Meat Goat Breeds: A Comparison

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There are several options when it comes to meat goat breeds. Find out which one will fit best with your family and your needs.
GOATS WERE ONE OF THE FIRST animals domesticated by humanity, after dogs and alongside sheep. Raised for their meat and milk, goats provided protein that helped humans survive. This resulted in significant changes in how humans lived and thrived.
These days, goats are often overlooked as a meat source and are primarily used for cheese production or other dairy products. With the increase in cattle farming in Europe, the use of many sheep and meat goat breeds dwindled. Goats remain a good choice for meat animals. They require less feed per pound of meat produced than cattle and can often be raised in areas where cattle fail to thrive. They produce red meat that is low in fat, high in protein, and high in iron.
For backyard farmers looking for options for their freezer, meat goats are an excellent choice. Several meat goat breeds are frequently available, with the Boer, Kiko, Myotonic, and Spanish goats being some of the most common options.
Boer Meat Goat
Boer goats hail originally from South Africa and are frequently what most people think of when discussing meat goat breeds. They’ve become well known for their size, calm demeanor, and ability to thrive in hot, dry climates.
Boers often bear twins (or even quintuplets). They’re good mothers with a high fat content in their milk, allowing quick weight gain in their offspring. They tend to have split teats, making them unsuitable for most dairy programs. They’re also often raised with the horns intact, a trait some breeders find undesirable.

Boer goat size
Boers are popular, in large part, because of their size. Does can reach up to 250 pounds, while bucks can reach an impressive 350 pounds. They’re often crossed with other meat breeds to improve stock or growth rates.
However, for families looking for just enough to feed themselves or people without the physical capabilities to handle such a large animal, the Boer goat size can be daunting.

Boer goat disadvantages
While found worldwide, Boers were originally bred for hot, dry climates. Humid areas, like the southeastern United States, can prove a challenge.
Studies have shown that, in these climates, Boer does suffer from higher parasite loads, are less likely to produce offspring, and, in general, show “decreased levels of fitness” when compared with Kiko or Spanish goats. They’re likely to go lame and — in one 6-year study — over 50% of does had to be culled at the two-year mark when raised in subtropic conditions.
Kiko Meat Goat
The Kiko goat was developed in New Zealand and also has become a popular meat goat in many areas. The build of the Kiko is distinct from their Boer competition. They have a more “traditional” goat look, with curling horns on the bucks that grow out to the sides, a more delicate nose, and a shaggier coat.
Kiko goat size
Kikos are similar in size to the Boer and share many traits that have made the Boer so popular. They have a similar size, reach slaughter weight in a similar time frame, and have about the same spacing requirements — no more than 6 to 8 goats per acre of pasture.

Kiko meat goat advantages
In the same 6-year study, the Kiko has been shown to thrive better in humid areas than the Boer. When bred under the same subtropical conditions, Kiko does weighed less at birthing than their Boer counterparts and gave birth to lighter young.

However, by weaning, their kids weighed more than the Boer, the mothers had fewer incidences of lameness, lower parasite loads, and, throughout the study, the survivability of Kiko does in the study outstripped both Boer and Spanish goats.
Myotonic Goats (Tennessee Fainting Goat)
Myotonic goats are probably recognized more today for their “fainting” abilities than their use as meat goats.
Myotonic goats can’t relax their muscles after being startled, resulting in a tendency to stiffen up and fall over — a condition called myotonia congenita. While a poor defense for predators, this behavior does make these goats easier to contain than most, since they can’t jump fences.

Myotonic goat size
Fainting goats are significantly smaller than Boer — defined by the Myotonic Goat Registry as the largest bucks weighing in at about 200 pounds. The weight range varies from 80 to 120 pounds, making them desirable to breeders seeking smaller meat animals. Some only reach about 50 pounds, and these are often used as companion animals or pets.
Myotonic meat goat growth rate
They’re also likely to grow slower than the Boer, with the registry noting that fast, early growth isn’t always beneficial to this breed. This gives the Myotonic goat a unique muscle structure.
Studies at Virginia State University suggest the Myotonics’ meat-to-bone ratio is higher than most meat goats because of this build. While most goats used for meat have about a 3:1 ratio, the Tennessee Fainting goat is closer to a 4:1 ratio.

Still, they’re an increasingly popular meat goat with breeders, though they only developed their breed standard of recognized association in the 1980s.
Spanish Goat
The Spanish goat is one of the oldest meat goat breeds in the United States. Having been here longer than any other known breed, the Spanish goat has adapted marvelously to the wide variety of climates found in the country, in particular those in the southern parts of the country.
With the Boer and Kiko influx to southern states, the Spanish goat became endangered — bred almost exclusively to improve these other meat breeds. Spanish does have been shown to have higher rates of fertility, and when crossbred with Boer, the offspring have been shown to have a faster rate of development. While these are certainly economically positive traits, breeders of the Spanish goat — especially in Texas — strive to ensure it continues to be bred.

Spanish goat size
The Spanish goat is a significantly smaller breed than other meat breeds. Early animals were only about 75 to 80 pounds. Selection has resulted in larger animals, about 125 pounds. Attempts to breed even larger animals produced animals of up to 150 pounds but showed a significant reduction in the hardiness that makes them valuable to the area.
This has resulted in an animal of reasonable size for smaller homesteads, able to forage and reproduce with little assistance. They maintain the heartiness of their ancestors while providing a reasonably sized carcass for homesteading families.
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SHERRI TALBOT is the co-owner and operator of Saffron and Honey Homestead in Windsor, Maine. She raises endangered, heritage breed livestock and hopes someday to make education and writing on conservation breeding her full-time job. Details can be found at SaffronandHoneyHomestead.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/SaffronandHoneyHomestead.
SOURCES:
- Browning Jr., R; Leite- Browning, M.L. and Byars, Jr., M. (2011) Reproductive and health traits among Boer, Kiko and Spanish meat goats under humid, subtropical pasture conditions of the southeastern United States. American Society of Animal Science. 80:648-660
- Kukovics, S. (Ed.). (2020). Goats (Capra) – From Ancient to Modern. IntechOpen. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.73776
- Lou, J.; Sahlu, T.; Cameron, M. and Goetsh, A.L.. (2000) Growth of Spanish, Boer x Angora and Boer x Spanish goat kids fed milk replacer. Small Ruminant Research. 36:189-194
- Myotonic Goat Registry, Breed Description. (2005) https://myotonicgoatregistry. net/MGRbreeddescription/ MGRBreeddescription.html.
- Myotonic of Tennessee Fainting Goat (nd) The Livestock Conservancy. https://livestockconservancy. org/heritage-breeds/ heritage-breeds-list/ myotonic-tennessee-faintinggoat/
- Pellerin, Ashley, N; & Browning, Richard. (2012) Comparison of Boer, Kiko, and Spanish meat goat does for stayability and cumulative reproductive output in the humid subtropical southeastern United States. BMC Veterinary Reasearch. 8:136