Boer Goat

What the heck is a boer goat was my first thought. You can see my story here if you like. If you want to go straight to a great guide about one of the fastest growing segments in the farm industry, you can check out the Boer Goat Guide here.

Boer goats were first developed in South Africa in the early 1900’s by some Dutch farmers specifically as meat goats. They were officially introduced to the United States in 1993. Since that time there has been a huge increase with the influx of boer purebreds and cross breeding. It is a really good fit in these days of eating healthier, trying to consume more organic foods, and getting more bang for your buck (no pun intended) on smaller acreage farms. There are some questions you should ask if you are considering raising boer goats. This will help you figure what kind of operation you can have with what you already have or need to expand into.

The boer goat is a faster growing, heavier framed, more docile breed than most goats. They are commonly seen as having a white body with a red head. The boer is adaptable to different climates. They spend a lot more time grazing than most other goats whether it’s in the heat of day where other goats tend to find some shade or in the cold of winter with blowing snow.

There are different categories when talking about meat goats. You can raise boer goats strictly for selling goat meat, which is probably the largest segment, for breeding stock, or for show quality. The show quality animals can bring the most money per goat. You also have to start with higher priced goats that have excellent bloodlines to begin with. There have been a lot of younger people that have gotten in to showing boer goats over the last several years in shows such as 4H and other various farm organizations.

As the demand for raising boer goats increases so does the demand for good quality breeding stock. People will be looking for goats with good genetics to get started with.

Part of reason for the increased goat meat production in the United States is the increase in population of different ethnic origins. Eating chevon (goat meat) is part of their heritage. If you live in an area that is close to a larger population of ethnic groups this can be very beneficial to you. This is a direct buy market where people can come right to the farm and pick out their own boer goat. This is usually better money than hauling your goats to an auction.

The premium weight of your goat to sell for eating is around eighty pounds live weight. The meat is tender with very little internal fat yet. It’s rare to see one bring the good money at one hundred pounds or more.

A boer goat is usually around eighty pounds live weight in about six to seven months.

To find out everthing you need to know and more about raising boer goats you can check out the Boer Goat Guide here.


That’s boer goat music to a lot of peoples ears.

Why you should consider boer goats if getting into the goat meat industry.

The boer goat was developed for its meat and hardiness to adapt to many different environments.

In this post I’ll answer a few questions on raising boer goats. They are a larger framed, double muscled type of goat made to put on meat. A boer can flourish on poorer quality pasture land than cattle. They tend to be more grazers and like a smorgasbord of different types of plants to eat, while cattle are more particular about what they eat. Some people will run boers into the pasture after they’ve pulled the cattle off just to help clean up the weeds. There are even some advantages to having cattle and boer goats together in the same pasture. Goats and cattle have different intestinal parasites and by digesting the others’ parasites will kill and reduce the amount of parasites in the pasture.

A boer goat has a calmer nature and can mingle with most animals. It seems the more you handle them the gentler they become. There are always some with any breed of animal that seem to have a mind of their own no matter what you do.

The boer does are reported to have superior mothering skills with high fertility rates and are polyestrous, which means they can breed  several times of the year. Having twins is quite commonplace with the birth of occasional triplets thrown in for a bonus. This can weigh in quite heavily when considering raising boer goats. You may average three kiddings over two years. When raising meat goats this can add to the profit margin. Just be sure to consider your does health and increased feeding costs into this equation also. This could really be to your advantage if you are raising capretto. (The goat version of veal)

The gestation period of a boer doe is five months. It’s usually best to wait until they are about sixty five percent of the weight of the other does in the herd before breeding them. This is probably putting them somewhere around a year and a half old depending how good of a forager they are, some cases earlier. Size and structure can mean a lot when it comes time to have her kids.

Boer Goat Buck

When looking for breeding stock of boer goats it is always good to get a history of the herd along with health records. Then you should give a physical examination of the animal before buying.

When looking at a boer goat they should have a healthy, happy appearance. They should not be limping or hard pressed to get up when lying down. If they are kneeling down a lot to eat or just resting this could be a sign of something wrong. Foot scald and foot rot could be the problem. Just lift their feet and check between the hooves for any sign of infection. This can happen without proper foot care and living conditions that are always  wet, muddy or heavily contaminated with feces.

 Walk around behind the animal and check their rear end for any signs of diarrhea. The behind should clean and dry, not soiled or crusty with feces.

Size does matter. The size of the unit is proportional to how fertile the buck is.

 To find out everthing you need to know about boer goats all in one spot you can check out the Boer Goat guide here.