[Big Mat]

We currently run a small herd of pure boers. I'm planning on increasing the herd and am considering a goat for Milk, that when put to out Boer Billy will produce a nice meat carcass.

My research is lending itself towards a Anglo Nubian?

Having not done milking before, would I need to milk once a day? Twice a day? Every day?

If I stopped milking would the doe dry up?

Just considering my options for next year really at the moment.

[Dogwalker]

Don't know about anglo nubians so can't advise there but a lot of goat herds use boer x dairy for meat.  Mine are angora x golden guernsey / saanan and produce a decent carcass for home and friends use.

Once a day milking is fine or twice as long as you stick to a routine once you start.  You can't just not milk one day because it's not convenient and yes she'd dry up if you stop along with mastitis and other problems if you don't manage it carefully.

[Anke]

Before plunging into dairy goats I would recommend reading through some of the numerous books - many from the 1980s, but still very relevant except for some of the medical advice - for example Mackenzie or Lois Hertherington.

[Big Mat]

I shan't be plunging into anything at the moment, I'm just considering the way to go with my herd and our desire to get more self sufficient in time.

I'd love to hear people's routines or experiences with day to day with a single dairy goat and the different breeds

[gerpsych]

Like the others a regular milking pattern is vital. I tend to think twice a day is best when the goat is a prolific milker. But with the passge of time and reduced volumes you can reduce down to daily milking. But once started you need to keep to the routines as far as possible and if you let her dry up she won't restart without the full cycle of billy/birth/weaning again.

[Penninehillbilly]

Someone told me 1st cross and 2nd cross back to the boer produced better carcase than pure bred boer, certainly my toggxsaanen put to my boer produced chunky well grown youngsters.
Sadly a mix up at the local abbatoir meant he sold the male carcase, i was SO looking forward to those joints ?.
Still got the female, due to kid anytime..

[Big Mat]

Goats can be quite "racist" if she looks different she'll be picked on.

You can milk boers (so I'm told by someone who promotes them in this area); a few keepers in this area use dairy cross boer for meat carcase to good effect; it was covered in a talk at our local goat club which is available for viewing on Facebook.

If you were looking to stock up rapidly a friend of mine is considering downsizing shortly so may have stock for sale.

No looking to stock up rapidly really, I only want to increase by 2 maybe 3 goats, but I want to buy in some the suit my needs perfectly for the future

[fsmnutter]

I started my herd with pure saanens, crossed with Boer.
I now have a variety from pure saanens to 87% Boer (plus 100% billy).
I have had dairy nannies that have been weaned and require regular milking (once or twice a day depending on yield as don't want to leave them full and uncomfortable) but I have also milked nannies that have kept their kids with them. Either when just a single, I would milk the other side every day (or every few days if not requiring as much milk) or separating the kids overnight and milking in the morning and allowing the kids to be with mum through the day. The trickiest part of leaving the kids with mum is that she will naturally wean them somewhere between 6 and 10 months of age, so if you want to keep getting milk, you have to increase what you take - if the kids take less, they will start to dry up without stimulating more milk production by milking them. Some people prefer to remove the kids and bottle feed from a very early age to keep a controlled milk yield, but this does require regular milking all the way through.
One of my best goats has been a 50% Boer, who raised twins in her first year, and gave some milk for the house, and triplets the next two years. She had a stillborn kid this year, but her other nanny kid is doing well.
The Boer crosses do produce a good carcase, and as the dairy/dairy crosses produce a lot of milk, they certainly grow rapidly while still on milk.
If you wanted to talk about it further you could send me a message, or I'd be happy to show you my goats, I will have some for sale. At the moment they would be with kids at foot, or could sell weaned off preferred.