About Us​

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Nestled in the quiet Southeast Texas town of Spurger, Three Oaks Goats originally began when a friend gave us some Boer goats to keep our pastures cleaned up along fence lines and in the woods. We quickly fell in love with their quirky personalities and liked how nice they made our pastures look. And so it began.....

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Most people know us as Stars Miniatures, Shetlands and Hackneys. We are one

of the top training and breeding facilities of Miniatures Horses and Shetlands in

the world. Over time we have slowly refined our breeding program, and only

run about half the broodmares that we originally did. That left us with a lot of

gorgeous pasture, and the goats have become a perfect fit for that. For information

on our horses please visit us at www.starsminiatures.com. 

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While we started with a small group of commercial Boers, we began doing our research and decided to add Savanna, Spanish and Kiko to our herd to improve their hardiness and phenotype. We loved how these Savannas were a more disease resistant, low maintenance goat. They are also great Mother's to their young with the ability to cycle more than once a year.

 

As our program and goals changed, we decided to go ALL FULLBLOOD SOUTH AFRICAN SAVANNA! We are a 100% Pedigree International DNA Certified Herd, concentrating on rare bloodlines and extreme type and quality. We now have incredible Bucks with diverse pedigrees, that we feel will be the perfect fit to take us into the future. Our herd of FB does have exceptional, sought after lines and we are constantly searching for, and adding goats with superior attributes that will keep our herd moving forward. We will continue to heavily cull and only allow the best of the best to breed, with the goal of producing a truly traditional style of South African Savanna with the qualities that have made them so in demand. Exciting times ahead! For details about the goats we have available for purchase, please go to our For Sale page.   

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South African Savannas:

The white Savanna goat breed was developed from indigenous goats of South Africa. The Savanna goat’s origin began in the Savanna Veld of South Africa in 1957. Lubbe Cilliers (DSU farm) took his first stud buck and selected for all-white goats from the indigenous bush goats. He wanted hardiness, survivability, and adaptability as his primary traits. By 1993, the Savanna had distinguished itself as its own breed and the Savanna Goat Breeders Society (Association) was formed and developed breed standards in South Africa. On the rugged, harsh bush country where temperatures and rainfall can vary to a marked extent, natural selection played a big role in the development of these fertile, easy to care for, heat and drought resistant animals. The Savanna has excellent reproduction, muscular development, good bones and strong legs and hooves. Although these goats have white hair, they are selected for black pigmented skin, horns and hooves to avoid injury by strong ultra-violet rays.

 

In 1994 Jürgen Schulz (JCS farm) imported the first and only live Savannas into the United States. The Savannas came in with the famous CODI/PCI Boer goat flight. Mr. Schulz kept and bred Savannas for several years, thus becoming the first Savanna breeder in the United States. In 1998, these 32 Savannas were sold to the public at his Kifaru dispersion sale. Each goat sold was given a certificate and pedigree of its breeding. These first buyers became the breeders of a new industry. In 2000 these breeders commissioned Pedigree International to track and maintain a herd book of these rare goats. In 2000, and 2001, Keri-Rose consulting (KRI) and Ms. Denise Peterson (Amore Arts Farm) imported frozen embryos from South Africa to help grow and diversify the Savanna genetics in North American with 8 more goats. In 2006, Mr. Kenneth Mincey commissioned frozen embryos to move from South Africa to Australia for implantation into recipient goats. The 21 Savanna goats would eventually be imported to his Georgia farm (MGF) in 2010. The Mincey’s would perform embryo transplant programs to grow their numbers. These are the only sources of Savannas in North America. Any new genetic material is currently banned under international law. The original Savanna importers in the United States maintained the natural selection development and continued the hardy meat goat breed. They noted that the half Savanna kid got up faster after birth and nursed quicker than their other goats.

 

The breed is a large framed, extremely well- muscled goat. The body characteristics resemble those of the Boer goat. The Savanna is not a seasonal breeder, and mating can usually be done at a time that will ensure enough feed is available at kidding. The Savanna goat is a highly fertile breed, and a high twinning rate is generally achieved, even under less than optimal conditions. Savanna Wethers have a good growth rate and are an early- to medium-maturity type that produces bodies with good confirmation. The Does have very good mothering ability and great milk production and produce fast-growing kids. Best of all, they require very little handling and care due to their disease resistance and limited hoof problems.

 

Savanna features

•    Exceptional Mothering skills
•    Parasite tolerance
•    Aggressive Foragers
•    Very Aggressive Breeders
•    Vigorous, fast-growing kids
•    Less Producer input
•    Strong legs and hoofs
•    Higher weaning weights
•    Excellent for crossbreeding adding muscle
•    Improved muscle carcass yields

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For more information on these fabulous animals, please visit the following links:

http://pedigreeinternational.com/savanna-breed-standard/

http://savannagoatnews.com/index.php/2016/05/27/codipci-savannas/

 

*Goat breed descriptions courtesy of the USDA web site, Savanna Goat News and Pedigree International