Health Questions That Matter Most for a Boer Goat
Ask about herd health before you ask about anything else, because a Boer goat carries its herd's history home with it. Ask whether the breeder tests for the common chronic diseases of goats and whether they run a closed herd or buy animals in, since every introduced goat is a health event for the herd it joins. Ask to see the whole herd, not just the kid you are offered: a pen of bright, well-fleshed Boers with clean coats tells you more than any single answer.
Ask specifically about parasites, the central management battle of goat keeping. Which worms trouble this farm, how does the breeder decide who needs treatment, and have they seen treatments stop working? A breeder who monitors rather than dosing blindly, and who can describe their rotation and pasture management, is raising goats that will cope on ordinary land. Ask, too, whether kids are raised with access to browse and grazing or entirely indoors, because a Boer kid that has never grazed arrives with neither the habits nor the gut flora for your pasture.
The Individual Goat: Parents, Rearing, and Condition
Ask which buck and doe produced this goat, and whether you can see both. A Boer doe shows you mature size and udder quality; the buck shows you the growth and muscling the breed is famous for. Ask how the kid was reared — dam-raised kids tend to be warier and thriftier, bottle-raised kids tamer and more demanding — because that choice shapes your first months of handling either way.
Ask to handle the goat yourself. Feel along the back for condition under the coat, look at the feet and ask when they were last trimmed, check that the bite meets the dental pad squarely, and watch the goat walk away from you for soundness in all four legs. Ask its exact age and whether it has been disbudded, castrated, or left entire, and why the breeder made that call for this animal.
Feeding, Worming Records, and What Happens After Sale
Ask what the goat eats today, in specifics: the hay, any concentrate and how much, the mineral on offer, and whether minerals are formulated for goats, since a Boer moved suddenly onto a different regime can scour, bloat, or lose condition quickly. Bring a supply of the farm's feed home with you, or at least the name of it, and change diets over days, not overnight.
Ask for the goat's treatment history in writing — worming dates and what was used, any illness and how it resolved, feet trims — and ask what the breeder wants you to do in the first month: when to worm next, when to trim, when to call them. Then ask the after-sale question plainly: if this goat sickens or proves unsuited in the first weeks, will you advise me, and would you take it back? Boer breeders who stand behind their goats say so without hesitation.
Deciding Whether This Breeder Earns Your Money
A good Boer seller answers health questions with records, invites you into the pens, and asks you questions back — about your fencing, your shelter, your other goats, and your plans — because a fast-growing meat breed placed badly fails for everyone. Walk away from pressure, from kids sold too young, and from herds you are not allowed to see.
Take your notes home with the goat, not in your head. When the sale is complete, KinsLe Transferrable Profiles move the breeder's worming dates, feed details, and parentage notes into the goat's own profile, keeping the answers you asked for attached to the animal they describe.