Which goats produce the best milk

The goats have white-coloured hair with tan spots over their body. The does weigh about 50 to 80 pounds while bucks weigh about 80 to pounds. Beetal is considered a dual-purpose breed for its remarkable meat production alongside milk yield. This Indian dairy breed was derived from the Jamnapuri breed of goats. The goats are tall with both sexes having medium-sized horns. The adult female weighs around to pounds and the adult male weighs up to pounds.

Jamunapuri is a long-legged dairy breed that originated near the Jamna River in India. It is one of the ancestors of Anglo-Nubian breed. The goats have roman noses with often undershot upper jaws. This is a unique recessive trait that makes the goat prefer browsing overgrazing. The Jamunapuri male and female goats weigh up to and pounds respectively.

The Malabari goat breed is widely found in Southeast India. The goats are of mixed ancestry, due to crossing with dairy breeds from Northern India. They come in a wide range of colours and both sexes have horns but polled ones are also common. They are small-sized goats with males weighing up to 90 pounds and females weighing up to 70 pounds.

Maltese is an Italian goat breed originating from the island of Malta. The breed comes in various colours, short or long hair, but the goats found in Italy are normally white coloured with long hair. The average body weight of male and female Maltese goats is and pounds respectively.

This Italian breed of medium size has a good level of milk production and has very unique corkscrew-like long horns pointing vertically upwards.

Ionica is another Italian breed with medium-sized body and medium level milk production. This breed is usually kept in small herds. The goats have long lop ears and no horns. This dual-purpose milk and meat goat is a small, hardy breed with long black hair. The face is straight with beards and has longhorns that are flat and twisted backwards.

Kilis breed was developed by crossbreeding the Damascus and Anatolian Black goats. They are usually black but some may be grey. They have long hair and may have horns. This French breed is of quite a recent origin. It is a medium-sized goat well adapted to temperate regions. The goats have brown to black short hair all over the body except white bellies, legs and area below the tail.

Damascus is the most important dairy breed for Eastern Mediterranean regions. It is a tall breed with a Roman nose and long shaggy reddish-brown hair.

Long, twisted horns may be present in males while in females they may be sickle-shaped. The breed is quite prolific. Other health problems for goats include footrot, abortion, and mastitis.

Footrot is typically a bacterial infection of the skin between the claws. Footrot control starts with biosecurity to prevent infected animals from being brought onto the farm. It can also be reduced by good preventive care including routine hoof trimming.

Nutrition as well as infectious agents can cause abortion in goats. Toxoplasmosis, transmitted by younger cats, can cause abortion in both women and goats. Prevention requires keeping cat feces from contaminating feed consumed by pregnant goats. Mastitis, an infection of the udder, is a major concern with dairy goats. Providing sanitary conditions, good milking procedures, well-ventilated housing, and dry bedding are the best defenses against this disease.

Injuries to udders and teat ends also contribute to this disease, which can lower milk production and cause permanent damage to does. There are four requirements for efficient dairy goat housing. First, the building should be adequately ventilated and the walls and ceiling should be free from condensation. Second, the bedded area should be dry and clean. Third, feeders and watering devices must be well built and located so that feed and water are not contaminated with animal wastes or inefficiently wasted.

Ready access to good-quality water is essential for milk production and herd health. Fourth, housing should be arranged to minimize the amount of labor and time required for maintaining a clean facility. A number of housing systems can be successfully used for goat production. In the northeast United States, either loose manure pack or confinement individual stalls housing systems, with or without pasture access, are necessary to provide sufficient protection from adverse weather.

Building adequate fencing to keep the goats contained can be a real challenge. The best fencing for goats is electrified woven wire or livestock panels at least 48 inches high. The milking area should be separated from the stable area and have a concrete floor to make cleaning easy. The milking platform should be 15 to 18 inches higher than the floor to permit easy milking.

Cooling is critical to retain milk flavor and quality. Bacteria in warm milk begin to multiply in a short period of time and cause the milk quality to deteriorate.

Cold water is more efficient than cold air for cooling milk. The refrigerator or cooler for small herds should accommodate a pan of water equal to the amount of milk in one or more milking buckets. A herd producing 10 or more gallons per day will need a water-immersion cooler or a bulk tank cooler. You may wish to consider several risk-management strategies for your operation. First, you should insure both your facilities and your animals.

This may be accomplished by consulting your insurance agent or broker. Second, you may want to insure your income through a crop insurance program called AGR-Lite. For more on agricultural business insurance, see Agricultural Business Insurance.

For more information concerning crop insurance, contact a crop insurance agent or check the Penn State Extension website. All agricultural operations in Pennsylvania, including small and part-time farming operations, operate under the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law. However, all operations may be a source of surface- or groundwater pollution. Because of this possibility, you should contact your local Soil and Water Conservation District to determine what regulations may pertain to your operation.

You should also check your local zoning regulations to make sure that your intended business activities are permitted in your location. The sample budget in this publication is an example of costs and returns to a commercial milk goat production system for does. This sample budget should help ensure that all costs and receipts are included in your calculations. Costs and returns are often difficult to estimate in budget preparation because they are numerous and variable.

Therefore, you should think of these budgets as a first approximation and then make appropriate adjustments using the "Your Estimate" column to reflect your specific production situation. You can make changes to the interactive PDF budget files for this publication by inputting your own prices and quantities in the green outlined cells for any item. The cells outlined in red automatically calculate your revised totals based on the changes you made to the cells outlined in green.

You will need to click on and add your own estimated price and quantity information to all of the green outlined cells to complete your customized budget. When you are done, you can print the budget using the green Print Form button at the bottom of the form. You can use the red Clear Form button to clear all the information from your budget when you are finished.

United Caprine News P. Box Crowley, Texas This is a new breed created as recently as the s in New Zealand. They were bred specifically to create an adaptable meat goat. This was done by breeding feral goats with Anglo-Nubian goats, Saanen goats, and Toggenburg goats.

These goats are low maintenance and can survive most conditions. Positive characteristics of the Kiko goat include weighing more, good mothering skills, better milk production, lean meat, and good hooves. Males can weigh up to pounds. Because of the large stature of these goats, they are often used for meat.

Sometimes, they will specifically be mated with Boers to make even larger goats for meat. But unlike the name, they are fully conscious and not actually fainting. However, they used to primarily be used for goat meat. The Myotonic goat can grow to about 25 inches tall and weigh pounds. This is one of the smaller breeds of meat goats.

They also have distinct eyes that pop out of their head. A rather poor nation, people with Black Bengals find a way to support themselves with its milk and meat. If you have a safe place by a food source, they can even feed on natural sources.

The goats are good breeders and can give birth to 2 — 3 kids twice a year. Black Bengals start reproducing at about 15 months old.

With Bangladesh being a less affluent country, the farmers use everything that they can from the goat. They sell the milk, the coat, and, most importantly, the meat. The goat can produce 11 kg of meat at a time. Their coat can weigh 20 kg. Meat and coat are the most important products from this animal, as it does not produce milk well. As the name suggests, the goat is usually dark in color. The body is lean, and these goats are short. They have ears on the top of their heads and have small to medium horns.

The Verata goat is known primarily for its unique, twisted horns. They are found mostly in Vera, Spain. There are about 17, Verata goats in Spain today.

Like most breeds produced for meat, they are quite durable and strong. They can survive in all climates. They also are easy for farmers to manage. They can find food sourced instinctively and adapt well. These goats are on the small side and reach about 7- centimeters tall and weigh 70 kilograms.

Under proper conditions, the Verata goat can breed prolifically. A farmer can expect three kids every two years. When this does happen, a farmer can expect the goat to produce milk for days and produce about liters. When used for meat, kids will be ready at around 45 days old. The milk is easier for digestion, and the meat is lean. Goat produces a unique flavor as well, resulting in special tasting milk and additional products.

You need about 10 goats to obtain the same milk production level of one cow. To maintain healthy udders using teat dip, single-use paper towels, etc.

You might want two does females or a doe and a wether castrated male. With two does, you can stagger the breeding to produce milk year-round. You need access to a buck to breed females, but a buck is not worth the hassle or expense for just one or two does. You might make arrangements with a local goat breeder to borrow a buck, or use artificial insemination AI.

The does usually have twins sometimes triplets so you need a plan for what to do with kids after weaning. You can keep doelings if you want to expand your herd, or sell them, and butcher the castrated bucklings or sell them for meat. Joan Dean Rowe a veterinarian on facu lty at University of California- D avis first had dairy goats as a 4-H project when she was a child, learning about animal care and health, and this led to her becoming a veterinarian.

She says dairy goats are great for children, to help teach them about responsible care, milking twice a day, etc. Two of the best goats for milk will produce enough — with each doe averaging three quarts a day for up to 10 months — to feed your family all year.

Goats have a short generation. Does are typically bred in the fall. Does come into heat for three days every 18 to 21 days. If you have a buck, keep does separate from him until they come into heat.

Once bred, they should be separated again, or their milk if they are lactating does may have a bad flavor. Kidding takes place about days after breeding.