British Boer Goat Society

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.

From 1987 numbers have multiplied, and a breed society, the British Boer Goat Society, has been firmly established the 14th herd book was published in 2003 when more than 50 herd prefixes were registered with the BBGS.

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.

Commercial use of Boers

Average body weights of pure bred and dairy crosses

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

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)
Grade two is applied to stock of 75% - 87.5% (inclusive)
Grade three is applied to stock of 50% - 75% (inclusive)
Grade four is applied to all goats of up to 50%.(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.

Only 100% males are acceptable to be registered, registration of lower grade male animals was phased out in 2009.

It should be noted that there will be some registered males of lower percentage still available, however you will not be able to register male kids born to these animals.

email :Info@britishboergoatsociety.co.uk

Home page  History  Breed Standards  Gallery  Rules & Regulations
Meat  Goat meat recipes  Members  Stock for sale  Buyers Guide  Application forms  Contacts  News & Events  Equipment for Sale/Wanted  Links