[plumseverywhere]

There's a U in the spelling for the british toggenburg society. But you know how my spelling fluctuates come this time of the evening (Wine O clock) so I'm sure I use an E sometimes!!

[salopman]

Try Saanans and a tin of black paint -nooooooooooooooooo only kidding!!  oh pardon the pun !!!

[Lesley Silvester]

Ignore Paul.   

The Horsehay herd is where my girl went forher honeymoon and curry was the result.  Simon (the male) fatehr mostly females last year and the only males where one of a twin or triplet except with my goat - one male.

AS to what breed, Sanaans are white so would fit in better that togs.  Of course, I may be a tad biased but they are a lovely breed: friendly, intelligent, relatively well-behaved and don't try to escape wxcept when they are in season.

[Penninehillbilly]

I had an British Alpine years ago, I remember her as a big rangey goat, and STRONG! when she set off i couldn't stop her. they seem smaller now. she got lockjaw before we had any kids off her.
My love is the pure Toggenburgs, friendly, placid, love giving kisses (I was blowing raspberries against her nose once, and she tried licking me, her tongue went in my mouth - YUK! LOL
- only point I'm not sure about is they are a pain to milk, that long hair gets in the way, might try trimming round their udders this year, to avoid pulling hair when milking  .
I got them by chance, now think they are the best. Their markings give them more character somehow (as if they haven't enough)
Nubians I found too noisy. (no doubt I'll be put in my place for that remark  )

[Lesley Silvester]

I do like togs and did have half share in one once but I wouldn't go as far as to snog one.  Yuk! 

Just re-read my earlier post and cannot believe my mistakes.  It wasn't even that late either and I hadn't been drinking.

[cuckoo]

No exerience of alpines - have Golden Guernsey, Boer and Boer X Sanaan and Boer X Toggenburg.  Type of goat depends what you want from it - we dont milk and want meat hence Boer and X's.  GG girl lovely but not as hardy as Boers or crosses - if you I think best of both worls would be a Boer x - ours really have plenty of milk so could rear their young and give some for milk too.  But for personality and ease of keeping - I will stick to my 100% Boers - not overly flightly, dont jump, respect electric fencing and they taste good!

[jaykay]

Just going to put a plug in here for Old English goats. It depends why you want to keep goats.

OEs are smaller than the breeds being discussed here but bigger than dwarves and pygmies. They don't give as much milk - I get 2 pints off one milking a day, so it would be more if twice a day but not 8pints. But that suits me, I'm not swimming in milk then. OEs are hardy, real characters, very friendly, don't eat as much as the big dairy breeds and don't demand tepid water to drink, mine drink from the beck.

I've entered pics in the wether and kid bit of the goat show if you want to see some - actually I entered one in the doe class too but the pic doesnt show and since I've bugged Dan about it twice now (once to upload them in the first place and once to say she was a doe not a buck) I don't want to again  but the wether will give of an idea of what they look like.

[Rosemary]

All this information has got us thinking we were going for Alpines as we wanted to keep to our black and white theme (we have Berkshire pigs, white runner ducks, light Sussex, Australorpe and Langshan chickens) we appreciate its not scientific but the colour scheme works for us.

I LOVE the idea of having colour-coordinated animals 

[pedigree porker]

WoW what a lot of information and good suggestions.

We want the goats for several reasons including milk and meat,we did originally think of Boer, and these have been suggested, as have Boer cross.

Next question, is there anybody out there local to us who we can visit to have a look and chat about Boer/Boer cross or toggs? we are on Notts/Lincs boarder 2 mins from A1.

Thanks

[Anke]

There is a British Boer Goats Society (BBGS), sure they will have contact details for someone to ask about local breeders to you.

For dairy goats you could contact the BGS?

[cuckoo]

Hi,

I have sent you a message

 

[Penninehillbilly]

I do like togs and did have half share in one once but I wouldn't go as far as to snog one.  Yuk! 

I said she loves giving kisses - I didn't say I returned them . when we had that little incident I ran in to wash my mouth real quick LOL.(and been more careful since) . But some people let dogs lick their faces - after it's  been 'cleaning' itself.

last years 2 kids are Togg x BS, next year I'm hoping to find a boer male, I like the sound of them but I believe the first cross can still have the dairy goat shape.
But that plan seems a long way off yet, how come some things (like tax return dates) come round so quick, when things you want seem to take forever to come round. 

[plumseverywhere]

Its OK - we vaccinated the goats to protect them from child diseases     

In the words of Katy Perry - " I kissed a goat and I liked it, I hope that Reggie don't mind it..."

[cuckoo]

I have two nice 100% boer male kids for sale if anyone is interested - pm me for more details - will be registered etc.

My experience of first crosses is that GG X Boer produce a very nice goat, Sanaan X Boers looks very much like a Sanaan but a little heavier and BT X Boer produce a very nice cross too.

I have attached some photos of each of these F1 crosses below

[Lesley Silvester]

I'm tempted to cross my sannan with a boer next time in case it's another male.  Curry doesn't look as if he has much meat on him - too much like an alpine in shape.  Anybody know any males in Shropshire?