New from Northern California

[Stringinit]

Hi everyone. I'm a Backcountry wilderness hunter. I'm new to the packgoat world and am learning as much as I can before I get into this. I've read John Mionzynki's book, watched a ton of videos and listened to podcasts.

I'm looking at starting a string to help me stay in the mountains long as I can.

My top packgoat choice is Saanens, for their size and temperament. I am worried about them overheating.

2nd is Alpine for their medium size and better heat tolerance.

3rd Oberhasli for their reputation of being hardworking and are more accepting of water, but are a little small for my liking.

4th choice are Toggenburgs, but they might be too independent for my liking. 

I am open to crossbreeds. Endurance is my top priority.

99% of the time I'm hunting above 5-6000' up to 10000' plus. I'm not too worried about overheating. I usually hike in 2-5 miles and hunt from my spike camp 1-3 miles.

Steep, gnarly country is where I hunt most often. Hence the need for packgoats

Does anyone have suggestions, thoughts and tips?

[Nanno]

Welcome! I hope you find the perfect goats. I'm generally a big fan of crossbreds. There is definitely such a thing as hybrid vigor. Saanens are nice goats, but be very careful to choose ones with good feet and legs. That breed has a tendency toward having weak pasterns, splayed toes, and poor hoof quality. They can also tend toward the lazy end of the spectrum from what I've heard, but they are very kind and easy goats to work with. I love the long legs on them! If you're a hardcore hiker, you probably can't go too far wrong with Alpines. They really have the drive to "git 'er done." I've personally never heard anything bad about Toggs. They are powerhouses and tend to have amazing feet and legs with excellent bone structure. I've also heard a lot of great things about LaManchas and LaMancha crosses. Oberhaslis are naturally bold about crossing water. I'm interested to see how people like their Kikos. That breed has been gaining some traction lately but most are young enough at this point that the jury is still out on whether they have what it takes to make excellent packgoats.

In the end, though, it's going to come down to individual personality. A goat can have all the "breeding" in the world and still not have the will to work. And sometimes the least likely "breed" ends up doing the best job. I started breeding Alpine/Nubian crosses because our first goat, Cuzco, was an Alpine/Nubian cross. He was an amazing packgoat. He had almost perfect conformation with amazing feet and legs, he had incredible endurance, was smart as a whip, and he loved to work and work hard. He had personality problems at home (he was aggressive with people), but by golly that goat could shred a trail, and things like water or boulders or huge logs never fazed him.

Good luck finding the perfect packgoats! They're an awful lot of fun!

[Stringinit]

Thanks Nanno. I really appreciate your feedback.

I am too, curious about the Kiko crosses specifically their resistance to parasites. I'm just a little concerned about the size of their horns. They get huge. I do prefer goats with horns and wouldn't disbud them.

[Stringinit]

I just purchased these guys from a friend of a friend who bottle raised these two guys who are now 2.5 yr old 200# Saanen and a 2 yr old 160# Alpine. 

Getting pretty excited. I'm looking to buy a couple more bottle babies to add to my string.