New, cute dwarf Nubians promise big potential.

"Do you have goats?"

"Yes, I do. What kind were you looking for?"

"Well, you know, the ones with ears." (Good, we just eliminated La Manchas which I don't have anyway.)

"I see. Upright ears or pendulous?"

"Ears! You know, the ones that look like the inside-out pockets on a pair of sweat pants."

"You mean...Nubian ears?"

"Yes! That's the one. Can I come see them?"

After the initial conversation and on the way to the barn, I make a point to ask prospective customers what their expectations for their goats are. Do they want a milking goat? Do they want a pet? Do they want something for brush control? Or, do they just "want a goat"!

Right after we arrive at the first pen the comments are:

"They are beautiful! ...and so friendly...and so big!"

I take time to explain that, under ADGA standards for Nubians anything less than 30" at the withers and less than 135 pounds for does and less than 32" in height for bucks and less than 170 pounds is considered as having a moderate defect. (As taken from the American Dairy Goat Association Guidebook for 1996.)

"Well, we were looking for something a little smaller."

"Okay, I have Nigerian Dwarfs whose accepted maximum height according to the American Goat Society is 23.6" for bucks and 22.4" for does. (As taken from Browse, the official newsletter of the American Nigerian Dwarf Association-ANDA.)

"But they don't have cute ears!

Replay this conversation several hundred times in the past five years and you will see why we have gone to so much effort to breed "something a little smaller, with cute ears, that is still a dairy goat." i.e., the Dwarf Nubian.

The Dwarf Nubian is an experimental breed registered through the International Dairy Goat Registry, PO Box 309, Chicamauga, GA 30707, 706-375-4326.

IDGR keeps a strict herdbook and has been very helpful to us in establishing a base for the Dwarf Nubian. It invites correspondence and is very helpful to both established and new breeders. Our animals were the first registered Dwarf Nubians in the United States.

Dwarf Nubians are usually the cross of a Nigerian Dwarf buck and a Nubian doe. Desired characteristics are pendulous ears, short stature, semiroman nose, stocky but not cobby body conformation, medium hair coat, good mammary attachment, and all those other qualities you would expect in a fine dairy animal. In order to register offspring it is necessary that the buck and doe be registered in their respective registries.

In four years of experimenting, three of determined breeding, we have found that all of the above are possible, but possibly not all the time. The first several years I used a beautiful pure white Nigerian buck out of a Brush Creek Eisenhower breeding. I selected Nubian does of small stature, but with appropriate breed characteristics, with primarily flashy colors. The kids were for the most part born with pretty good ears, a few absolutely gorgeous "sweat pant pocket" ears and a few groaners. The kids exhibited good, although not tremendous body conformation, nice hair coats and fair to good mammary systems. But no great consistency.

Last year I changed to a pure black Nigerian buck out of Goodwood Mars, and more or less the same Nubian does. The first year crosses had beautiful bodies, very correct mammaries, okay noses, and the worst ears you have ever seen.

The previous year's crosses bred to a Dwarf Nubian buck of my own breeding produced in the second and third cross offspring, very nice pendulous ears, thrifty bodies with good conformation, although more Nubian than Nigerian, and correct and capacious udders very much like the original standard Nubians. The size remained smaller than the standard Nubians but they milked very well--4 to 6 lbs. a day for first fresheners of their size seemed quite adequate.

For a short time there was a registry started for Dwarf Nubians based in Broadalbin, NY. It wasn't able to continue beyond its first year. Two years ago I placed an ad in COUNTRYSiDE asking for people interested in what we called at that time "Nuberians" (experimental cross of Nigerian and Nubian) to contact me. I received letters from throughout the United States expressing interest in the breeding program.

Marketability: Two fronts. They are NEW! CUTE! SMALL! and in very short supply. Think of all the big $s you see going out for Pygmies. These are actually dairy goats with production capacity and teats long enough to get your hands on. We live on the edge, sometimes we think over the edge, of a very rapidly growing urban area. (300,000 new residents in the next 20 years just for our county.) There are still people who want to live beyond the sidewalks with large lots and small acreages. They want to be self sufficient, responsible, conscientious citizens, consuming as little as possible of other people's resources. Space, time and finances preclude a cow, sometimes it is even hard to fit in a large goat, but the Dwarf Nubians seem to do quite well. They also do quite well for older goat owners who can no longer handle the bigger standard size.

Personality: I, being admittedly prejudiced, think the Nubians have the world's best. Nigerians probably have one of the most interesting. Together you get a very interesting, sweet, warm, friendly, people oriented animal. The wethers are usually sold before they are out of the nursery. "Cute" should be stamped on their foreheads. Combined with the "Hi! I'm king of the mountain and I want to jump into your arms" personality, they fairly well sell themselves.

Kidding: So far we have had no difficulties and this may be attributable to the smaller size of the Nigerian line. We are on a CAE prevention program so all of our kids are taken at birth and put on pasteurized milk. Given the mothers' milk potential and their very evident distress in the removal of the kids, I would say they would be good mothers if the kids were left to nurse.

Growth: They are 1 to 1-1/2 pounds lighter than the standard Nubian at birth, but grow approximately at the same rate as the standard for the first four to six months. Where the standard Nubian will continue growing into their second year, by eight or nine months the Dwarf is as tall as they are going to be. Development and maturity continue at approximately the same rate as the standard.

Housing: Our animals for the majority of the year are part of our standard Nubian herd. I only separate at breeding time. They observe the same fencing requirements as my standard Nubians. You can keep them in a smaller barn space as you would any physically smaller animal. While the smaller barn space is true of the Nigerian, the fencing requirements are far different, at least for my Nigerian Dwarfs.

This probably isn't the time to tell you about Miss Moneypenny, my Nigerian doe who can actually climb fences and would put the world's best steeplechasers to shame. Her offspring, Bond-James-Bond and Pound Sterling, share her free thinking ideas and habits. My Nubians on the other hand, will not bother exerting themselves unless you leave the gate wide open. The Dwarf Nubians are perky, quick, friendly characters, Mr. and Ms. Personality Plus, but you don't need elk fencing to keep them in.

Drawbacks: Quality animals are very hard to find. There are a number of grade Dwarf Nubians, usually the result of an accidental vs. a planned breeding. Some breeders retain all their animals for resale. We have a very stringent criteria for our breeding animals. If you are into showing, there are no classifications yet for the Dwarf Nubian. It may be many years before there will be.

We know that we can breed the good characteristics into the succeeding generation of Dwarf Nubians with "good ears." What we will see this year is if we can breed the "bad" first generation ears up to "good" ears for their offspring. Consistency is a necessity. Right now we are still in the proving up process.

We would like to see a correct dairy goat of mid stature between the small Nigerian Dwarf and the large standard Nubian with a capacious well attached udder and delightful long, pendulous ears.

IDGR advises that it will take probably 8 generations to move from "Experimental" to full breed status if we are able to meet our projected goals. Our "projected" goals are to eventually have a Dwarf Nubian buck with a 28" maximum height and a Dwarf Nubian doe with a 27" maximum height measured at the withers.

Here are pictures of Auriana, a Dwarf Nubian doe (with ears to kill for even on a standard size Nubian) and her twin Dr. Pepper (whose ears qualify him for "wetherdom").

We invite correspondence.