Do I want January babies?

Kidding is Jan-Mar here. Our winters are mild compared to alot of you. Everyone has always done well, the lack of insects during that time is great. And I dont mind hauling water from the bath tub if the hose is frozen.
This year we start in Dec to have slightly bigger kids by fair & sale time.

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Bob and Nancy Dickey
Laughing Stock Boer Goats
"Seriously Great Bloodlines"
and the meat goes on....
Near Seattle

We shoot for Feb/Mar, but had mid-April kids this year. The late Feb kids did really well, the April kids? Not so much. They're not bad, just not... great.

I do remember freezing my hiney off in NW MO when the does kidded out earlier. Sleeping in the goat shed with them, waking up every hour to check, developing pneumonia (me, not them)... The weather is better down here, so Feb/Mar seems the best way to go.

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Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

I would imagine freshening in Ark or Mo in January is a lot different than in extreme northern NY. January here means 4 months of winter left and extended periods of below zero weather. I've seen 50 below. You can put all the heat lamps and sweaters you want on and still lose kids, lambs too and lambs are lots tougher than kids.

In the future I'll try to remember to note the OP location before commenting.

I agree with you mygoat, at least in my situation. That is, located in KY, work 6 days a week away from the farm. So I may not be home when kids are born. This year I got lucky and was home to help with all the births.
Having kids born in January is great to be able to sell for Easter (if that's your aim) and I'd love to have kids for that market. But I think I'll hold off and get my does bred for April kids, to sell in August. At least if I'm not home this time around, the kids will be warm when they hit the ground. Still ALL my girls are coming into season right now : /

Also meant to add that the longer I wait the more milk I'll get this time around. Since one of my does will stop milking when she's two months along. Another will never dry up.