Lola is a registered 3/4 Boer (1/4 Alpine) Her daughter, Rosa, is 7/8 Boer and is not registered but can be. They were both bred back to Rosa's father who is a full, registered Boer. I got five does from them, one which I sold at 5 days old. Two are 7/8 and two are 15/16 which I was told can be registered as full Boer. This was to be my foundation herd for my farm assessment.

If I register them, it will cost me a small fortune for the five of them (less if I become a memeber), not to mention late fees for the doe that was never registered. But I know that any animal is worth more if it has papers.

Now here's the thing. I found that three out of my four kids have three teats. Rosa also has three teats. I wish I remembered so I could have had them snipped at dehorning but it is a characteristic that will be passed on if I plan on selling the does. My breeder said she always had people waiting for Boer does and got $150 for them, apparently without papers.

Selling my stock and getting new is not an option, I love these kids. So, what's the opinion? Should I spend the money and register them? Or just sell all the kids as meat? Could someone who buys a kid register it if the Mom isn't registered but lineage is known?

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), June 27, 2001

Answers

Hi Dee,

Gosh..... I can only speak from the experiences of the members of our meat goat coop and my own personal experiences with Boers. To answer you question about registering, yes, an animal is worth more if registered and to be used a breeding stock porvided the bloodlines are excellent or for a 4-H project. However, I have seen breeders selling their registered stock in the east for terribly low prices despite the fact they are registered and have excellent bloodlines. I guess the key here is in how you plan on marketing them. you have to connect to the market in order to command good prices. I surely hope the breeder is really getting the customers she mentioned, many breeders will say that and then it will be entirely different later.

As for 3 teats... this issue surfaced at the time we sold our Boers, about 3 yrs ago. I cannot speak for what is acceptable now nor what the different organizations that register Boers require. there are several Boer registeries, a few are The IBGA and the IBGA, think there are a fe wmore but I forgot. But anyways, the teat issue, this came up on caprine chat which is devoted to mainly meat goats. At the time there were questions raised as the one Boer registery was allowing it to be acceptable in the ring and for registration. There were questions about 3-4 teats. I am not sure what the outcome was, perhaps someone can fill you in better. I do recall that there was a breeder who proclaimed that a 4 teated Boer was a great thing.

But in the end.... i would consider researching your market. I have been to several meat goat sales and have seen unpapered animals sell for more than the papered. You have to scope it out and then decided. And by all mean promote you herd, show and this should get you out there. Look for commercial meat goat sales in you area where meat goat breeders sell their breeding stock, those sales usually bring more $ for the goats.

yes, registration is expenisve, i know. Hope this helps.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), June 28, 2001.

Dee, registered animals are only worth more if you have a buyer looking for that type of registered animal. If you are raising for the meat market the meat buyers could care less all they are concerned about is the carcess quality, that is their job. just like cattle.whether you register is up to you, but I would keep track of their pedegrees on a pedegree sheet and only buy registered bucks that met my herd qualifications. We have two breeds of registered dairy goats and we are having to sell them at a meat price, there just isn't enough buyers for registered stock here in Idaho. We are seriousely considering not registering any more, the $6.50 to register a doe could be put to better use, such as buying quatity bucks and semen. Diane

-- Diane Brown (oleoranch3@aol.com), June 28, 2001.