It's occurred to me recently that not only am I behind on general blog posts, but I'm also behind on my breed profiles! Lol, I really hope these aren't too boring...they're mostly meant to be my way of keeping track of the various farm animals I've met, researching them, and deciding whether they might be a good breed to raise on my little farm someday. But I hope they're moderately interesting to read.
So...about Nubian goats, which are apparently America's most popular goat breed!
I visited some Nubian goats way back when, the same day I bought a ridiculous amount of Romney fleece at Paradise Farm in Southern NH. I even bought some of their milk - it was great! No "goaty" flavor at all; I couldn't tell the difference from the cow's milk I got from the grocery store.
As I was researching Nubians today, I learned one new thing right away - outside America, they're known as the Anglo-Nubian. Another interesting tidbit is that their name comes from Nubia, Africa, but a far greater influence on the breed came from goats imported from India. These African and Indian goats were bred to native British goats, and by the late 1800's, the Anglo-Nubian breed was consistent enough to form a breed registry in Great Britain. Sometime after that, some Anglo-Nubians made their way to America, and the breed registry there began in the early 1900's. The Americans pretty quickly dropped the "Anglo" off the front of the name, thus ending up with just "Nubian." Why? Who knows! Maybe someone was lazy, and it just caught on. :P
When I started researching Nubians this morning, I thought that they were on the higher end of milk production, but actually, they're not. They're fairly good producers, but what makes them valuable as a dairy animal is the high butterfat content of their milk (4-5%), as well as the fact that their breeding cycle can enable them to produce milk all year long. Interestingly, they're also valued for their meat and their hides.
They're a fairly large goat, with the females weighing at least 135 pounds and the males at least 175 pounds. They can be any color, and are known for a Roman nose and a rather noble appearance. They also have ridiculously cool ears - check out the baby below:
So...will there be Nubians on Butterscotch Farm someday? I honestly don't know. I can definitely see some pros and cons...I need to decide if I want a full-size dairy goat, or something a little bit smaller, like Oberhaslis. As a popular goat, Nubians may be a bit easier to find...but having a more unique breed definitely appeals to some part of me.
So, I guess I'll stick Nubians on the "Maybe" list for now. Ultimately, it's not so much a matter of what I decide, but of figuring out what God's will is...and I'm confident that if He wants me to have goats, they'll be the perfect ones for me and my situation. :)
Sources:
I like the idea of smaller ones, too =)
ReplyDeleteAlso, goat eyes are weird.
-Rachel