What are the breeding methods in Boer goat farming?

In recent years, Boer goats have become a highlight of the farming industry, and many farmers spare no expense and travel great distances to buy Boer goats. In fact, this approach is not scientific or cost-effective enough, and with a slight lapse of caution, one may even be cheated and fail to buy purebred goats. Here, the author tells you a cost-effective method.

You can buy only 1 to 3 purebred Boer goat rams, use these rams to mate with local female goats, and after conception, first-generation Boer goats can be produced. The male kids of first-generation Boer goats can only be raised as meat goats and should be castrated; they must not be kept as breeding goats. After the female kids of first-generation Boer goats grow up, they are then mated with purebred rams to produce second-generation Boer goats. Note: when first-generation Boer goat females are in estrus, do not mate them with their father goats, to avoid inbreeding. The second-generation Boer goat rams still cannot be used as breeding goats; after the second-generation female kids grow up, they are then mated with another purebred Boer goat to produce third-generation Boer goats. By the third generation, whether male or female, they can be called purebred goats, though they still cannot compare with the fourth generation.

Generally speaking, using this method to breed Boer goats, in two to three years a large group of purebred Boer goats can be bred, which is much more affordable and cost-effective than directly buying Boer goats. Some estimate that one purebred ram can mate with at least more than 500 female goats in one year; if frozen semen insemination is used, one ram can mate with more than 10,000 female goats.

Using this method to breed Boer goats must also meet one important condition: the female goats used for mating must be relatively large in body size. Ordinary small-bodied “native goats” will not do. If small-bodied goats are impregnated by purebred goats, it is highly likely to cause dystocia, and both the female goat and the kid may be in life-threatening danger. Only large-bodied female goats can be mated with purebred goats. There is a type of female goat called the Saanen goat, which has a relatively large body size and is also lower in price, suitable for mating with purebred Boer goats. Guanzhuangba in Dangshan County, in 1997, purchased 500 Saanen female goats and 15 Boer goat rams from Fuping County, Shaanxi Province, and achieved rapid development in the goat farming industry at low cost; this experience is worth learning from. Of course, breeding Boer goats does not necessarily require using Saanen goats, but large-bodied ones must be selected; this point must always be kept in mind.