MINI NUBIAN GOATS
Welcome to our dedicated Mini Nubian Goat page. This is a mid-sized dairy goat breed in development here in Australia. We have partnered with the Miniature Dairy Goat Association to adopt their breed standards and grading system. You can connect with our leading Mini Nubian breeders here to find out more about these gorgeous animals.
MINI NUBIAN BREEDERS
Interested in getting into Mini Nubian goats or expanding your current herd? Connect with a premium breeder here.
This breed is made up of ancestry from Anglo Nubian and miniature goats. In the States, the Nigerian Dwarf is used, however here in Australia we have our homegrown miniature goat, as well as those breeding Aussie Mini goats with some Mini Nubian features, including 'Nuwby' goats contributing to the breed. This breed is still in development phase here in Australia, however we are lucky to have a number of long-time dedicated breeders in the country, and another Association that is recognising these animals as a mid-size, rather than miniature. We hope to attract more Members into, or already working in the Mini Nubian breed to our group.
Does are trading between $750-$1,000, with bucks from around $1,000.
MINI NUBIAN BREED STANDARDS
The Mini-Nubian is known for being a majestic, upright animal and comes in any colour or pattern of short, fine, glossy hair. This is a mid-sized goat with does ideally up to 65cm and bucks up to 75cm, known for its ease of milking; producing a high quantity and quality of milk whose butterfat yield is similar to that of the standard Nubian. The breed character that sets the Mini-Nubian apart from other breeds, is a nose that is never dished, but slightly to strongly convex (with the strongly convex being more desirable), as well as distinctive, long, wide, and pendulous ears that when held along the face reach the end of the nose.
GENERAL APPEARANCE AND CONFORMATION
GENERAL APPEARANCE majestic, exotic, upright animal with proud head carriage. Structurally correct dairy animals displaying femininity/ masculinity, length of body and smoothness of blending throughout. Distinctive breed character contributed by the shape of the head, long, pendulous ears, slightly rounded rump and relatively straight legs.
FRONT END assembly prominent withers blending smoothly from neck into topline. Shoulders tightly attached and elbows laid in against body wall. Deep and wide chest, with moderately extended brisket.
BACK, TOPLINE & RUMP rump strong broad and slightly rounded across the hips, sloping gently to the tail. Well defined vertebrae, topline slightly higher at the withers, then leveling out through the chine and loin, may rise slightly to the hips. Good width from loin to rump. Tail head smoothly set slightly above pin bones that are set wide apart. Tail symmetrical to body.
FEET & LEGS flat bone and strong throughout. Set wide - front legs wide and under withers, back legs straight as seen from rear, and angled from side. Straighter in the back legs than the other dairy breeds. Pasterns strong and flexible. Feet pointing forward with toes close together. Feet uniform toe to heel.
Snr Doe 30, Jnr Doe 45, Buck 45 points
HEAD AND BREED CHARACTER
HEAD is short in length with arched profile. Tapered muzzle with flat nostrils; even bite; alert eyes set wide apart; strong jaw with angular lean throat junction dewlap acceptable. Distinctive, long, wide and pendulous ears set low on the head. Long and graceful neck blending into shoulder. Any eye colour. Disbudded or polled.
DAIRY CHARACTER free from excess flesh and coarseness. High withers, good width and length from chest through to escutcheon. Thighs wide apart, highly arched and out-curving into the escutcheon. No part of the Mini-Nubian should be coarse.
BONE long and flat with clean bone structure.
SKIN 'dairy skin' - loose, thin, soft and supple. Ideally tan to black in colour.
COAT Any pattern of short, fine, glossy hair.
SIZE - Does up to 65cm measured at withers. Bucks up to 75cm.
Snr Doe 25, Jnr Doe 30, Buck 30 points
BODY CAPACITY
BARREL large capacity increasing in depth from heart girth to flank. Body capacity and depth appropriate with level of maturity for juniors.
CHEST deep and wide chest with well sprung fore ribs that blends smoothly into the barrel.
Snr Doe 15, Jnr Doe 15, Buck 15 points
REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
UDDER is well-attached, globular, balanced when viewed from both the side and rear. Capacious but with floor level well above the hocks. Texture is soft, pliable and elastic, well collapsed after milking.
FORE UDDER is wide and smoothly blends into the abdominal wall.
REAR UDDER is high and wide in natural arch-shaped escutcheon.
SUPPORT well supported with strong medial suspensory ligament that clearly defines the udder halves, contributes to desirable shape and capacity, holds the udder snugly against the body. Good lateral attachments extending down the inside of the thigh.
TEATS uniform in size, clearly delineated teats. Cylindrical in shape, ideally plumb. Teat size in proportion to udder capacity and appropriately placed on udder floor for ease of milking - pointed almost straight down or slightly forward.
VULVA normal in size and shape.
BUCKS - Two fully descended testicles of even size, healthy and firm. Two cylindrical teats of uniform length and size, symmetrically placed, free of deformities or multiple orifices. Normal sheath.
Snr Doe 30, Jnr Doe 10, Buck 10 points
MINI NUBIAN BREED FAULTS
Disqualifying Faults: Wry face; overshot jaw; teats - double, supernumerary, multiple orifices, blind teat, sprigs, spurs; undescended testicle/s; split testicle over 3cm; hermaphrodism; does over 65cm, bucks/wethers over 75cm; horns or scurs over 5cm; serious emaciation; total blindness; permanent lameness; genetic hernia; upright ears, airplane ears, ears that do not come to the start of the nostril, dished nose.
Faults to be judged on severity: Crooked or malformed feet, cow or bow hocked, dropped weak or long pasterns, splayed feet; roach or sway back, loose shoulders, shallow body, narrow chest, steep rump, short rump, flat rump, decreasing width of rump; swiss rear leg set; pendulous, fleshy, unduly divided udder, pocket, lack of capacity, undefined medial; uneven, bulbous, extremely small or thick, sideways pointing teats; folded ears; pendulous scrotum; divided scrotum over 1cm, scrotum small for age. undershot jaw (note that it is acceptable for Mini Nubian to have teeth extended slightly beyond the dental pad). Straight nose, drop ears.
AGB INC REGISTRATION & GRADING
Our grading system and breed standards for our minis have been adopted from the Miniature Dairy Goat Association (USA) adapted for Australia. All photographs in this section are from the MDGA website and we are grateful to be able to include them here with permission as such a wonderful reference to the Mini Nubian, and miniature dairy breed breed standards in general.
Find out more about the Mini-Nubian breed in the US at the MDGA website.
THIS IS A BREED IN DEVELOPMENT ULTIMATELY BREEDING TO PUREBRED STATUS (GEN 5):
Note to be eligible for grading as a PUREBRED:
* Ears must be pendulous and must reach the end of the mouth at minimum as an adult, with the ideal being longer.
* When registering kids, ears must be past the nose or they will not be at the minimum by maturity.
* Bucks may reach to the beginning of the nostril at minimum with the ideal being longer than the mouth.
DISQUALIFICATION FROM AUSTRALIAN OR PUREBRED HERDBOOKS
Animals will be disqualified from Australian or Purebred herdbook and placed into the Foundation or Australian herdbook despite generation if they have any of the following:
Disqualified from Australian herdbook if:
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Animal is over 75% or under 25% of either parent breed
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Animal has ears that fit the airplane or drop (except ¾ drop) categories
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Animal that has ears that do not come to at least the start of the nostril
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Animal that has a dished nose
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Animal is over height
Disqualified from PUREBRED herdbook if:
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Animal is over 70% or under 30% of either parent breed
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Animal has ears that fit into Airplane, Drop, or ¾ Drop
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Animal with ears that do not meet together at the end of the mouth
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Animal that has a dished or straight nose
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Animal is over height
**NOTE ON HEIGHTS: Measured at 3 years.
PROGENY OF DEMOTED HERDBOOK ANIMALS
If an animal is demoted to Foundation or Australian due to not meeting the breed standard, they will receive an asterisk, * at the end of their registration number. If the demoted animal’s offspring meets generation AND breed standard, the offspring will then be placed in the proper herdbook. If the offspring does not meet the standard and/or generation, then they will be put into the herdbook that they meet requirements.
If any animal applying for the Purebred herdbook has ¾ ears and/or ears do not meet to the end of the mouth, they will be moved to the Australian herdbook provided they meet the additional requirements.
Note: Animals currently registered in Australia will be recognised. Where the animal meets the 'Australian' requirements, and the % Nubian/Miniature is potenitally not known, the animal may be eligble to enter as Gen 2 instead of Foundation. Evaluated on case by case basis.
EAR DESIGNATION EXAMPLES AND DESCRIPTIONS
This image shows the difference in the space between the ear and face as well as how/where the ear base meets the head that helps determine how the ears will be judged.
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Pendulous: Parallel/nearly parallel to the face, held closely to the head. Base of ear held very close to the head.
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3/4 Drop: Ears veer away from the face at more of an angle versus parallel. Base of ear not as tightly held to the head.
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Drop: Ears veer very far from the face. Base of ear comes away from the head. Foundation animals only.
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Airplane ears: Foundation animals only.
Examples of each designation courtesy of the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
EXAMPLE OF 'AIRPLANE EARS'
Ears that proceed straight out from the head (as in airplane wings). They may have the slightest drop downward or the slightest rise upward a bit. FOUNDATION ANIMALS ONLY.
Examples of each designation courtesy of the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
EXAMPLE OF 'DROP EARS'
DROP - This designation encompasses anything between Airplane and ¾ drop.
These ears will have significant space between the head/face and ear when the ears are at rest, note they are not parallel with the head and flare out from the base of the ear where it meets the head.
This designation will also include ears that are too short even though they may be close to the head or appear pendulous. Too short is anything less than meeting at the beginning of the nostril (for Australian) or meeting at the end of the mouth. (for Purebred).
Examples of each designation courtesy of the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
EXAMPLE OF '3/4 DROP EARS'
3/4 DROP - This designation is allowed in the Foundation and Australian grading system only.
All Australian animals must have ¾ drop or pendulous ears. The difference between Drop and ¾ Drop is that ¾ drop ears must reach the beginning of the nostril and have minimal space between the face and the ears and lay more parallel to the face. Note the difference in space between the ear and face in the drop and ¾ drop picture examples.
Australian Gen 2+ animals should have as close to pendulous as possible so that when you get to Purebred, ears will be ideal.
Examples of each designation courtesy of the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
EXAMPLE OF 'PENDULOUS EARS'
Long ears that are set close at the area of attachment to the head and follow that closeness down the face. The ears will stay close to the head as they flow down, hanging down and flaring out and forward at their rounded tip, creating a “bell” shape. Ears must also reach the end of the mouth at minimum, but ideally going beyond, when held parallel along the face (or well past the nose for kids, as ears will shorten a bit as they mature).
Ideal ears would come down parallel (straight) from the head without flaring away from the face (when at rest) as this keeps the ears close to the head. Acceptable ears for the PB herdbook can have minimal space between the face/head and ears as long as they hang straight or parallel to the face. If the ears start to veer from being parallel to the face too much, they will be placed in ¾ or Drop (depending on how far from the head) and will not be accepted into the PB herdbook, rather being put into the Australian (if ¾) or Foundation (if drop) grading.
Examples of each designation courtesy of the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
EAR LENGTH
When entering the Purebred herdbook, as kids, ears should reach the end of the nose and touch at the tips when held along side the face. In order for ears to reach the end of the mouth by maturity, they must reach past the nose and touch, as a kid.
For an adult entering the PB herdbook, ears must reach the end of the mouth at minimum, past the mouth is ideal. For adult BUCKS entering the PB herdbook, their ears must come to the beginning of the nostril at minimum.
Examples of each designation courtesy of the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
EAR LENGTH AUSTRALIAN BOOK
The following ear lengths are accepted into the Australian book as they reach at minimum, the beginning of the nostril but will not necessarily reach the end of the mouth and touch. They must also be at least ¾ drop or pendulous to be in the Australian book.
Examples of each designation courtesy of the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
STRAIGHT NOSE
STRAIGHT and DISHED NOSES: Dished noses are not acceptable. Straight or Convex noses are accepted in Foundation or Australian herdbook. If an adult animal is entering the Purebred herdbook and has a straight nose, they will be placed into the Australian herdbook provided they have the proper ears, otherwise they will be placed into the Foundation book
Examples of each designation courtesy of the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
EXAMPLES OF CONVEX NOSE
The ideal nose will have a strong curvature or arched look to it (ideal).
However, concerning the Purebred herdbook, as long as there is ANY, even slight, curvature, the animal will be accepted.
Mini Nubians noses do not fully mature until well into adulthood. The registrars are fully aware of this and take this into consideration when evaluating kid and adult pictures submitted for the Purebred herdbook.
Examples of each designation courtesy of the Miniature Dairy Goat Association.
