I have read (in the goat packing book) that LaManchas are the smartest of the breeds.
I have 2 acres and have goats first for the contributions they can make to soil development, second to earn some money.
Currently I have two adult
dairy does. One LaMancha one Nubian. The Nubian seems dumber than dumb, stubborn, and very much a pain to deal with. When tethered out to graze - and under supervision-- the Nubian gets her foot tangled in less than 5 minutes. She pulls the cable really tight, she sometimes throws herself. In other situations, she is reluctant and cautious, very wary about and sometimes flat out won't jump up on the
milk stand. To dismount the milkstand, she plunges off into... it matters not what. Of
course I've moved things out of her way, and it's possible she just is not well suited to my arrangements. She won't lead, her response to everything is stubbornness, and throwing her weight against what ever it is. She does not calm down and react to the world around her. She carries a whole extra set of dangers and fears with her which she seems to overlay onto everything. She has trouble getting
enough to eat, because when she has the opportunity to graze, she is too busy paying attention to other things. On the milk stand she only eats a fraction of her grain. I call her psycho goat. She was not a good birther either. She is headed for the butcher when I don't need her milk any more.
By contrast, the LaMancha does not tangle herself up, if the cable gets around her hoof or lower leg, she does not just pull against it, she picks up her foot shakes it a bit to disentangle it. She is willing to jump up onto the milk stand, and is careful how she dismounts, turns herself around on the stand and steps down. She leads pretty well, even when she would rather stop and have another bite of today's favorite.
I had not wanted a LaMancha, thought the ear thing was just too weird, but the circumstances this spring were such that... I have her.
I had thought I wanted Nubians, which I would cross to Nigerians to get a smaller thriftier animal with higher butterfat. Now I wonder, would I be better off with LaManchas?
Now, I am curious. Is this a matter of two individuals, or do these differences, in varying amounts, run through the two breeds?
Any help out there?
Than ks
Thekla