Boer History

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Origins

     Ancestors of the boer goat can be traced back as far as AD 1200 in Uganda.  After many, many years, these first African caprines developed into a tough breed of roan-colored goats who lived mainly in South Africa.  They were used by farmers to munch away all of the browse that was inedible to other livestock such as cattle, mutton sheep, and angora goats.

    There was a mixture of all types of traits:  long ears, short ears, red goats, spotted goats, red-headed goats with white bodies, polled goats, horned goats, short, glossy haired goats, and long, coarse haired goats.  Certain traits were more desirable.  These included short, glossy hair (it was a warmer climate), horned goats (to better protect themselves), longer-eared goats (preferred look), and a red-headed, white-bodied goat (easier to see in dense brush, yet still with skin pigmentation for protection from sunlight).

    In the 20th century, the late Mr. T. B. Jordaan of Buffelsfontein, Somerset East, bought a dapple-colored buck and started the refinement of the boer goat. The name "boer" - the Dutch word for farmer - was probably used to distinguish the native goats from angora goats that were imported into South Africa in the nineteenth century.  The goats were bred to have light red heads and white bodies, short, muscular legs, long, pendulous ears, plenty of skin pigmentation, and well-muscled bodies (especially the hindquarters).  Compared to the “unimproved” stock, the new boers must be able to have kids with a higher rate of gain and should be able to be slaughtered from five to nine months.

    Meanwhile, some goat breeders decided that the “new” color of the boer goat—red head and white body—was not as attractive as the original roan- and red-colored goats.  So, by just using stock from the “improved” boer goats and the “unimproved” original African boer goats, these breeders created a breed known as Kalahari-Red-Goats.  However, these goats never became quite as popular as the original “new and improved” boers.

    Soon the boer goat was imported to many countries, the first being Germany in 1977.  Then came New Zealand ten years later.  Australia imported boers in 1988. Boer embryos were imported to North America, to a study center in Canada.  The breed was publicly released to Canada and the United States in 1993.  Since then, the boer goat has only gained popularity.

Colors

        Traditional/Correct-colored boers are those with a red head and white body.  This coloration is called "correct" or "traditional" because in Africa (where the original boer goat was developed) the most sought-after goats had reddish heads and white bodies.  However, these goats were not the most popular because of milk or meat production, nor hide quality, nor mothering capabilities, but because they were easier to see in the dense brush in South Africa where they browsed.  So the myth that traditional boers have the highest quality carcass of all boers because of their coloring ins untrue.  In fact, the original boer goats were not traditionally colored (they were most commonly roan/solid red).  The white color gene was brought in to cover up the red so that the boers would be more visible to the goat herders.  The breeders left a red head on the goats because if the goats were to be completely white, they would be considered sacred.  The people would not be able to eat the sacred goats or use there hide, etc.  Another advantage in preserving the red head was to retain the dark skin pigmentation (white animals often have pink skin) so the boers wouldn't get burned by the sun.  Boers can have white hair over pigmented skin because the white color gene is merely covering up the red hair, and therefore the color gene is still present.

   Non-traditional goats -- solid red, paint (large splotches of color on a white background), or black-headed boers, and even solid black boers -- are becoming quite popular today, especially in the northwest where some high-quality animals are entering the show arenas.  These color variations can be quite beautiful, and create an interesting niche for breeders.  For example, paints have genes to produce all of the different boer colorations (with their personal shade of red or black), and it really only matters which buck or doe that they are paired with.  Of course, it is possible for a traditional-colored doe to throw colored kids, or a solid-colored doe to throw traditional kids, but it is much more likely for a paint doe to throw all of the colors.  Goats with a black head can produce kids with black coloration, which is relatively new.  It is still quite rare to see many black boers.

    However, there is still some resistance in the boer goat community to these "non-traditional" colors with some assuming a connection of superior muscling and bone structure to the traditional color genes.  This is not supported in my research.  However, some say that in a side-by-side visual evaluation of two equally muscled goats, with one of traditional color, and the other solid, the traditional may have the illusion of greater muscling due to its white coat.  (Remember, dark colors are slimming).  This is why a judge should always make an effort to feel the goats to decide which ones have the better muscling. 

    The roots of this muscling myth may be traced back to a few irresponsible breeders who, once the solid-colored boers became rarer, bred their goats for coloration, without regard to conformation.  The effect was an isolated group of colored boers with sub-par conformation and rate of gain.  This may have given the impression that "all colored boers are of poor quality."  Now-a-days most breeders of colored boers use traditional stock and high-quality red stock and produce beautifully muscled animals.  In summary, we should not limit our view of the boer as a red-headed, white bodied animal when it naturally supports many color varieties.  Interestingly, the Kalahari-Red-Goat, a breed of goat that is derived solely from stock of the red-headed boer goats and "unimproved" boer goat stock (the original boer goats in South Africa), consists of only red animals.

   

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