Kalahari Red

The selection ran from the 1970s into the 1990s. Farmers took solid red kids out of Boer herds and red-brown animals from the native landraces of South Africa and Namibia and bred for uniform red color, fertility and mothering.

DNA testing confirmed the result was distinct enough from the Boer and the Savanna to stand as its own breed, and the breed club formed in 1999, named for the red sand of the Kalahari.

Mature does average about 165 pounds and bucks about 250. The coat runs light to dark red-brown over fully pigmented skin, which resists sun damage, and the color itself is a practical trait: red animals are less visible to predators in that landscape than white ones.

The horns are dark, rounded and curve backwards behind broad, pendulous ears, and the legs are strong; these are goats that walk far for their feed.

Calm and gentle, and known for good mothering: they flock well, hide their kids, and protect them.

Meat. The working advantage is low input: they kid and raise their young out on the range without human intervention, browse efficiently on sparse ground, and do well on land going over to woody scrub.

Heat, drought and sparse browse are the conditions they were selected in, and extensive, low-input range is the management they suit. Their selection history says nothing about cold or wet country either way, so ask breeders in a climate like yours.

They reached the United States relatively recently and remain uncommon, and the trade is exactly that rarity. Prices are high, the genetic base in North America is narrow, and anyone buying should ask hard questions about how the imported line was established and how closely related the available stock is.

The breed's registry infrastructure is South African, where the breed club dates to 1999. Ask what documentation an American seller can actually show, and which organization, if any, stands behind it.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.