Do dam lines produce more females???
 

I was talking to Emily Dixon a few minutes ago and she was telling me that one of the two girls she bought from us two years ago just had triplets...2 does and 1 buck. The dam's dam is our Safari Chic who we purchased from Emily 3 years ago. Safari has produced 6 kids...5 girls and 1 boy. Safari's dam and her dd also produce mostly girls. Obviously all these ladies have been bred to different bucks.
I know that the sperm decides the sex...but I have also read that the chemistry of the female can be either positive to accepting and incubating males or females. Interested in what you guys think...as we wait the last 12 days of Safari's pregnancy to see what we get this time!! Looks like trips again and wondering if she is still in the girl making business....

IMO, yes. But that is not a scientific answer! LOL. I know it always seems that way though in all the goat herds I have seen.

Well, as you stated, the buck decides sex of kids. That is a scientific fact. But I think this is the case when if all else is equal. There are certainly some does and cows we have had over the years, that have been MUCH more partial to conceiving one sex over the other. As I mentioned on the phone, Kenya has had more does over the years, never having a kidding without at least one doeling, in her ten years. Usually she has more than one doeling and has at least once(not having my records in front of me), had triplet doelings and at least twice, twin doelings. Her daughter, Zambia, has had only doelings in her 3 years of kidding so far. She is going to drop kids any minute so we will see if the trend continues. Zambias daughter Safari(your girl) has had more does than bucks, obviously and Zambias yearling daughter, Sunny, has had twin doelings so far. So, a very high percentage of doelings born to that line.
I have also had those does who seem to only believe in having bucks!
And our first Jersey cow, Ginger, whom we bought when I was 7, *never* had a bull for us, all heifers. Her granddaughter, Blossom, lived to be 17. Calved out a total of 14 calves. Only 3 of those were heifers.
So....in my experience, some animals are simply prone to having one sex over the other, regardless of what the males think!
And some animals can have a high percentage of one sex all their younger life and do a complete switch when they get old.:facepalm:

I lied, I lied, I lied! Kenya had a single buckling in 2011. And she had triplets twice with two bucks and a doe. But still, over her ten years of production, she has averaged easily more does than bucks. 13 doelings and 8 bucklings. Man, my memory is slipping........

Answer definitely does not have to be scientific, mekasmom! This close to all the fun beginning it really gets intense wondering what we are getting this year...may have a scientific basis, but it is as fanciful as hope. LOL.
Emily, I have a question I did not think to ask you today and will not call you due to all the kids on their way...Why in the world is Sunny not named South Africa or Mozambique (sp?) After all, we have Kenya and Zambia and our little traveler Safari??? Why stop now?
I'm sure that has a scientific explanation...?? or not...

I don't believe there is any scientific evidence to that conclusion.

But I do believe according to the the doe code the likelihood of a doeing(s) being born is conversely proportionate to the dam's desirability. In other words, your least favorite doe will produce doeling triplets every year while your favorite doe will produce a single buckling. Unless of course: 1) You have good buyers for bucklings or 2) The doe had a sneak encounter with the pet pygmy companion... In which case she WILL bless you with triplet doelings... who are unregisterable and wholly unsalable.

Indirectly a doe's lines can determine sex. If the males in her line throw majority doelings and you breed her to a buck who also throws doelings you will increase the likelihood that the bucklings she produces will also throw doelings.

BTW its really hard to select lines for this trait, you can check registered progeny on the ADGA website, but its misleading. Nearly all doelings born are registered but a greater percentage of bucklings are left unregistered, be it wethered, sold without papers or eaten. You really have to have complete breeding records to get the real statistics.

I really didn't name any of that line Africa names other than Kenyas direct kids. I had Zambia, Shalala, Camaroon and now Nairobi from 2014. Sunnys name is a direct result of all the doelings that year being named alcoholic drinks and her color. I'd never had an orange Nubian before and figured it was the only year I'd get to use Tequila Sunrise in my naming plans.:)

Funny you should mention deposits on bucklings, Clover Clan! I mentioned this on another thread some time in the past...we have deposits on TWO bucklings from this breeding! LOL. She has so few boys (one!) and people are hopeful she will get over that girl thing this year I guess.
Em, I was just kidding! pun intended...although I do find it odd that you in particular named your goats after alcoholic drinks!!!

Well, screw the deposits...two doelings today. That makes 7 does and 1 buckling for Safari and Noble in 3 years. I think she likes having does!

Pics please!!! :)

That's not a bad problem to have.


http://www.spottednubian.com/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/doug.hodges.750

I posted photos on a different thread, but happy to post them again. Kids are doing great...they are so over baked that they slept through the night...last feeding was at 11pm and they did not start fussing until 6:30 this morning. THAT was nice!! They gobbled down breakfast and then mama gave us two full quarts of yummy stuff for later. She does not appear to know that they are gone!! If that doesn't beat all?!

Here is the other girl...not in motion!

the ph balance can effect conception I cant remember for sure but I think male sperm tend to survive better in an acidic environment than female, since most of our goats get grain and such they can be more acidic, but our own genetics can determine how our body regulates our PH balances so on that, probable. *I cant remember if its male or female that doesnt like acidic levels so dont quote me on it*

I won't quote you but I think that you are on to it. There is something about acidic being conducive to accepting male or female...not sure which either...need to do some more research. IF it is that grain or other sources cause the correct atmosphere for males then the fact that we do not feed grain MAY be what the deal is! We do have more females by far born here than males...no question...the records prove that. It is probably 3 to 1 on the whole. I would have to go back and total it up to see. Frankly, I had thought at first that Noble (especially) but Knox, too, were just prone to throwing females...but then I, too, read some where about the "right conditions in the womb" being responsible. Interesting!!

Also, Iggy who was our Pygmy buck when we raised Kinders threw more girls...

Curiosity got the cat so I did some net scrounging. What I found was lots of speculation but no serious positive studies on the subject. This was all I could find from a medical source(read reply from webmd staff).

http://forums.webmd.com/3/infertilit...nge/forum/8272


If it were true, it would be the best kept secret. Who wouldn't want to get more doelings?... and sadly, as evidenced by the abominable practice of gender biased feticide and the higher death rate of girls in many developing countries, many societies would prefer to have boys.

Yeah, I don't much like the idea of "gender selection" either. It just beats me why there seems to be a "natural selection process in favor of does" going on here? Watch, next year: 27 bucks and 2 does!! LOL.

Everybody is green with envy. I'm just happy with 50/50. I guess its for my own good. If they were all girls I'd be even more tempted to hoard them than I already am!

We don't even have 50/50 here -- we've had 5 bucklings and 1 doeling so far. Hoping for twin doelings from Hazel in March, if only to even things out a bit! ;)

Oh! Dosedots, sorry I ignored it when I saw they were "deformed" - poor babies have ears! I'm so sorry for the 'disabled' goats!

Sorry, I'm quite sarcastic! :lookout:

I really do love the spots and wild colors Nubians have tho!!!

Me, too! It is true that you never know what color they will be...or if the "dreaded" spots will appear...lol. I'll leave the "ear thing" to Pony...she has the best zingers for you who regard the earless wonders as super goats!

Twin bucklings in late November (already decided to wether and keep them), twin bucklings and single doeling yesterday, and buckling/doeling twins a week ago. the single doeling yesterday is mini Nubian, others are ND and/or Pigmy.

Many animaly are biased towards females, since there is more need of them than males to keep up population levels.

I'm pretty sure that stress is also meant to change the balance in some species, though I have no idea if goats are covered by either of these things.