Colour and eye colour move Nigerian Dwarf prices more than almost anything else. Here is what is worth paying for and what is fashion.
Nigerian Dwarfs come in an enormous range of colours and patterns, and the market has strong opinions about some of them. Two traits in particular move price more than almost anything else on the animal, and neither has anything to do with how the goat performs.
This is not an argument against wanting a pretty goat. It is an argument for knowing which part of the price is the animal and which part is the paint.
Blue eyes are inherited as a dominant trait, which means a goat only needs one copy to show them, and a blue-eyed parent will pass them to roughly half its kids. That predictability is part of why the premium holds — a breeder can plan for them.
They are genuinely striking, and they are also completely cosmetic. Blue eyes have no bearing on udder quality, milk volume, butterfat, temperament, hardiness or longevity. There is no evidence they affect vision or eye health in goats. So pay the premium if you love them. Just know precisely what you are buying, and do not let a blue eye talk you out of looking at the rest of the animal.
One practical note: eye colour can be hard to judge in a very young kid or in bright sun. Look in shade, and look at both eyes, because goats can be odd-eyed.
Moonspots are round patches of a lighter colour scattered over the base coat, and they can appear on any colour. They often change with age — a kid can be born with faint spots that strengthen, or with bold ones that fade and reappear at the next coat change. That unpredictability is part of the appeal and part of the frustration.
Like blue eyes, they are fashionable and carry a premium. Like blue eyes, they are cosmetic. A moonspotted doe milks exactly as well as her plain sister.
You will see buckskin, chamoisee, cou blanc, schwarzhals, gold, roan, pinto, belted and frosted, sometimes stacked into descriptions three lines long. Most of these terms describe a pattern — where the light and dark sit on the body — rather than a base colour, which is why two goats described identically can look quite different.
The terms are not standardised across the world, and Australian registries do not always use them the same way American ones do. If a colour description matters to you, ask the breeder to describe what the goat actually looks like in plain words, and check how your registry words it on the registration papers. The paperwork is what follows the animal, not the sales listing.
Also worth knowing: coat colour on a Nigerian Dwarf is not fixed for life. Kids change, sometimes dramatically, through their first year. If you are buying a very young kid on colour alone, you are buying a prediction.
If you strip out fashion, the things that hold their value are duller and more useful:
Udders, temperament and correctness, in that order. Colour is the last consideration, not the first.
We will happily sell you a striking blue-eyed doeling, and we are not going to pretend we do not enjoy a good moonspot. But if you are buying to milk, ask us about her dam's udder before you ask about her eyes — and if you are buying a pet, buy the calmest goat in the pen and let the colour be whatever it turns out to be.
That is a perfectly legitimate reason to buy a goat. Just do it with your eyes open: