Goat breeding question

[goatkid]

Have any of you ever heard of a buck that couldn't or wouldn't breed a doe because he was too big for her? The other day, I put a 75 lb. doeling in with a 2 year old buck. They are both purebred Nubians. She was obviously in heat yesterday and they were rubbing on each other. I did not see him breed her. He seemed to be very gentle with her. Last year, one of the smaller does I put in with him did not get pregnant and another did not kid til June though she was put in his pen to kid sooner than that. I wonder if Gandalf just can't breed the smaller does. I can't put her in with my smaller buck, Elrond because he is her full brother. My friend has some smaller bucks I could use if I need to.

[chamoisee]

Um...75 lbs is a bit on the small side....I would wait a few months if she were mine, until she was closer to 90-100 lbs.

That said, usually if the buck is able to mount the doe and she can hold his weight, he will breed her. Often they will try to mount does that are far too small for them. :cringing: ...(don't ask me how I know this...can we say, lutelyse?)

[Rachel K.]

You should wait till they are either a good size to handle kidding or wait till a year of age.

[goatkid]

I've bred does her size before with no problems. My friend who used to run a dairy and got me started in goats says its OK to breed them when they are 65 - 70 lb and will be at least a year old when they kid. Perhaps I should hold some of the smaller ones back. One of the reasons I have bred goats to kid at a year old is that I'm trying to breed for show quality udders and have to sell some of my does each year. I need to keep my herd number down due to space and cost. Its more cost effective to sell milking yearlings with udders I don't like than to keep them for 2 years. If this little doe doesn't catch this year, I will keep her another year. She is the smallest of a set of triplets which were born in April. I've heard that does are better milkers if they are bred to kid as yearlings. Anyoue out there with experience in this?

[chamoisee]

Actually, I do breed my does to kid as yearlings, but I also try to make sure that they're at least 90# when I breed them. Also, when I breed them young like that, I generally feed them the dairy goat ration from the time they're a kid- not lots of it, but a small amount every day, and then I increase it while they're pregnant. I figure it's cheaper to feed them well enough to grow out well and kid the first year than it is to keep them an extra year.

The way I look at it is that if you are willing to spend a little extra time and feed getting them up to size and keeping them really well fed during pregnancy (while they are still growing themselves), then by all means, breed them as young as 6 months (I've even bred them at 5 months and had them mature very nicely). BUt if they have to fend for themselves against the larger does and aren't getting any grain until after they kid....it might be better to wait that extra year. I can't afford a lot of dry yearlings with unknown udder type either, so I usually go for the first option.

[goatkid]

Thanks for the feedback. I do feed my little does COB mixed with goat lactation pellets and alfalfa pellets while they are pregnant. When they are babies, they get goat developer pellets with coccidiostat. All the goats are fed well - grain, alfalfa pellets and alfalfa hay all year round. They generally grow pretty good. Melia is just a bit smaller, being she was the smallest in a litter of triplets. My goats have always done well so far, kidding as yearlings. I actually had a couple get too fat when the didn't kid as yearlings.

[Laura Workman]

I've only done it a couple of times, but the does I've bred early, like at 7 months old, have both had very large, single kids. I fed them well so they'd continue growing, but the kids grew, too. Both does managed to fool me into not being there for the kidding, even though I was checking on one of them every half hour, even at 3:00 a.m. Both kids were doelings, and both kids were dead when I got to them. Perhaps I could have helped if I'd gotten there, but for a while at least, I'll be waiting for my doelings to get a little more age on them so they'll put out more than a single egg, and hopefully produce more reasonably sized kids that will actually get out alive. (I'll also be SLEEPING in the kidding stall for nighttime kiddings.)

[Hank - Narita]

Definitely wait as long as you can. We bred a large doe who was a twin. She did kid OK but the first doeling almost didn't make it (DH actually pulled her as I thought she was dead). The 2nd doeling came out right after her. We sold them both to our neighbors and they are healthy today. Given the opportunity again, I would wait til she was over a year to breed her. Also, we bred her back to her dad. Maybe that is why mom had a hard time.