Quality Milk from Our Nigerian Dwarf Goats

Lone Star Goats is proud to offer Nigerian Dwarf goats, a miniature dairy goat breed of West African ancestry. Nigerian Dwarf goats are popular as pets and family milkers due to their easy maintenance and small stature. However, because of their high butterfat, they are also used by some dairies to make cheese.

Nigerian Dwarf goats are gentle and easily trainable. This, along with their small size and colorful appearance, makes them popular as pets. Kids that are bottle-fed bond with people and make excellent pets. Some breeders prefer to let their mothers raise them naturally, finding bottle-fed kids to be overly clingy. With either method, they can be very friendly and can easily be trained to walk on a leash and some enjoy coming into the house with their owners. Adult goats should not live in the house. As ruminants, they need to spend a large part of the day eating hay, pasture, or browse.

Our goats are only disbudded upon request. We believe God gave them horns for a reason and we are good with that. We generally have kids available year-round but will not sell only one goat. Goats are herd animals and they are happier and healthier when the new owner has multiple goats. We love these animals and our concern is for their welfare.

Milk That Is Excellent for Cheese

Nigerian Dwarf goats do give a surprising quantity of milk for their size. Their production ranges from 1 to 8 pounds of milk per day (one quart of milk weighs roughly 2 pounds), with an average doe producing about 2.5 pounds of milk per day. Production depends upon genetics, how many times the doe has freshened (given birth), quality and type of feed, and general good management. Since Nigerians breed year-round, it is easy to stagger freshening in a herd for year-round production of milk. Thus, they are ideal milk goats for most families. Their milk has higher butterfat content than milk from full-sized dairy goats, averaging 6.5% according to the American Dairy Goat Association. Later in lactation, butterfat can go up to 10% or even higher. This makes Nigerian Dwarf goat milk excellent for cheese, soap and cream making.

Colors

You never know what color kid a Nigerian Dwarf doe will produce. They come in many colors: white, black, gold, red, cream and patterns such as buckskin (brown with a black cape over the head and neck along with other black markings) and chamoisee (similar to an Oberhasli goat), with or without white spots. Some have white "frosting" on the ears. The eyes can be brown, amber, or blue.