Meat Goat Breeds Part 1 Jean-Marie Luginbuhl NC STATE UNIVERSITY

Brush goats NCSU, 1990): some with Angora traits (fiber), some with dairy traits, some with Spanish traits (dark goats with large horns). Also called Briar goats or wood goats. Brush goats are an amalgam of many different breeds. These goats were called “Spanish” goats in Texas to differentiate them with Angora goats.

“Purebred” Spanish bucks at lower right and “purebred’ Spanish doelings at upper left (700 head herd in Southern Georgia). Several goat breeders from Texas kept good genetics, and have selected goats with excellent conformation from earlier “Brush” goats to try to rescue the original “Spanish” breed.

Spanish goats: top left from southern Georgia, bottom right from the Canary islands, bottom left from NCSU in early nineties. Note the similarities in the horn shapes in the bucks

Myotonic or stiff-leg or wooden-leg or fainting goat: prolific (the upper-left doe had triplets, the lower right-one twins) and tough. Good grazers, not good browsers, grow slowly. Adults look very muscular.

Myotonic have a genetic defect: when frightened, the muscles of their neck and legs stiffen, and they will fall down if off-balance. Several degrees of stiffness exist. Following an event, there is a refractory period.

Pygmy goats (Virginia State University) Pygmy goats (Virginia State University). Small, very muscular and very prolific animals.

Anglo-Nubian. A dual-purpose goat very popular in the US Anglo-Nubian. A dual-purpose goat very popular in the US. Derived from breeds from Great Britain and Egypt. Maybe somewhat related to the Boer on the African side. Large frame goat. They come with different coat colors, and have pendulous ears like the Boer, with which they may share some traits or parentage from way back.

Kiko bucks: the three white ones (Virginia State University) Kiko bucks: the three white ones (Virginia State University). Kiko derived originally from New Zealand feral goats, and are tough animals.

Purebred Boer goats. Picture taken in New Zealand. The Boer goats originated in south Africa where the population number is around 5 million heads, of which 1.6 million are of the improved type. The South African Boer goat Breeders’ Association was founded in 1995 to establish breed standards for the emerging breed. The Boer goat is the only goat breed routinely involved in performance and progeny tests for meat production.

Purebred Boer kids born at NCSU by implanting frozen Boer embryos into NCSU Brush does (Spring 1994)