Foreign goat breeds
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BoerThe Boer goat of South Africa owes its name to the Dutch word “boer” meaning farm . The origin of Boer goats its vague and probably rooted in indigenous goats kept by Hottentot and migrating Bantu tribes, with a possible infusion of Indian and European bloodlines. The present-day improved Boer goat emerged in the 20th century, when South African farmers started breeding for a meat type goat with good conformation, high growth rate and fertility, short white hair and red markings on the head and neck. The South African Boer Goat Breeder’s Association was founded in 1959 to establish breed standards for the emerging breed. Since 1970 the Boer goat has been incorporated into the South African National Mutton Sheep and Goat Performance and Progeny Testing Program, which makes the Boer goat the only known goat breed routinely involved in performance and progeny tests for meat production. There are approximately 5,000,000 Boer goats in Africa, of which 1,600,000 are of the improved type.New Zealand and Australian companies have imported the Boer goat into their respective countries for improving their own meat goat industries. According to New Zealand researchers, the plane of nutrition plays a greater role than the light/dark cycle for Boer goats to breed out of season.
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Kiko
The Kiko goat was produced in New Zealand by taking feral does that exhibited good meat conformation and breeding them with Saanen and Nubian bucks to increase their milk yield and butterfat content. Those bucks and does whose offspring grew best (as measured by weight gain) under rugged conditions were chosen to produce the future generations. Kikos have similar ears to Spanish goats but are usually larger framed. They are often white like their Saanen ancestors. |
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Pygmy The Pygmy goat’s origin lies in the Fouta Djallon Plateau of West Africa, where it is known as the West African Dwarf Goat (WADG). It found its way to North America as a by-product of the slave trade in the 18th century. In its native West Africa, the WADG is the dominant goat breed and is used almost exclusively for meat production (Devendra and Burns, 1983). Currently, there are over 30,000 registered Pygmies in the US. | ||||||||||||||||||||
