At Oak Hollow Livestock, we raise Fullblood (100%) Boer goats. All of our Boers are registered with the American Boer Goat Association.
History
Boer goats are a breed of goat developed in South Africa to produce a superior meat goat. When the prices for mohair (the fiber produced by Angora goats) declined in the late 1980's and early 1990's, Boer goats were imported to the United States to improve the carcass qualities of local goats.
Since that time, the Boer has rapidly increased in popularity and proven itself to be an efficient, fast-growing meat goat with a docile temperament and a hardy nature. Boers can now be easily found across the country and do well in a variety of climatic and management conditions.
Selection
In choosing our foundation stock over the past two decades, we searched for breeding programs that emphasized heavy muscling, length and depth of body, strong top line and legs, correct bite and teat structure, and excellent maternal ability.
We are continually evaluating our animals to ensure that our does are hardy and self-sufficient, performing well on pasture and browse during the grazing season. We expect our does to birth and raise fast growing kids without intervention. We also only retain our very best doe kids for breeding to ensure that every crop of kids is an improvement to our program.
Our Does
The backbone of our herd is our does. We have worked very hard to develop a group of does who produce outstanding kids with excellent growth rates. Our does are structurally correct with excellent maternal characteristics, producing hardy, fast growing kids with minimal assistance. We cull does who have difficult deliveries, are not attentive mothers, and any who don't produce enough milk for their kids.
We also select for does who have strong, healthy hooves that require minimal trimming, and for their resistance to internal parasites. The consistency we have achieved within our doe herd allows us to successfully utilize a variety of bucks with predictable results. While genetics that are proven successful in the show ring are a good starting point to ensure correct structure, we feel it is much more important to evaluate each animal as an individual for the strengths they have to offer in our herd.
How We Manage Our Herd
Goat can be more challenging to raise than other types of livestock for many reasons. As a helpful resource for folks who are new to goats, or still learning more about these wonderful animals, we have outlined the way we do things at our farm, and why.
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