Nubian

The crossing happened dockside as much as in barns. P&O steamships carried goats for milk on the run home from India and the East, and sold them when they docked in England. Breeders put those lop-eared imports on native British does, and three bucks shaped the result: an Indian Jamnapari landed in 1896, a Chitral, and an Egyptian Zaraibi.

The first herd book registrations came in 1910, and no imported stock was used after that. The first animals reached the United States in 1909, where the Anglo eventually dropped off the name.

A big goat. The ADGA standard sets minimums of 30 inches and 135 lb for does, 32 inches and 170 lb for bucks, and mature animals run well past them: Wikipedia records does up to about 240 lb and bucks up to 310.

The ears are pendulous, required to extend at least an inch below the muzzle, and the face is strongly convex. The coat is short, fine and glossy, in any solid or patterned color; black, chestnut, cream, fawn and white are all common.

The American Goat Society's breed description notes the Nubian as a quite vocal breed.

Bucks need planning in any dairy herd. Penn State Extension describes bucks as tending to be aggressive and giving off a strong, urine-like odor that is most offensive in the breeding season, September to early January. Does do not produce it.

Most dairy kids grow horns: in USDA's 2019 goat study, as reported by Mississippi State University Extension, 91.4 percent of kids on dairy operations had or were expected to have them. ADGA's show rules bar any animal with natural horns, so kids meant for the ring are disbudded, which Mississippi State recommends doing between 4 and 14 days of age.

Milk, for a specific reason: Nubian milk is the richest of the major dairy breeds, with the highest butterfat, which makes it the choice for cheese, soap and drinking. Wikipedia puts the average fat content at about 4.8 percent.

In Britain the breed is counted dual purpose, meat and dairy. In the United States it is kept for the milk.

They also tolerate heat better than the Swiss breeds and breed closer to year round, which spreads freshening, and milk, across more of the calendar.

What any dairy goat needs. Penn State Extension's recommendation for fencing is electrified woven wire or 2 by 4 foot livestock panels at least 48 inches high.

Minerals: forages rarely meet a goat's requirements, so offer a balanced, free-choice loose goat mineral. Mississippi State University Extension notes that goats' soft tongues make it hard to get enough from a block, and Penn State notes that most products formulated for sheep do not carry enough copper for goats.

Company: goats are herd animals that do better in groups, and Alabama Cooperative Extension advises keeping them in pairs or more.

Parasites, internal and external, are the most important health concern for goats in Penn State's assessment, and routine hoof trimming is part of preventing foot rot.

The trade is volume. A Nubian gives less milk by weight than a Saanen or Alpine, so on a volume-priced contract she loses. Her market is components: cheese and soap pay for butterfat, and the fluid tank does not.

And the breed is loud, persistently and carryingly so, which is worth knowing before you keep one near a neighbor.

Registration is with the American Dairy Goat Association. For a milker, ask for the dam's production records as well as the papers; the papers prove the breed, the records prove the udder.

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