What are Boer Goats?

Hey! What's up? Ho w ya doing? Well let's get down to the topic. I get off track alot of times, and this is NOT going to happen in this article. So let's start.

 What is a Boer goat? A Boer goat originated in Africa, in the early 1900's for their production of meat. The name means farmer in Dutch. This goat was from the Fooku tribes and they were bred for meat not milk, crossing with a few English and Indian bloodlines. Boer goats have high resistance to lots of diseases, and were meant for desert climates, so they where very good for the African desert. The does (mothers) are supposed to be better mothers then most goats. These goats need lots of muscle to go to show. The major things in bucks are, "Jaw alignment, – most meat goats are raised on pasture. A goat with poor jaw alignment will be at a significant disadvantage when feeding on pasture; poor jaw alignment is not acceptable in a commercial herd sire. Good feet and legs: needed to move about the pasture. Hoof rot is a common problem for goats that live in high rain areas if the hooves are not clipped regularly."

 "Does need: Does used to breed show quality goats are normally very large, as show goats are expected to be of large stature. For commercial meat production medium size does are normally preferred as they produce the same number of kids, but require less feed to do so."

"Although Boer goats raised specifically for show purposes may seem to have little in common with pastured commercial goats, the difference is superficial. They are bred to be larger than normal goats, and meet specific visual appearances, but these very characteristics are valuable genes to add to the commercial herd. Boer goats were originally imported into the US and other countries for this very reason. Their value to ranchers lies in the improvement the addition of their unique genes can offer any breed of goats being raised for meat. Few producers could afford to maintain a herd of essentially useless animals. Show goats are bred to represent the most desirable characteristics of the Boer goat. And their main purpose is to introduce these animals to the public. It is also a method of recognizing the best of the best, although some really superior goats are not shown due to owner preference. Bucks and does that have been bred for show can be and often are used for commercial breeding stock. To show, most Boer goats have to be registered with either the ABGA, (American Boer Goat Assosiation) IBGA, (Internatial Boer Goat Assosiation)  or USBGA (United States Boer Goat Assosiation)."

 "The first full-blood Boers were brought into the United States in 1993, the same year the American Boer Goat Association was formed. Since that time a tremendous amount of interest in breeding Boer and Boer influence goats has exploded in the United States. 

 The demand for high quality, lean, healthy red meat is the one of the underlining forces behind the development of the American meat goat industry.  With an eager base of ethnic consumers, the demand for goat meat continues to grow in the United States each year. The importation of goat meat into the United States is estimated over 30 million dollars annually."
Source: Wikipedia, ABGA.