Golden Guernsey Goat Breed – Everything You Need to Know

The Golden Guernsey is medium sized milk goat with a beautiful golden colored goat and sweet temperament.

Their milk levels are not as large as most of the Swiss dairy goat breeds, but it is super nutritious and excellent for the making of cheese.

This breed is quite rare to come by these days and listed by the American Livestock Conservancy.
They are well worth a thought if you are looking to either introduce new goats or to start keeping goats.

Golden Guernsey Goat Quick Profile Overview

The Golden Guernsey is on the watch list of the American Livestock Conservation as the numbers of this beautiful milk are a little bit low.
Country of Origin:	Guernsey
Other Names:	None
Breed Size:	Medium
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Main Purpose:	Milk
Can be used for	Breeding, Milk, Pets
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Temperament:	Docile, obedient and friendly
Good with Kids?	Supervised children are fine around these beautiful goats.
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Ideal Environment:	They take to penned pastures quite well as long as they have fresh grass or some greenery to graze on. They also need some equipment such as old tires, tables, etc. to climb on.
Ideal Climate:	All Climates
Conservation Status:	Yes Listed by the *ALC Status Listed as a breed to study as they are a rather rare breed
Health Issues?	No known health issues
Good Starter Goat?	Yes, they are a good starter goat as they have a great temperament
Goat Associations:	Golden Guernsey Goat Society, British Goat Society
Goat Clubs:	Guernsey Goat Breeders of America
Note: *ALC stands for American Livestock Conservancy

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Golden Guernsey is a small to medium sized goat. The Guernsey goat breed found in America is quite a bit smaller than the Golden Guernsey breed but they share almost the exact same characteristics and temperament. The special share their great milk producing qualities.
Color(s):	All shades of gold Both the males and females have the same colors and marking traits on their coats
Goat⇒	Doe	buck
Breed Weight:	120 lbs.	151 lbs.
Breed Height:	66 cm at withers	71 cm at withers
Hair:	Short to medium	Short to medium
Ears:	Tubular and stand out erect. Usually the same color as their coats	Tubular and stand out erect. Usually the same color as their coats
Horns:	Usually disbudded at 3 weeks old	Some males have horns. Their horns rise straight from their head with a slight curve. Most males are disbudded as 3 weeks old.
Matures at age:	5 to 15 months	3 to 15 months
Puberty Age:	5 to 10 months	4 to 9 months
Breeding Age:	18 months	1 year
Breeding Traits:	1 Breeding cycle	Cover 20 to 30 does in 1 season

DOE BREEDING & MILKING INFORMATION

They are really easy to milk and produce delicious cream milk, but the Golden Guernsey only have one breeding cycle per year
Breeding Period/cycle:	Usually lasts 12 to 36 hours Ave. 21 days/18 to 24 days
Gestation Period:	150 days
Kids:	1 to 4 kids per kidding
Good Mothers?	Yes, they will wean their kids
Lactation Period:	250 days
Milking From:	4 to 6 weeks after kidding
Milk Quality:	Good, It is easy to digest and full of nutrition
Milking Level:	Normal, They are not too hard to milk
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GOOD TO KNOW

Some good to know facts and information about the Golden Guernsey Goat breed
Where to buy them:	Southwind Farms, Turning page farm and or check with the American Goat Society and the American Dairy Goats Association for registered breeders. Both of these links can be found under “Useful Links” section in the article..
Agility:	They are very agile and quick ability to jump high and climb extremely well.
Interact with other animals:	They are not a shy breed and do not mind sharing their space with other farm animals.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

The Guernsey goat breed is the smallest of the dairy goat breeds.

They are ideal for the Urban homestead that wants to keep goats that produce goat milk. Their milk is of a quality that can be used to produce most dairy products such as ice cream, yoghurt, cream, butter, cheese, etc.

The Guernsey goat that is available in America was developed from the genetics of the rare Golden Guernsey goat.

With their beautiful golden fleece, they should be a good fiber color, but these beautiful goats are not bred for their fiber production

HISTORY

The Golden Guernsey breed of goat is believed to be a very old breed of goat that developed into its current form from the Oberhasli and various Syrian breeds of goats.
The first ever documented occurrence of the Golden Guernsey goats’ dates back to 1826 when a reference to the “Golden goat” was printed in a guidebook.

Miriam Milbourne risked her life to save a small herd of the Golden Guernsey goats during the occupation of Guernsey during the Second World War. She hid them for several years in order to keep the breed safe.

The Golden Guernsey goat breed was exported to Britain in 1965 which brought the formation of the English Golden Guernsey Club. This club later became the Golden Guernsey Goat Society.

The Golden Guernsey goat is generally smaller and finer boned than most other dairy goat breeds, but they produce around 3.16 kg’s of milk on a daily basis. Their milk has 2.81 percent protein and 3.72 percent butterfat content. Their milk is excellent for the making of fine cheeses.
Many of the nannies goats of this breed are what they call maiden milkers, these are female goats that come into milk without having been with kid. These nannies can produce on average around 4 to 5 pints of milk a day.