[2] It was selectively bred in the Eastern Cape from about 1920 for meat qualities and for the ability to survive by grazing on the thorn veldt of that region.

These were small, with short, speckled coats; they were thought to have been brought to the area by peoples migrating southwards down the eastern coast of Africa.

[6]: 342  A variety of types and colours was described in the 1830s; by the end of the century, the Boer was a large and powerful goat with a convex profile and lop ears, bearing some resemblance to the Anglo-Nubian.

[6]: 342 [8] The Boer is a large goat: the average weight of an adult male is some 115 kg, with a mean height reported in 1984 at over 94 cm.

[11]: 355  The goats are able to exploit low-quality scrubland, grazing on thorn trees, bushes, and shrubs;[12]: 6  they may be used in vegetation management, and are kept for this purpose in some areas of thornveld.