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How to Understand the Percentages and Generations in a Mini Dairy Goat
By Eliya Forster - Green
Gables MiniNubians
 Mini-Dairy
goats are a group of new dairy breeds that are being created by taking a full
size dairy doe and breeding it to a Nigerian Dwarf buck. The goal is to produce
a mid-size dairy goat that looks like the standard size breed. One of the things
that has been confusing to many people is the percentages listed on the
pedigree. This is the amount of standard sized goat and Nigerian blood that is
in the Mini-Dairy goat. This article will attempt to explain where those numbers
come from. The other thing that is often misunderstood is the generation of a
mini-dairy goat. This article will also tackle that question.
Picture to left is of a full size Oberhasli, a MiniOber and a
Nigerian Dwarf.
Understanding Generations: A first generation (F1) is when one of the
parents is a Nigerian Dwarf (ND) or a Standard sized doe (one of the six
recognized dairy breeds – Alpine, LaMancha, Nubian, Oberhasli, Sannen,
Toggenburg). Usually the first cross is a ND buck x Standard doe rather than the
other way around. Then if you breed a F1 to another F1 you have a second
generation (F2). F2xF2 = F3 and so on. The generation of the kid is always one
generation higher than the lowest generation parent with the foundation animals
(ND or Standard breed) being considered ‘0 generations’. So, if you breed a F3
to a F1 it is a F2. Even if you bred a F6 to a F1 you would only have a F2.
The chart below shows the
generations for MiniNubians. Other Mini-Dairy breeds follow the same
pattern - just change 'Nubian' to the breed you are looking at.
|
Parent 1 |
Parent 2 |
Kids |
|
Purebred
Nubian or Nigerian |
Purebred
Nigerian or Nubian or any gen. MiniNubian |
1st
generation MiniNubian
Registered as Experimental |
|
1st
generation MiniNubian |
1st
generation or higher MiniNubian |
2nd
generation MiniNubian
Registered as Experimental |
|
2nd
generation MiniNubian |
2nd
or higher generation MiniNubian |
3rd
generation MiniNubian
Eligible for ‘American’ status IF meets breed
standard |
|
3rd
generation MiniNubian |
3rd
or higher generation MiniNubian |
4th
Generation MiniNubian
Eligible for ‘American’ status IF meets breed
standard |
|
4th
generation MiniNubian |
4th
or higher generation MiniNubian |
5th
Generation MiniNubian
Eligible for ‘American’ status IF meets breed
standard |
|
5th
generation MiniNubian |
5th
or higher generation MiniNubian |
6th
Generation MiniNubian
Eligible for ‘Purebred’ status IF meets breed
standard & parents & grandparents are American |
Understanding Percentages: First generation kids can also be produced
by breeding a Mini-Dairy buck (any generation) to a standard sized doe or a
Nigerian buck to a Mini-Dairy doe. The resulting kid's percentage is 75%
standard breed/25%Nigerian (Standard to mini) or 25% standard breed /75%Nigerian
(Nigerian to mini) and they are 1st generation. The kid from those breedings
will normally be bred to a 50/50 buck to get kids that are about 60/40 or 40/60.
These kids are second generation. In breeding MiniNubians, I prefer the kids
that are around 60%Nubian and 40%Nigieran. It lets me keep the height down but
still get good Nubian breed character.
Article by Eliya Forster -
Green Gables MiniNubians |
