Breeding season for La Manchas

Goat Lady · #1 07/21/06, 06:16 AM

Hi all,

We recently purchased two La Mancha does to provide milk for our family. I know that they are seasonal breeders. When, exactly is the breeding season for these goats? Also, how can you tell if they are in heat?

Thanks from a newbie!

Goat Lady · #2 07/21/06, 12:03 PM

Thanks all for your overwhelming lack of responses!

I checked out Fias Co. Farm's site, and got the information that I was looking for, as far as the breeding season for these ladies...

I still need help with the other question. We do not have a billy, and will have one on loan. So, is it impossible to tell when the girls are in heat? I'll just have to keep this woman's billy until I have actually seen him cover them?

Please, I'd appreciate any advice...

coso · #3 07/21/06, 12:23 PM

If you know what you are looking for you can tell. A lot of the heats this time of year are pretty silent though, if they even come in. You will see a discharge, some wil act bucky with the other does. If you could get a buck rag it would help. A buck rag is a rag that you have rubbed on a bucks head and got his stench onto the rag. Put the rag in a jar. Open up the jar once or twice a day and see if the does react positively to it. They will smell it,maybe try to lick it, rub up against the fence etc... You have a short time to get them bred then, depending on how long they have been in. 12 to 36 hours being the normal. First fresheners usually stay in a shorter period of time. Lot's of people take the doe to the buck. Just takes some experience. My .02.

gccrook · #4 07/21/06, 01:21 PM

You really expected to get a lot of responses in less than 6 hours? Hope you're not this impatient in all of your endeavours. Fiasco is a great place to get information.

I can say that I was only able to tell whne my girls (Nubians) were in heat because I have a buck, and they will go to the fence closest to him and cry and stay there forever. I seldom notice any other changes in them.

Ramblin Acres · #5 07/21/06, 05:01 PM

With my pygmies and my dairy goats I am out with them for at least a couple hours every day and can tell by looking at them when they come into season.Mine will usually be very vocal,wagging their tails,mounting the other does,and they will have discharge or wet tails.

All I can say is really watch your does and spend time with them so you can notice any changes with them.

Goat Lady · #6 07/21/06, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gccrook

You really expected to get a lot of responses in less than 6 hours? Hope you're not this impatient in all of your endeavours.

I'm sorry for being impatient

... Thank you for the responses. I really don't want to miss our first breeding season...

I love this forum, and hope to get to know other goat folk better. It seems like such a great place for information!

goatmarm · #7 07/21/06, 05:25 PM

---

TexCountryWoman · #8 07/23/06, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goat Lady

I'm sorry for being impatient

... Thank you for the responses. I really don't want to miss our first breeding season...

I love this forum, and hope to get to know other goat folk better. It seems like such a great place for information!

Be sure you want to milk goats during the holidays if you breed them now. You will have babies born around Christmas and New Years and will be very tied down. Last year I had a goat deliver Christmas Eve, we had to wait for the babies to be born before we could leave to be with our family out of town. Fortunately, this was a Boer goat and we did not need to milk her. However, it was nerve wracking to drive off leaving two wet babies that we had only seen nurse one time.

This year, I am not breeding any goats that will have me tied down during the time I have another grandchild being born....I don't want anything tying me to the farm so i can be gone as long as needed. I have does coming into heat right and left right now but they all have to wait.

I will be breeding all my does in late Sept or oct and have all my kids born close together. That is the plan. I did that 2 yrs ago and things went smoothly. This year, I had kids born from Dec to June and it was rough...it had to do with goats being all diffenent ages and sizes to breed...never again!

So my point is, be sure you think ahead to when you want those babies here and when you are ready to milk twice a day and then breed those does.

I have Lamanchas and they have been cycling for a month or so now, one for several months. So yours are probably ready now as well. Just get to know them as as been posted above. Any wetness of the vulva that is not urine is a sign of heat. Any mounting of another goat or calling out.....and don't worry about missing your first breeding season..it should last until January and even february in some cases....so you have time.

GoslingFever · #9 07/23/06, 11:23 PM

If you don't mind keeping the billy for a while (and the loaner of the billy doesn't mind), I know a friend who chains her buck in the does area. The does will come to the buck when they are ready - and when they are done, they get to leave w/o overdue molestation.

Walmart (or I'm sure, any petstore) carries swivel chain type items, we have one for dogs that is staked in the ground, and is for "SuperTough" dogs - the more they tug, the more the stake digs in because it has a fork that comes outward and holds into the ground when the chain is pulled. (You have to dig it out with a shovel to remove it, but it works!)
There is also a huge dairy goat farm in WI that has pens for all their does. A single unaltered pygmy buck has free rein - on the outside of their pens. He can't get in, but he ruts just like the big boys and by watching which girls flag him down, they know which girls are ready to be bred.
So, if nothing else, pygmy bucks are dirt cheap - $25 if you aren't looking for papers... at least that is the going rate around here.