Adding Oberhalsi's to the Herd

We have recently been thinking about getting a few Oberhasli does to add to our milking herd. The Nigerians have really good milk and are small and easier to handle but their udders are small, and they can be hard (very hard if the goat is small) to milk and can get your hands really tired. So, we thought we might add a larger breed to our herd and see how it works out.

Our current herd grazing a pasture

The Oberhasli's would be a lot bigger and easier to milk (because of their bigger udders) and would make a lot more milk per goat which would mean a lot less getting goats out and putting goats in the pen. And that can take quite a bit of time because most often the goats don't want to go back in the pen, they would much preferer stay out and keep eating grain. But because of their size Oberhasli's might be harder to handle.

One of our Nigerian does

We would keep our Nigerians for selling babies in the spring, because they sell really well, but we would primarily milk the Oberhasli's. We would then be selling both mini-Oberhasli kids (Nigerian and Oberhasli crosses) and pure Nigerian kids. We would not have any pure Oberhasli kids because we only have a Nigerian buck. The babies of the Oberhasli's will be multi-colored like our Nigerians have been, but I think the mothers will only have two babies instead of one to six like our Nigerian's. Nigerian Oberhasli crosses would be only a little bigger than Nigerians but would make quite a bit more milk!

Mamie is our best milker, and she only gives about a half to three quarters of a gallon a day

We have never had Oberhasli milk so I don't know how it will taste compared to Nigerian milk which is supposed to taste the best and creamiest of all goat milk. I have heard that Oberhasli milk is said to be one of the sweetest of goat milk, so maybe it will be very similar to Nigerian milk, but we will just have to see.

Nutmeg, one of our best milkers, grazing our field

So, if we end up getting Oberhasli's we will let you know how they turn out. If you own this breed of goat we would appreciate if you could let us know how you like them.