Breeding questions?

[Kathy'sKID]

We are attempting to breed our own goats, ourselves, for the first time. So far, not much luck. Our buck is 10 months old, and he shares a fence line with the girls, as well as housing area (next to them, not in with them). He shows interest in the girls ALL the time. The girls, however, have had absolute no interest in him. We've been putting them together three times a day 'supervised' for about two months now (started late October). During this time, the does will either run from the buck, or go into a headlock / butting position and try and fight him off. Since the does are running from the buck, we are taking this has a sign they are not in heat. Starting to get a little desperate here, as it appears nothing is happening, and it's getting kind of late in the season. Any ideas as to what’s going on? Or what we can do to get the girls to come into heat? Some people have suggest just running the buck in with the girls, but how will we know for sure if they breed then? I don't know, it's kind of depressing . . .

[Tracy in Idaho]

Personally, I would just put a marking harness on him and turn him in with the does if you want any of them to get bred. It is getting awfully late.

THe marking harness (like they put on sheep) has a crayon on the chest (get the cold weather kind!) and will make a mark on the doe when he mounts her -- then you'll know they were bred. Most the livestock suppliers carry them -- I know for a fact Premier 1 does.

My guess is you missed the stronger heats, and they are now doing shorter, quieter ones, likely at night....if the buck is in there with them, he'll get them.

Tracy

[moonspinner]

How many does are we talking? Are they different ages or haven't been freshened? Have any been bred before? If some have kidded previously I can't believe you are not seeing heat symptoms on at least one or two. You haven't seen any flagging (tail wagging) or vocalness or discharge or does mounting other does? Sometimes young maiden does have pretty silent heats and I even had one boarder doe here with overt heat symptoms but violently refused to stand for the buck. I ended up having to forcibly hold her and it seems the breeding took. But this is not the norm - generally cycling does will flirt w/bucks. So I don't know what's going on here, if you've somehow missed the heats or what.

[Kathy'sKID]

There are five does, 2 are first timers never bread before, 2 are second timers (bread last January), and then for the heard queen this will be her fourth time. Age range is 8 months - 4 years. Last year we saw discharge only on the oldest one, but not until January, perhaps we have late seasoned does? We're in Nebraska if the climate has something to do with it. I don't know if a marking collar would work as sometimes he will mount / half mount, a doe but she'll jump away when she realizes what's going on.

[jill.costello]

Is your 10-month old buck REALLY smelly? Has he learned to pee all over himself, in his mouth, etc, and make the little 'goblin' noises?

Sometimes, us girls need a little more encouragement, and a nice, stinky buck gobbling sweet nothings in the ear works well.....

(my girls MELTED the first time they were introduced to a 'senior' buck)

[Kathy'sKID]

YES he is one smelly buck, full of all the disgusting habits. You walk in the barn and he’s the first thing you smell.

Now that I think about it, ours weren't bread until February, not January, last year, so could it just be they're late seasoners?

[dosthouhavemilk]

With a marking harness and a doe in *standing heat* there is no question about whether she stood or not. Along with the rump being coated in that color her hair will be sticking up because of the stickiness of the marker and the constant mounting from the buck.
We used marking harnesses for the first time this year and I am quite impressed (*if the harness will fit your buck, we had a yearlin gnUbian that it didn't fit on, very small boy ). Also, with the harnesses it just seems to help you notice changes in the doe if she is coated.
Only way I knew our Boer was settling his does. I only saw him mount two of the nine does he has bred this year. But when those does were coated in blue and their hair was sticking up I knew he had been busy.

[Bluebutterfly]

We had the same problem with 2 of our does as well. Neither of them mated before. We tried everything and nothing worked to get them pregnant. We just put the buck in there with them 24/7 and one night we heard some loud noises in the barn. We thought a preditor got in there like a coon or something. (we have a few chickens in the barn as well.) It turned out the buck trapped one of the does in the corner of the stall and did the deed. So if you put the buck together with your does 24/7 I believe he will get the job done if the does cooperate or not.

Bluebutterfly

[Misty]

Just put him in with them. You will have kids. Our buck is a night breeder. Never seen him breed a doe. But we sure had lots of triplets out of him his first season!!

[Rachel K.]

When I get my Oberhasli Buckling next year (between June and July) I will be running him in with the Does and Wether. Trixie is a maiden Doe. She will be two in March and has never been bred. She has silent heats and I am yet to figure them out. Having a Buck run in with them will be very handy as the Buck will know when she is in heat even if I don't.

My only concern is that the Buckling won't be old enough to breed them by Fall 2006. He will be about Seven months old by November, 2006.

[Sweet Goats]

Unless you are hand breeding you seem to miss the action. If you don't use a harness then we just check out the girls backside. You will see if he got them or not. To breed on a date that I need I have used Lutalice (sp) it puts the doe into heat in two days. That is what a lot of the big cattle farms use. Just be careful, if the doe is bred it will abort the baby . I have had to use it for that purpose, My buck tore the fence down to get to my 5 month old does, I didn't want them bred so the vet told me about this. The only way to get it is through a prescription. I hated to do it but I didn't want the girls to have trouble and me not be around. That happened last year, and I almost lost mom and baby, luckly I was home and had to pull the little girl. She was beautiful.
Lori

[RedEarth]

Sweet Goats, you said that you could check your doe's backside to see if she's been bred. Even without the marking harness? This may sound really naive, but what exactly am I looking for? I tried breeding my Nubian with a pygmy a couple weeks ago, and I'm not sure wether anything happened (I left him in with her for 24 hours). If she goes into heat again, I'd like to know what to look for.
Thanks.

[Sweet Goats]

I am sorry, I am able to check within like 12-24 hours. They are all wet and you can see the semen all over them and it like hangs out of them. Plus the hair is stiff.
Sorry I know that sounds nasty but that is how I am able to check. Now just because they have the above mentioned of course does not mean 100% they are bred, but when I saw that on my babies that is when I gave the shot.
I hope that helps.
Lori

[RedEarth]

Thanks for answering my question, as stupid as it sounded. I am guessing my doe was not bred last time, since I saw none of that. I'll have to try again.