The ancestors of the NUBIAN were the feral goats of Ethiopia and Eritrea. These countries lack abundant grass but the NUBIAN has prospered here by eating the high protein acacias that abound. This reliance upon trees for sustenance has created the particular NUBIAN head in which the lower jaw is overshot. This overshot jaw facilitates the chiseling of bark and wood for consumption by the animal.

The NUBIAN was bred as a supplier of milk and meat and its history goes back to the time of the construction of the pyramids and beyond. The goat was one of man's first helpmates, supplying meat, milk and hides and the NUBIAN'S history was part
Of man's development as man built the Egyptian civilization, circa 3000BC.

The NUBIAN that watched the construction of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh in 2885 BC is different in many ways from the NUBIAN that graces Australian landscapes today.

European sailors returning from the east brought the native goats with them to supply milk and meat. The NUBIAN first was highlighted at the Paris zoo at the end of the 19th century. Soon after that, NUBIANS appeared in England and, as exotic animals, were exhibited at Earls Court. Before long, they were entered in the British Goat Breed Herd Book as a registered breed.

The animals that were brought to England from Nubian, any country east of Egypt, were crossed with the short eared British goat and, as the NUBIAN is an extremely pre-potent breed, i.e. one that throws its characteristics very strongly, the progeny took on NUBIAN features very quickly and I believe the British goat has completely disappeared.

The NUBIAN is a lean- meated animal and is, by far, the best eating of all the dairy breeds. It cannot match the volume of milk yielded by the Swiss breeds, but it far exceeds them in their milk's content of protein and butter fat. The NUBIAN is known as the Jersey of the dairy goat world.

It would appear illogical for an animal yielding comparatively smaller amounts of milk to be prone to multiple births. However, because the milk of the NUBIAN is higher in protein and butterfat, the kids require a lesser volume of milk to thrive. This characteristic of yielding lesser but richer milk is shared with the Australian feral goat.

Once pendulous udders were considered a typical NUBIAN trait, but in several of our herds, this weakness is a thing of the past. Udders carried high and beautifully attached, both fore and aft, can be expected with teats of such a size that the kids easily bump into them in their search for food.

The NUBIAN head, that enabled it to thrive in its original environment, has been modified over the years, so that the "strong" head, still often desired in the showring, can be avoided very easily so that the required good teeth can be readily found. At times, "strong" heads appear with a bottom jaw that

To the breeders, who have bred sheep or cattle and to whom an overshot jaw is an anathema, I would say this, "the NUBIAN is not a sheep or a cow and it is not a typical goat. It is a NUBIAN and its head structure has enabled

Today, when breeders are seeking quick growing, lean meated animals, the NUBIAN has relevance.

The NUBIAN'S coat colour varies from black and tan through a wide range of mottling to bone and tan colours. These colours are nature's camouflage. In the undergrowth, in the grass or in the thicket, this natural camouflage makes the kids difficult to discern by predators, while white kids, and NUBIANS have very little white, are easily seen by predators either air or earth borne and so are easily taken.

The NUBIAN carries with it other devices to enable it to thrive in our hot country. Its graceful pendulous ears are indeed heat exchangers and during very hot days the NUBIAN will be seen grazing or lying in the sun while the other breeds seek shade. Its nostrils can be closed to shut out flying dust and sand and its almond- shaped eyes with their protective hoods give protection against the vertical rays of the sun.

The NUBIAN is a tall and long animal that can reach upward so much further than short dumpy animals and so access so much more foliage. Its length of leg gives it a greater ability to travel great

I do not see the NUBIAN as being a meat goat animal in its own right, but I do see it as a breed to make a very valuable transformation of the feral and of the feral x boer and, in so doing, it will highlight the very characteristics that make the wonderful feral the animal upon which Australia's goat meat export industry is built.

In recent years, the national goat flock is becoming increasingly white in areas where predators abound in the air or on the ground, the white animals are more readily seen and are taken first. There is little value in spending much time and money in producing chunky white kids to feed the local predators. The photo shows the earthy natural camouflage colours of NUBIAN kids and this colouring could well cut the losses when kids are at their most vulnerable. The continued development of light coloured goats may well prove to be very expensive.

Once the unacceptable level of fat in the carcass is reached and the producer is being penalised, what does he do? Does he revert to using feral bucks to regain the leanness of meat at the risk of losing size? As I have said previously, the NUBIAN is a lean meated animal and it can be used at this juncture to regain the required leanness and to gain increased size through hybrid vigour.

Here, the input of the NUBIAN will maintain the high butter fat content of the feral's milk while increasing the volume. Their tendency towards multiple births will increase the average number born to the feral or to the feral x Boer.

I would, if I could, have you believe that the NUBIAN is some sort of SUPERGOAT, but sadly I can't quite do that. There is one flaw in its make-up and this has been caused by the breeders who have kept the NUBIAN as a show animal for the last 100 years. They have pampered it to the extent that it has almost forgotten its feral heritage. It has come to expect to be fed. It lines up most obediently and promptly at the feed trough. It's no fool. But all is not lost. A number of breeders in Western Queensland have put in time and understanding and have re-introduced the NUBIAN to the scrub. This does take a little time. No sensible breeder would expect any creature, newly introduced to a completely strange environment, to accept the new situation without a hitch.

Super goat the NUBIAN may not be, but I will still claim that it has a wider relevance to the goat industry - meat, milk and hides - than any other breed.

Let me examine this claim in detail.

When crossed with the feral, the NUBIAN throws a larger, heavier and taller progeny with a safer hide colouring while maintaining the much desired leanness of meat and increasing the milk yield and average kidding numbers.

The infusion of the NUBIAN blood into Swiss breed dairy goats can, by hybrid vigour, increase the milk yield of the progeny while also increasing the protein and butterfat levels of the milk. NUBIANS are often included in goat dairy herds for this purpose. Such infusion produces a meatier carcass that makes the cast off buck kids more valuable. 

The "coats of many colours" of the NUBIAN are distinctive and unparalleled for colour and variety in the goat world. This feature, which protects the vulnerable kids, is a bonus when colour and variety is required in the marketing of hides.

If you are now inspired and decide to use the NUBIAN in your program, you need to be warned that the NUBIAN down the road from you, that has longer ears than the Swiss breeds, is perhaps a variety of colours and has a nose with a bit of a bump in it may not be NUBIAN enough, may not be prepotent enough to bring about the dramatic change that you expect.