My wife thinks Kikos are ugly. Unfortunately, that is the reaction many people have when they first see these New Zealand imports.
 It's not that they are really unattractive, but after looking at so many elegant Boer goats with their Roman noses, white bodies and bright red heads, the Kiko doesn't really jump out at you.  As a matter of fact, some folks say they look like plain old brush goats.
 I must confess that when I first began raising Kikos I tried to breed for a consistent champagne color.  At least that way there would be something unique to set them apart from my Spanish goats.
 Once you go beyond color, however, I think Sylvia Tomlinson - the former Goat Rancher columnist and author of "The Meat Goats of Caston Creek" - said it best when she noted that you have to live with the Kikos for awhile before you really come to appreciate them. What the Kiko lacks in good looks it makes up for in endurance.
 I purchased my first Kiko buck in 1996 from Kiko pioneers Frank and Mary Dyson near Waco, Texas. "King Tut", as we called him, was a yearling son of the famous Moneymaker. We brought him home and put with a herd of black Spanish nannies. The next spring we had dozens of white and champagne kids running around the pasture. 
 We didn't lose any of those hardy little animals - not to sickness, predators or parasites. We sold the boys that fall for meat but held on to all the little girls. Over the years we have sold all but one of those original half-Kiko does - and as far as I know none of them have ever been seriously ill or died. 
 More bucks have joined Tut in recent years to contribute to our fullblood as well as our half-blood programs. I stress half-bloods because I have raised very few three-quarter Kikos. There has been such demand for the half-Kiko does that I usually sell out each year. So I turn around and raise another crop of half-Kikos.
 I have moved away from trying to raise all white and champagne-colored half-Kiko does. It wasn't an intentional move, but a couple years ago we acquired Goldmine II, a new bloodline. His kids are as consistently well-built as they are inconsistent in color. It is rare to get a white kid out of him, but solid blacks, black and tans, blues, grays and calicos can be found.
 I have lost count of how many half-kiko kids we've had this spring, but I don't think we have lost any of this crop either. I must emphasize that these animals get very little maintenance from me. The first time these kids were touched by a human was at 6 weeks old when we wormed and vaccinated them for the first time. 
 I don't plan to touch them again until they are 10-12 weeks old and ready for their second CD&T shot. At this time we'll castrate the little males and pull kids off any moms that don't seem to be bouncing back. That's the only maintenance we'll do unless we develop a parasite problem during the summer.
 With this ease of care, that is why I recommend Kikos for those who want goats but don't want to spend a lot of time taking care of them. A person may not want to jump directly into the fullblood Kiko business, but it relatively inexpensive to get into the crossbred business.
 I recommend that a beginner purchase a nice fullblood Kiko buck ($500 & up). You can turn him in with almost any type of nannies and expect good results. In our part of the country, you can purchase nice, unregistered half-Boer nannies for less than $100 apiece. These are nice does that cross well with Kiko bucks. The result is a half-Kiko, quarter-Boer and usually quarter-Spanish. This mix makes an excellent meat goat.
 I think the little bit of Boer blood in there adds a little more muscling to the offspring, although some studies have shown that you may have just as much carcass meat without the Boer influence. 
 These half-Kiko kids will grow off fast during the summer if given free-rein in lush pasture or - preferably - cutover timber or other browse. 
 The boys will be ready for market by winter. I sold last year's wether crop for $1 a pound the week before Christmas. (I could have waited two weeks and gotten $1.30 a pound - but who knows?)
 The girls should be big enough to breed or sell. I usually sell registered half-Kiko doelings for around $175 and bred yearlings for $250, which is more than I get for my registered half-Boer does.)
 So if you're looking to run a meat goat operation instead of a beauty pageant, go ahead and buy some Kikos - regardless of what your spouse says!