The Boer goat is often considered “The meat animal” of the goat world. This goat has been bred for size but, in some people’s opinion, this quest for bulkiness came with a price.

Our experience with the Boer goat did prove to require a slightly more hands on approach at kidding time, and an extra hoof trimming every year, but with a good herd management program, any undesirable characteristic can easily be eliminated.

We find our Boer herd to be enjoyable to handle and easy on the fences! All goats do require good fences, but in our experience, the Boers are the easiest to contain due to their size and quiet temperament.

The Boer goat’s appearance

• The Boer goat’s general appearance is one of strength.
• Body: long square body with wide barrel (ribs)
• Legs: strait legs set wide apart
• Head: Roman nose, strong bottom jaw, hears must touch the corner of the mouth, soft eye (not blue) and wide open nostrils.
• Pigmentation: The pigmentation of the Boer goat must be black under the tail, around the eyes and nose.
• Color: Boer goats do come in different colors. The most popular coloring for the Boer goat is the traditional: dark brown head with white body, Kalahari: all red and the Black Boer goat. You can also find a paint or all white version of this breed as well.

Registration of the Boer goats

• Full blood registration: This registration applies to all Boer animals descendant from only pure full blood parents.

• Canadian purebred registration: This registration applies to a Boer goat that has been “bred up” to purebred through the percentage registry program.

• Percentage registration: This registration applies to non-Boer or registered percentage Boer females bred back to a registered purebred Boer buck. A non Boer doe bred to a purebred buck would produce a ½ percentage offspring, that offspring bred again to a purebred buck would then produce a ¾ percentage offspring and so on…. The different levels of percentage are ½, ¾, 7/8, 15/16 and 31/32.

 Boer goat history

(An excerpt from the book, Raising Meat Goats for Profit by Gail Bowman.)

 Boer goats come to us from South Africa. The earliest recorded goats in Africa were brought to western Uganda by the Black Nations as early as AD 1200. Boer goats were developed in Southern Africa by breeding these ‘indigenous’ stock to European imports. The point, of course, was to have a hardy, very adaptable, meat animal that could survive the varied conditions of the African landscape while still maintaining a high birth rate, high survival rate, and a marketable meat carcass.

On July 4th, 1959, breeding and selection became regulated by the foundation of the Boer Goat Breeder’s Association (of South Africa). In the past forty years, the breed standards of this association have helped to guide and mold the Boer goat into an “improved” breed emphasizing good overall conformation, a compact and well muscled body structure, high growth and fertility rates, short white hair, darkly pigmented skin, and red markings on the head and shoulders. In 1970 the Boer goat was incorporated into the National Mutton Sheep and Goat Performance Testing Scheme, which makes the Boer goat the only known goat breed involved in a performance test for meat production.

In 1977, the Boer goat was imported into Germany. In 1987 Lancorp Corporation Ltd. imported Boers into New

1993, when Boers were released into the United States and Canada. In New Zealand, three main parties were involved in the importation of South African Boer Goats: Lancorp Corporation Ltd., Embryotech Corporation, and African Goat Flock Co. In Australia the major importer was Australian Breeding Management Pty Ltd. 2Since 1987 the Boer goat has been imported by New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, England, India, France, Malaysia, Denmark, British West Indies, Netherland Antilles, and virtually every state in the United States.

Boer Doe and Kids