It can be confusing when you hear there are meat goats vs dairy goats. What’s the difference? It mainly comes down to the meat to bone ratio. Meat goats are bred to have more meat on them. Dairy goats are bred to produce a lot of milk. So you could eat a dairy goat, but if you’re raising goats specifically for meat you’re not going to get as much off of a dairy breed and are better off raising a meat breed. Some breeders cross the two in order to create a dual-purpose milk & meat goat.
More in depth post can be found here.
Meat Goat Breeds
The most common meat goat breeds include Boer, Kiko, Fainting, and Spanish with Pigmy’s being the smallest of the bunch. As stated before, some like to cross breed these with the dairy breeds to increase meat yield. The most popular breed of the bunch (in the US anyway) is the Boer at 200 – 340 lbs. You see them in the fairs all the time, especially with 4-H students. They are very fertile, can breed twice a year, and mature quickly.
Dairy Goat Breeds
Dairy breeds include Alpine, Oberhasli, Toggenburg, Saanens, Nubian, La Mancha, and the smallest of all, the Nigerian Dwarf. Nubians are said to be the most popular of the bunch, but I’ve got to argue that Nigerian Dwarfs are growing to be even more popular with their extra creamy milk and the increase in small family homesteads. Good producing Nigerians give all the milk a small family needs. For more details on what each dairy goat breed produces, you can visit my other post here.
And there you have it. Pretty straight forward. That should help give you a little direction in choosing a breed whether you’re interested in meat goats or dairy goats. Or maybe you even get into both and create your own dual-purpose mix.
Recommended Goat Products (clickable)
*All photos used in this post are from pixabay
