What are Sables? The “dairy cow” of the goat family is the Saanen/Sable breed.
Saanens are pure white. Sables are basically colored Saanens. We chose the Sable because we were looking for a healthy source of dairy for our family but did not want to waste our effort for a small amount of milk. All standard size dairy goats require a similar amount of work and feed so a higher producing animal will give you more for your effort. We also wanted our goats to have a wonderful variety of colors and patterns. Sables were the ideal match. We really fell in love with them. If people are looking for a productive goat for home dairying, the Sable is an excellent choice.
Another plus with a higher producing breed is the option to leave the kids on the doe while milking only once a day. If you need to leave the farm for a day or two the kids will take care of the milking for you. With higher production you can get a usable amount of milk for less time and effort. Our doe Ruse kidded two huge 10 1/2 pound kids. We milked her only in the morning and she still gave us half a gallon of milk from one milking per day. Her kids did the rest of the work for us. Some breeds might produce that amount from two milkings per day plus you bottle feeding the kids.
Some may perceive dairy goats to be too much work and commitment and may avoid keeping them. Our experience is that with the right breed and quality of animal the added time and effort is minimal. With that in mind we try to keep and produce only those goats that have genetic potential for high production and quality.