boers on the same type terrain when limited to forage only or very limited amounts of food. Supposedly both are very good mothers in most circumstances and the Kiko has certainly been known to throw doubles and trips even in their first birthing quite frequently.

As far as temperament my personal experience is mainly limited to my own buck who as I said earlier was a bottle baby and is a loving doll baby. He isn't aggressive at all even being around the 4 does I have. I actually heard that sometimes bottle raised bucks can be aggressive since they show little fear of humans but I have not seen this with him at all. The other kikos I have been around or seen seem to be quite friendly as well---as most of the boers I've seen have been. I will say that no matter the breed the larger the size of the animal the more chance of an accident occuring that can injure you if you are in close proximity to them.

Another breed that is very similar to both the Boer and Kiko in many ways is the Savanna. They aren't widespread here but my cousin and her husband have just started raising them this past summer and they are fantastic looking animals with size around that of the larger boers.


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## Onikiri (Nov 28, 2015)

Have you noticed any notable difference in the amount of feed your 7/8 Kiko buck go through and a boer buck? Or is the kiko's better weight gain purely more of a survival thing for if there's not much feed around to begin with? 

I'll definitely look into savannah also, do happen to know if they stay about boer sized while young? Goats for self butcher on the would probably be about 5-6 months and just weaning to minimize feed cost, so if they happened to pack on weight extremely well while nursing would be ideal.


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## SouthGAMan (May 5, 2014)

Onikiri said:


> Have you noticed any notable difference in the amount of feed your 7/8 Kiko buck go through and a boer buck? Or is the kiko's better weight gain purely more of a survival thing for if there's not much feed around to begin with?
> 
> I'll definitely look into savannah also, do happen to know if they stay about boer sized while young? Goats for self butcher on the would probably be about 5-6 months and just weaning to minimize feed cost, so if they happened to pack on weight extremely well while nursing would be ideal.


I can't really tell ya exactly the feed amounts per weight gain between my buck and a boer because I personally haven't been around boers on a day to day basis so none of my info would be too accurate then you'd also have to worry about small sample size (one goat to a few others at best). 

The one Savanna billy my cousin and her husband have weighed 85 pounds and 5 months old and is well in excess of 100 pounds now at 7 months old but I haven't laid eyes on him personally in the last few weeks. But boers and Savannas are relatively the same size and if I recall right the background of Savannas actually started out with a few solid white Boer bucks among other factors(but there was more to it than that supposedly).


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## billygoatridge (Feb 12, 2004)

Here is an informative kiko group on facebook. I prefer Savannas myself though my bucks usually have a little kiko in them because they are more affordable for a commercial operation than a purebred.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/407060679357322/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/442255579161459/


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## copperpennykids (Sep 6, 2004)

Two things: We had a gal come to us who was raising Kikos - she needed a Boer buck to pack some meat on the carcass. Since Kiko have a large amount of Saanen in them, they have plentiful milk and are good mothers - a plus. Some Boers have no milk at all (ours do - but we breed for milk mothering and carcass) so you need to be careful there. 

Another gal came to us - wanted to do Kiko - but so many of the herds had CL - be cautious from whom you purchase (although CL is becoming more prevalent in Boer herds as well, due to the lackadaisical attitude of ABGA, the judges/mentors, and the bigger/more popular herds toward it.). 

You could always breed Boer X Saanen and end up with close to the same thing - and get hybrid vigour. We live in a drier area so no parasite issues but have heard similar things regarding Kikos in the warm moist South - they seem to do better.


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

Just some related info that may or may not be a consideration for you. In my area the Boers are still bringing a premium price as a meat goat at the local sheep and goat sale. Kikos are not bringing the premium prices and are quite common in the area. Savannas are almost unheard off showing up at the sale and there are not that many around, but not because no one likes them, they are just fairly new to the area and still quite expensive and limited as far as sources. I have dairy does and plan to add a Savannah billy before long, but I will have to travel a few hours and give a premium price to get one. In comparison I could buy a papered Boer Billy or Kiko billy just about any week at the local sale. Your area may be different, but I find many times availability is a big factor.

BTW, our local sale is mainly a goat and sheep sale and any given week there are usually upwards of 1000 head. Last week I stayed from 6:30 until midnight and finally left, while they were still selling, they had over 1500 head at that sale.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Muleman,
What part of Arkansas are you in?

Would you advise against buying breed stock from your barn?


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## copperpennykids (Sep 6, 2004)

I'm not Muleman, but purchasing breeding stock at a sale barn is always a bad idea. Even if the animals came from a disease free herd, they have been exposed to lots of animals with nasties (including sheep as some diseases pass to goats). The animals have been stressed - oh, and many people drop off animals with problems (infertile, mastitis, CL, etc) just to get them off the place - sold as "meat" - and they get some money back in their pocket. Just my 47 cents.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

copperpennykids said:


> I'm not Muleman, but purchasing breeding stock at a sale barn is always a bad idea. Even if the animals came from a disease free herd, they have been exposed to lots of animals with nasties (including sheep as some diseases pass to goats). The animals have been stressed - oh, and many people drop off animals with problems (infertile, mastitis, CL, etc) just to get them off the place - sold as "meat" - and they get some money back in their pocket. Just my 47 cents.


I have heard that many, many times.

It is hard for me to believe a large commercial herd considers the sale barn off limits.


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## Wingdo (Oct 5, 2002)

In my useless opinion, the Boer is the only breed of goat I want on my place. Don't get me wrong, as I also like the Boer/Nubian crosses, as they seem to be great mothers and always seem to have plenty of milk, but still prefer the 3/4-7/8ths Boer cross. This also/usually seems to have more meat on it's bones as well... I think it is all depends on what you want out of a goat.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I'm presently looking for a Kiko buckling to breed to my large Nubian does. I initially was going to get a Boer buckling however what I'm hearing in this area is that the Boers are frequently wormy and the Kikos are not. My area is quite humid with a lot of rains spring and fall.


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## wmk0002 (Feb 19, 2013)

I can't offer much firsthand experience on kiko's as I have never had any that I was 100% were high % kiko. However, I have tried and pretty much failed with boers. I got my first goats about 4 years ago. I bought a fullblood boer buck and about 10 commercial does. Out of the does 3-4 were obviously very high % boer, another 3-4 were a lower %, and another few were more along the lines of a kiko to my untrained eye. From my experience, the higher % boer they were or appeared to be...the more problems they had whether it be parasites, bad hooves, kid mortality rate, etc. With what profits I did have, I added a few purebred boer does thinking that may help. They ended up being the absolute least hardy of my herd. Also, out of the first group of goats I got, 2 of the kiko looking ones were bred and had kiko looking kids and all of those kids grew great. I actually kept the two does and still have them. They are currently the healthiest in my herd too. My purebred boer buck didn't have too many problems but I also too better care of him since he was unofficially half my herd. But he took a turn from the worst this summer and died.

I should have worked this into the text above but I live in the humid, hot, damp south. My plan was and is to raise commercial meat goats. I also have a pretty long commute to work and don't have as much time to take care of my goats so my target has always been to create a very low maintenance herd and to quickly sell the kids at the sale barn when they reached market weight. So far it has been apparent that boers are not the answer for me. But keep in mind that I also provided little maintenance when I really should have given them more attention and just culled the problem ones. Recently I have added a yearling commercial kiko buck to test out with my remaining does. I know I have done a lot of things wrong but I am going to give the kiko's a shot next and see if they are the solution.


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## Caprice Acres (Mar 6, 2005)

HDRider said:


> I have heard that many, many times.
> 
> It is hard for me to believe a large commercial herd considers the sale barn off limits.


To SELL, of course.

To start up, PERHAPS. But exposures and multiple source herds is going to make startup costs even higher as aside from stress of shipping, they're also exposed to tons of diseases suddenly. So a good savvy producer will expect this when buying. I wouldn't suggest it unless there are no other options, and then I hope you have lots of time, excellent management skills already in place, and an excellent veterinarian.  

To buy replacement breeders, never. For one, if your herd is established, you shouldn't need to buy more than males - and you likely don't want the random leavings at the sale barn to be a terminal sire to entire kid crops.  Two, it's an excellent way to bring in highly contagious, hard to manage disease including abortion problems, CL (which can cause carcass condemnation and wasting disease), johnes, contagious foot rot, and many other fun things. Buying from one or perhaps two source herds that can give you herd history and performance details is exponentially more safe for your investment. It's hard enough to make money with goats... I'd avoid problems that need intensive management and extensive culling if I could.


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