Alpines

**mygoat** · #1 10/06/06, 05:28 PM

So this woman in MI who lives an hour away from me has agreed that my home is the home she dreamed of for her single Alpine doe. She decided that with her newborn child she can't handle a goat anymore. The doe is a year and something old, has kidded before, and is Registered with the ADGA. And she's selling her to me for only 50.00!! Can't beat that! Asked about symptoms to CL and CAE, and it's not been a problem as far as she knows.
Anywho, my question is this :
Are Alpines seasonal breeders? Do I have to breed her now, or can I wait till january/february/march like I do the rest of my goats? I really hope I can breed it this jan/feb/march because taht way she'll kid during the summer when I"m home for the summer. Hopefully early summer, before all the other kids are born. (I wanna use her milk for bottle feeding the other kids)

**mygoat** · #2 10/06/06, 06:04 PM

Just finalized with the lady pretty much, I'll be getting her this weekend... expect pictures! LOL

susanne · #3 10/06/06, 06:41 PM

donna i would want a cl and cae test. $50 sounds too good to be true and you don't want to risk the health of your animals.

AllWolf · #4 10/06/06, 07:24 PM

If I was you I would get my vet to test the doe for the diseases that susanne has said because you do not want to bring in a sick goat on your clean herd that would be awful. Goats can be sick or have a certain disease and will not show no signs.

mygoat you also ask was Alpines seasonal breeders? Alpines are seasonal breeders but sometimes because a goat is said to be a seasonal breeder they will breed at other times in the year..

Good Luck with your goats.

ChickenMom · #5 10/06/06, 07:53 PM

I have an Alpine/Spanish cross that bred January of this year and kidded the 9th of June, she just came in heat again last month. Of course the Spanish is a meat goat and an all year breeder so that may be why. She is my milker and gives excellent milk. I got her for $65 but she isn't registered. She has a great temperment, I love Alpines, they are so "Regal" looking to me.
Good luck with your new doe!

valhalladad · #6 10/06/06, 09:32 PM

I raised Alpines my whole time in goats. My latest kids were born in July so breeding is not a problem. I have had does come into season as late as March. I would start breeding in Sept. and would continue through till Jan or Feb. so I would have continous milk production. I don't recall any goats that I bred successfully after Feb though. The only breed I have had trouble breeding late was my Saanen grade. She was welling, but the breeder I went to said her buck didn't do his job well after Oct. It was Nov. and her Alpine buck would have been more than welling, but the Saanen buck could care less. I used my Alpine buck with no problem in Dec. I agree with the other comments. Keep the doe isolated at least 30 days and have her tested. Better to be safe than sorry.

**mygoat** · #7 10/07/06, 01:24 AM

Isolation won't be hard, and I have to test my whole herd for those diseases anyway (just need my vet to draw the blood... which he might be able to do next weekend, maybe) so it isn't a big deal. It looks like she currently lives on a tie out and since I've had several goats live on tie outs, not to mention that I keep 4 large dogs on my totally fenced in yard... So tie out isn't a problem for me. I believe she's also been a lone goat for her entire life as well, will this cause intigration problems? I have pygmies and all but one have horns... but she's gonna be bigger so IDK what'll happen, hehe.