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British Boer Goat Society |
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AMONGST THE VERY FINEST MEAT GOATS IN THE WORLD Brief History The Boer goat is a native South African breed. It was first introduced into Britain in 1987, and several importations have since taken place. |
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Breed Characteristics The fast growing British Boer goat has been specially selected for healthy, low cholesterol lean meat production. It has several unmistakable visual qualities, being a short legged, stocky animal compared with traditional dairy breeds of goat. A perfectly marked Boer has a mainly chestnut / chocolate coloured head and neck and an all white short coated body. The Boer is naturally horned but many breeders prefer to disbud kids within the first week. The breed has a very docile temperament so disbudding is very much an optional exercise. Mature does weigh 80 -100Kg whilst adult bucks tip the scales at well over 100Kg. |
Topknot Max 0-292-S Owned by Mrs N Knott |
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Commercial use of Boers | ||||||
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Average body weights of pure bred and dariy crosses |
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Boer bucks are being used in Britain as terminal sires on dairy breeds to produce high quality meat kids. |
Birth Weight 3 Months 5 Months 7 Months |
PURES 4.0Kg 20.0Kg 35.0Kg 40.0Kg |
CROSSES 4.0Kg 19.5Kg 34.0Kg 39.25Kg | |||
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As numbers increase more pure bred herds are arising and these are being developed specifically for meat production. Kid meat sales from both pure and cross bred Boers are now beginning to show encouraging growth at profitable prices. They are forecast to increase even further as health conscious consumers turn to quality meats, produced in welfare friendly conditions The export of high health status pedigree Boers from Britain is also becoming a lucrative market for some breeders. British Boer Goat grading system The percentage of any particular animal is calculated by adding together the percentage of both its parents and then dividing by two. The term PURE is applied to stock of 93.76% Boer and above. Animals of 96.87% and above can upgraded to 100%. Grade one is applied to stock of 87.5% - 93.75% (inclusive) Whilst any part bred Boer doe is eligible for registration
there is a national grading up scheme which is progressively showing a
tendency toward the registration of only high standard animals.
Registration of lower grade male
animals is being phased out and by 2009 only 100% males will be
registerable. | ||||||
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