# Mixed breed favorites



## lazydaisy67 (Sep 7, 2009)

Any opinions about mixed breeds? I have a PB Nubian buck, a PB LaMancha Doe, and a PB Saanen Doe. I'm excited to see how the mixes perform/look. I'm not a big operation, so I don't care if they're mixed, but any opinions about bringing out the best in both breeds to get a superior milker, for volume and tatse? I've had some people tell me their Boer/dairy goat mixes milk more than their PB dairy.


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

I personally love a Saanen x Alpiine cross.


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## prairiegirl01 (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm curious too. I have an 80% ober crossed with Alpine who is a delight. Healthy, good mom, friendly, pretty (with Ober coloring), good milker, nice teats. And due to circumstances crossed my two Ober does with a Sanaan buck this fall. I'm curious to see how they turn out!


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## wheytogosaanens (Oct 26, 2007)

Snubians are a huge favorite with those that have them (Nubian X Saanen).

LaMancha X Saanen is also a favorite. Folks will breed this back up to a LaMancha (those ears, those ears - stay LaMancha!).


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## adillenal (Feb 6, 2009)

My two best goats ever were:
Saanen x alpine
Saanen x LaMancha

I have a new Saanen x LaMancha baby girl so I am hoping to be able to breed her back up to PB LaMancha and get some height on a few LaManchas. 
I bought an Alpine baby so I could breed her to a Saanen but she decided she much preferred staying with her LaMancha friends rather than the Saanens and learned to sail over the gate. I gave in and put her back with her friends. So I will be having LaMancha x Alpine kids in May rather than my desired Alpine x Saanen cross. I do love the experimentals though..


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

I heard (maybe from someone on here?) that nubian x lamancha are good producers for a dairy situation.


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## supermom (Feb 24, 2009)

I'm hoping so, Michelle, since I have LaNubians on their way. If I get doelings, I'm keeping them!


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

Saanen/Alpine and Saanen/ La Mancha are my favorites. This year we have some Alpine/Nubian doelings and I will keep a couple to see how they do.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Anything crosssed with a Lamancha.

No, boer crosses can't milk as well as a dairy goat can, they convert calories to meat instead of milk.


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## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

oh good to see this  I have 75% saanen: 25% alpine kids on the way.... I thought I would sell any does, now u all have me wondering ;-)


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

I have two Experimentals. Miracle, the Snubian and Angelique, her daughter who is half Alpine. Miracle was bred Nubian this time and Angelique was bred Alpine. The Saanen in Miracle makes her a great milker. Angelique will be a FF this year. I'm sure she'll milk as well as her dam because her sire is also from milky lines. I had thought of breeding one of my grade La Manchas to my friend's Nigerian buck, but another freind had a really nice LM buckling, so both my LM were bred to him.


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

Alisa, I would keep those little ones if they are does from good lines and freshen them. I have a 50% Saanen/ 50% Alpine Experimental out of my best Alpine by my Saanen buck and she milked through on a 17 month lactation as a FF. She just freshened 1/31 bred to my Alpine buck with 1 doe and 1 buck. Both are great looking kids. I will keep the doe kid and wish that buck was resgisterable because he is stunning. Unfortunately, he's dinner.


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## Grumpy Old Buck (Feb 5, 2011)

lazydaisy67 said:


> I have a PB Nubian buck, a PB LaMancha Doe, and a PB Saanen Doe. I'm excited to see how the mixes perform/look.


Genetics Chemistry 101 --- I have three absolute "favorites" in cross-bred animals. 1) Togg/LaMancha. 2) Nubian/LaMancha. 3) Nubian/Saanen. Perhaps in that order.

For your home dairy needs you won't ever go wrong with any of those three in my opinion.

The Saanen/Nubian (SNUBIAN) should be a powerhouse of a producer for you. The Togg/LaMancha cross can make for some of the cutest little pixies you have ever seen, and they are usually "all business" in the dairy department.

But, never underestimate the distinct beauty and mellow attitude of the Camels (yep, the Nubian/LaMancha cross has made for some of the prettiest little camel-looking-goats I have ever seen). If you had deep-bodied old style LaManchas to work with you will never have to "guess" why they are called camels. I'd take a group of them anyday if I were still wanting milk goats at home.


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

I had one of those. One year I bred Blossom, a big, deep bodied La Mancha to my Nubian buck. I kept one of the two doelings. Buttercup was a beautiful doe and a good milker. Unfortunately, she was also too much of an easy keeper and got very fat. The last fall I had her, she cycled once in September and I didn't want to breed her yet. She never cycled again and didn't get bred, even by the clean up buck that year. Next spring, she went to the meat buyer.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Not even just at home for family milk (although in a family situation selling registered purebred stock is going to pay the feed bill each year), if I was going to start milking commercialy again I would be milking lamancha crosses, again.


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## Tracy in Idaho (Oct 26, 2007)

My big old Snubian girl was one of my favorites. My friend has an Alpine/Saanen cross that is just really lovely - she got the best of both worlds-- enough that if I was going to do a cross, that is what I'd do...


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## mathewsfive (May 2, 2010)

I really like this feed. I was wondering about the Saanen/Nubian cross and how well they milked.


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## tendermeadowsnigerians (Sep 8, 2010)

We had a lamancha/nubian/alpine doe. She was awesome to milk and had quite the personality. Oh and the ears.....we called her the flying nun, she had ears that stuck straight out the side of her head, always looked like she was ready for take-off!


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

Yea! I agree with Vicki! Anything with Lamancha in it is a great goat! :biggrin

They are so milky and friendly, they can only add to the mix.


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## Blossomgapfarm (Feb 14, 2011)

What do the ears of a Lamancha/Nubian cross look like - airplane?


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## Bella Star (Oct 27, 2007)

LaMancha's have Fantastic udders :biggrin but I do like them crossed with a good Nubian


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## DostThouHaveMilk (Oct 25, 2007)

Depends on the way the dice rolls.
In our case, our first buck was LaMancha/Alpine cross (with mostly LaMancha). I did not find out until later he was a cross. Thought he was LaMancha through and through.
He bred one of our first does, a Nubian doe.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkyLark_RKR/DanielleUdderrearview.jpg
This was one of their daughters (they produced three girls and a boy over two years). Danielle was elf eared.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkyLark_RKR/Mature goats/Danielle-2.jpg
Bad picture of the sweet girl being held by someone (younger, much taller brother) who didn't know how to hold goats. Would have been a good 5 or so+ years ago.

Danielle's daughter by a Nubian- Elegance (Elegance's twin had better Nubian ears) 3/4 Nubian
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkyLark_RKR/Mature goats/Elegance1-2008.jpg
http://www.morningmistherd.webs.com/
Dainty is the doeling on the lower left in the photo on the homepage. You can see Elegance there as well. Taken back in 2002.

Another Danielle daughter by yet another Nubian buck- Marguerite (her littermate brother and sister both had more Nubian like ears, but weren't proper length) 3/4 Nubian
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkyLark_RKR/2010 goats/MargueriteSide.jpg

Danielle's last kids at 9 years old by our Senior Nubian herdsire (another Nubian). Two out of a set of triplet does (the third tiny one looked like the black doe) 3/4 Nubian
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkyLark_RKR/07-08 Kids/Y467-09.jpg
Sheila
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkyLark_RKR/07-08 Kids/Y45RSide.jpg
Shelby
Shelby's December 2010 twin doelings by Kieran, our younger Nubian herdsire- 7/8 Nubian
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkyLark_RKR/Shelbysgirls.jpg
Her udder
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/SkyLark_RKR/Webpage photos/Shelbyudderside.jpg

Despite trying to breed towards American Nubian, I invariably retain the elf eared does. When I freshen them out, I simply like their udders better than their eared sisters.
Sheila's is not bad, but it looks nothing like Shelby's. I keep the ones I prefer to milk.

Once you breed the ears out, they stay gone unless you reintroduce them.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

When we used my daughters LaMancha bucks over any breed of doe we always got LaMancha ears...some were longer cookie ears, but even with a first cross we had lots of does with gopher ears, some with elf ears. Never airplane and never full Nubian or full prick up swiss breeds.


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## Grumpy Old Buck (Feb 5, 2011)

I have seen "full ears" (albeit rarely) from LM cross animals. One set of triplets with LM sire and grade Nubian/Alpine dam had interesting kids: one had 'airplane ears' and one kid had a long elf ear and a somewhat airplane ear. That goat was freaky looking. In Mini-Manchas full ears do sometimes still happen from elf/gopher parents or elf/elf parents. But, overall, I tend to agree that the LM gene is strong and pulls quite heavily toward that phenotype on the offspring.


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## Bella Star (Oct 27, 2007)

Here is Muffin a LM/N cross ,her daddy is a big black with white spots Nubian and mama is my LM avatar,she is not a heavy milker like her mama. (There is nothing wrong with her back leg ,it's the photo and the way she is standing)


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## nitrospeed16 (Aug 25, 2010)

Blossomgapfarm said:


> What do the ears of a Lamancha/Nubian cross look like - airplane?


I once had a Nubian doe that was bred to a Lamancha buck. She had twins, the doeling was born with the longest, floppiest ears I'd ever seen, and the buck was born with gopher ears. The only similarity either of them had to each other was the Nubian vocal cords. 
So I guess if you asked me now what my favorite cross would be, I'd say Saanen x anything. Nothing against Nubians, but I can safely say there will never be another Nubian (mixed or purebred) at my place. 
And as much as I love my alpines, I find that they tend to pass their personalities on to their offspring. My alpine mixes have always been too headstrong and smart for their own good.


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## mathewsfive (May 2, 2010)

Thank you Roseanna and Linda for the pics. Does anyone have pics of Saanen Nubian crosses?? I am wanting to get a Saanen doe or two for my farm but at this point will only have a Nubian Buck. I would like to see what this kind of breeding would look like and know a little more about how they would milk.


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## birdiegirl (Oct 26, 2007)

Here is my 3/4 LaMancha 1/4 Nubian doe Tipitina. I am thrilled with this girl. As a first freshener, wild as a march hare dam-raised girl, she aborted pre-term. She had a bit of an udder, so we started milking her in the hopes that she would tame down. By the end of the milking season, she was our 2nd place milker.
She freshened in January and I love her udder. Her teats could be a tad longer, but they are much better than last year. She is soft and milks out like a glove. 
I weighed the AM milk about 2 weeks ago, and we were at 5 1/2 pounds. Evening milk is usually just a tad less.


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## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

Oh Rebecca you made me happy with your posting about saanens  I have 2 saanen does and they just had 75:25 saanen:alpine kids--of course pure white and look just like saanens, and just adorable, but sometimes I get the itch for some color! I was just telling my husband how I would love to have an alpine, but I do know about their headstrong and bossy temperament, so will put it out of my minds and be happy with my two sweet, low key, sensible girls and their snowflake babes! Also I agree about nubians--I think they are gorgeous, but can't take their voices and pushiness! 

If I remember correctly, the saanen white is dominant, isn't it? So even if I got an alpine buck and bred him to my does, I would still end up with all white, correct?


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## wheytogosaanens (Oct 26, 2007)

> If I remember correctly, the saanen white is dominant, isn't it? So even if I got an alpine buck and bred him to my does, I would still end up with all white, correct?


Probably. But don't forget - Purebred Saanens bred to Purebred Saanens can still produce predominantly black Sables.

Our favorite is Saanen X Saanen. :rofl

Seriously if you want color, buy different colored chain colors for your girls! :biggrin


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## Bella Star (Oct 27, 2007)

Donna, Your doe is beautiful,I like her ears and color and WOW what a big deep udder your gal has ! 
LM udders are exceptional ,bet your doe waddled up to the milk stand 
Linda


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## peregrine (Dec 9, 2008)

LOL wheytogo! I will think about that one  My girls dont wear collars tho...maybe they need to start!


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

My top milker in my herd Cinnamon is a LM x Nubian (LM dam)... her daughter Nutmeg (bred to a pb LM buck) is milking fabulous this year...

Cinn has just slightly longer than elf ears...
Nutmeg has perfect gopher ears. 

One of my top 5 milkers last year was a FF mutt cross... nubian x alpine dam and a MM sire... she milked fabulous. She had cookie ears btw.


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## wheytogosaanens (Oct 26, 2007)

peregrine said:


> LOL wheytogo! I will think about that one  My girls dont wear collars tho...maybe they need to start!


My DDs have a lot of fun with this. Different lines get different colors. In Spring they get flowers woven into the links.

BTW: Only plastic chain collars that break if the goat were to get hung up on something!


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## lazydaisy67 (Sep 7, 2009)

I'm so excited to hear that you guys like the cross breeds as well as the PB. I'm also thrilled to hear that I should have some good mixes here. I'm shooting for high production, a little higher fat content, and easy milkers as possible in as few goats as possible. I don't want to have a HUGE herd, so I gotta get the most bang for my buck (no pun intended).


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

I just thought I'd tag this in here... my *mutt* kidded today... 

nubian x alpine dam and a MM sire she has little cookie ears...

she was bred to a 1st gen MM buck and had twins today... 1 with gopher ears and one with little cookie ears... it just amazes me to see the little ears so dominate. BTW - she kidded about 4PM and gave 5.8lbs of colostrum (not milking her out). I love my mutt!


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