Meat · Breed · Short entry
Boer
A meat goat from the Eastern Cape of South Africa, with a white body and a red head and neck. The improved type dates from the 1920s and a breed society was established in 1959. Fast-growing, well-muscled and prolific, it is now raised worldwide.
From farm goat to improved meat breed
An FAO survey of African small ruminants says the Boer probably comes from local stock crossed with Dutch and Indian goats. The name Boer was first used in the mid-nineteenth century to tell short-haired goats from the recently imported Angoras. The improved type dates from the 1920s, the modern breed was developed in the Eastern Cape, and a breed society was established in 1959. Races de France describes early crosses around 1900 between local Eastern Cape goats and imported European dairy breeds, and dates the breed standard to 1959.
The FAO account notes that horns may be present or absent in both sexes. Males carry strong, backward-curving horns, and females lighter, scimitar-shaped ones.