Assessing Nigerian Dwarf Goat Milk Production

Reading Time: 6 minutes
BREEDERS FACE A QUANDARY when it comes to Nigerian Dwarf goat milk production. Among all dairy goat breeds, larger goats make more milk. The American Dairy Goat Association encourages breeding larger goats in standard-sized breeds. But Nigerian Dwarf goats are confined to a height maximum, so judging their production by the sheer quantity of milk has the negative potential of driving up the breed’s average size to a point where many goats surpass the maximum height limit.
The Livestock Conservancy recognizes this issue by stating, about Nigerian Dwarf goats, “Selection for production qualities tends to increase the size of the goats, while selection as a companion animal may emphasize small size. Breed conservation will be best served by building consensus around a vision for the breed that includes its unique combination of characteristics.”
Nigerian Dwarf goats are so popular for small homestead dairying because of their charming and easy-to-manage size. Moving away from that in pursuit of more milk would harm the breed’s future success. Therefore, I propose that evaluating Nigerian Dwarf goat milk production based on milkto- body-weight ratios instead of total milk poundage will encourage the breeding of highly efficient milking does while preserving the breed’s distinctive miniature size.
What is a Milk-to-Body-Weight Ratio?
A milk-to-body-weight ratio (MBWR) is defined as how many pounds of milk a doe produces per pound of body weight. Say, for example, that a 75-pound doe produces 900 pounds of milk during a standard 305-day lactation. Dividing 900 by 75, we arrive at 12 pounds of milk produced per pound of body weight (or 12:1).

Compare the above doe to a 50-pound doe producing 800 pounds of milk during the same period. The second doe produces 16 pounds of milk per pound of body weight (16:1). Based on MBWRs, the second doe is a significantly better producer for her size, even though her total quantity of milk is lower. We entirely overlook this fact when simply comparing total milk weights. The first doe would have to produce 1,200 pounds of milk to equal the second doe’s MBWR of 16:1. This illustrates why the question, “How much milk does a Nigerian Dwarf goat produce?” is, in my opinion, best answered with MBWRs when it comes to breeding and dairying purposes.
The Goal
While focusing on breeding for high MBWRs would ’t devalue larger, high-producing Nigerian Dwarf goats (nor does it seek to), it would allow smaller goats to compete on an equal playing field. Breeders could keep smaller goats without being put at a discouraging disadvantage in the production arena. This, in turn, would reduce selective pressure for larger, taller goats. Furthermore, it would help mold the breed into highly efficient dairy animals, increasing the appeal and practicality of raising Nigerian Dwarf goats for milk on homesteads and small dairying operations.
Implementation
Farms must be able to accurately measure and record Nigerian Dwarf goat milk and body weights to obtain correct ratios. Weighing milk on a calibrated scale and officially recording milk poundage is already routine for those who milk test through the Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) program. For those not enrolled in DHI, a kitchen scale and an organized notebook or file work well for documenting milk weights.
A platform scale, such as a large pet or small livestock scale, is suitable for weighing Nigerian Dwarf goats. Currently, budget small platform scales start around $150. Prices of higher-quality scales range up into the high hundreds and the thousands. Each doe must be weighed every month through her lactation because a doe’s weight changes throughout a single lactation. After the lactation is complete, we determine her average weight (which is used to figure her MBWR) by adding all the weights and dividing by the number of weights taken.

Consistency is essential for obtaining accurate data. The doe should have access to the same amount of feed and water before weighing to minimize skewed numbers caused by differences in feed and water consumption. Weigh the doe at the same time each month — or, in other words, about a month from the last time she was weighed. Milk her beforehand so milk weight is not included in the body weight measurement.
For those herds enrolled in DHI, it’d be fairly simple to weigh does after the monthly milk test. To lend credibility to the data, the milk tester or supervisor could observe and record the weighing of each doe on a professionally calibrated scale. Eventually, we can make this a voluntary part of the official program. However, I would want to make sure it’s optional for milk testing Nigerian Dwarf goats since the extra cost may discourage many herd owners from participating in DHI.
Considerations
As with any production evaluation, the final good or bad results will be affected by feeding and management practices and the milking routine. How often do you have to milk Nigerian Dwarf goats to achieve the best results? Preferably twice a day. Does milked once a day produce less.

Obviously, recording milk weights and body weights for less than 305 days will yield lower ratios. While these ratios help compare does at the same lactation stage, they may confuse other people. Therefore, I suggest publicly releasing only ratios based on data gathered for 305 days (or close to it) or clarifying how many days data was collected to calculate the MBWR. I prefer sticking to the first option until we better understand how incomplete-lactation MBWRs relate to complete-lactation MBWRs. We can’t extrapolate incompletelactation data to calculate complete-lactation MBWRs because does may start strong but have poor production stamina and end with much lower MBWRs than the initial data suggested.
Furthermore, several factors define milk production efficiency, such as the amount of feed consumed per pound of milk produced. While fully addressing that subject goes beyond the scope of this article, it’s worth remembering.
Potential Problems
Why do we need MBWRs at all? Why can’t we compare the amount of milk to the height of the goat? This option has been available for decades without solving the problem because it doesn’t provide precise criteria for comparing shorter and taller goats. Additionally, since it’s only sometimes closely correlated to weight, height is inadequate for determining milk production efficiency.
One might ask if using MBWRs to evaluate Nigerian Dwarf goat milk production would favor high-maintenance, lightweight individuals compared to their height or frame. This isn’t an issue of serious concern, as these goats tend to produce less milk because they struggle more to maintain body condition and can’t put as much energy into milk production. Suppose one farm can keep them in sufficiently good condition to achieve impressive MBWRs. In that case, the problem in the bloodline will become evident on another farm that manages less rigorously.

This, however, highlights that we can’t take one data point and base our entire breeding program on it, as the goats are likely to become out of balance in other areas. Therefore, combining MBWRs with additional information (such as height measurements, body condition scores, linear appraisal data, and milk component readouts) is essential for adequately evaluating each goat.
My Observations
I’ve just started this program with my herd and made some interesting initial observations. One of our does, Avalon, is near the Nigerian Dwarf doe height limit at 22 3/8 inches tall. She weighs 78 pounds. Another doe named Bunny Tracks is relatively small at 19 inches and 65 pounds. As second-fresheners a little over 2 ½ years old, Avalon produced 784 pounds of milk, and Bunny Tracks produced 790 pounds during their official 305-day milk tests. Note that the body weights were taken some time after the completion of the 305-day test, but for the sake of discussion, let’s assume the does were fairly close to their full-grown sizes.
Even though the amount of milk they each produced is virtually the same, Bunny Tracks’ MBWR of 12:1 is much better than Avalon’s MBWR of 10:1. We’re milk testing both of them again right now, so it will be interesting to see how their mature MBWRs compare.
Of course, this is a work in progress with the potential for surprises that require us to fine-tune the methodology I propose here. Overall, however, I expect that assessing Nigerian Dwarf goat milk production based on milk-to-body-weight ratios will yield beneficial data for selecting and improving the breed as a miniature dairy animal.

________________________________________
REBECCA KREBS is a freelance writer who breeds registered Nigerian Dwarf goats at Krebs Dairy Goats in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. She enjoys poring over pedigrees and participating in the DHIR milk test program. Find her farm online at www.krebs.farm.
SOURCES:
- (2023) 2023 Guidebook (pp. 41-42). American Dairy Goat Association.
- The Livestock Conservancy (n.d.). Nigerian Dwarf Goat. Retrieved July 24, 2023, from livestockconservancy.org