Had an 'OOPS' breeding today.

[mygoat]

I have a gate/fenceline that separates the doe pen from the buck pen. Well, I had recently put a flip latch on the gate, and hadn't yet gotten a snap to keep the does from opening it... Well, they opened it. Don't worry, I looked for like an hour for one of those spring snaps, and finally found one.

Of cource, one of my does was in heat. Her father is one of the bucks I keep next to the does, too. So there is two possible sires of her kids, and one is her her own father! I should be able to tell when they're born, but STILL! Thank goodness it wasn't like last week when my two 5 month old doe kids, (thier first heats, lol) and my two older does all went into heat. I don't think her father, erm, 'got' to her, though. I think it was just my other buck. What a shock it was to look out the window and see my does all in the buck pen! I also don't think they were in there very long, otherwise they usually try to get away from the bucks in thier own pen/barn, and one of my bucks was in the wrong area of the pen and couldn't get to them, so they couldn't have been there long. (that gate had opened before, before I had a latch on it and they broke the wire that closed the gate)

This wouldn't be so bad, but I'm already planning on missing 2-4 days of school already for when my two alpine does kid, now there's the possiblility that I'll have to miss yet another day of school for this doe to kid! Hopefully she'll have them on a friday, though.

[GoldenWood Farm]

Dona I had the same thing happen with one of my does. It is a father to daughter breeding. Which to tell you the truth I am kind of excited to see as I like the buck a lot. But I know your frustration about the whole WHOOPS breedings . Thankfully I know for sure that my gal is at least carrying twins if not triplets.

Hope yours is not bred though....maybe she will come back into heat?

MotherClucker

[KSALguy]

ok maybe i am missing something, but whats the problem?? is it just that she MIGHT have breed back to her father?
or did you not want her to be bred for some reason?

if she did breed back to her father and he has good genetics then that just means that her kidds will have a very good chance of being really good quality, or else they will show where the weaknesses in his genetics makeup is and you can cull accordingly,
but honestly its likely to turn out better than you think, Inbreeding isnt bad.

chances are the does will kid at night anyway when your not looking

[mygoat]

Well first off I was planning on not inbreeding as much as possible, at least for now. These guys aren't registered yet and are minitures, not like fancy milking goats or anything, lol. And I was really exited to see her babies from the pairing I had PLANNED... And I didn't want her bred YET. Starting on Jan. 15 is when my breeding season starts so they kid in the summer, when I am there.

I'm also pretty good at spotting a doe in beginning stages of labor, so chances are I won't miss it... But I"m pretty mad about having to miss school for it! Mostly I'll have to miss school not because of her kidding, but because of having to bottle feed her kids... LOL

Let's hope she does go back into heat... if so, she would go in on the 16th of january... Hope hope hope!

[KSALguy]

why are you bottle feeding? is she one of your milking does?

[mygoat]

Because I like the bottle babies more. She's not a milking doe, no. But most of my minis go as pets and they make better ones if they're bottle raised. That way I can also sell them sooner, on the bottle.

[Starsmom]

I understand bottle feeding for selling purposes. But to be honest, I haven't seen any difference in personalities for my bottle babies and my dam raised. As long as you play with them and pay attention to them the same as bottle babies, they will be sweet and loveable. However, if selling them right away, then bottle feeding is probably the way to go, saves the new owner a headache of switching over and worrying because they won't eat right away.

As far as breeding father to daughter, that is ok and usually produces good kids. One of my best bucks was a son to mother breeding. Pure bred alpine and he threw a solid black buck this year. Can't wait to see what he produces in the spring.

[mygoat]

I know dam raised kids can be just as friendly... However, they don't always turn out friendly. I know, because I"ve done both. I haven't been breeding for very long, mind you, but I"ve bottle raised 2 kids this last year (the reason I'm now sold on raising kids myself from now on) and have also have had 5 kids dam raised. Of those 5, only two have turned out tame. Two did have to stay over at my friend's house while I went away to china for 17 days, but she did try to socialize them, as did I after I returned. The other was from a 2005 kidding, and was never very tame, except for when she was very young.

I have right now two full sisters, one was dam raised and one was bottle raised. I must say the bottle baby comes running in first place, but the dam raised baby isn't very far behind when I come out to see my goats every day. They both climb on me, and get in my way when I'm doing chores. Most mistake the dam raised kid for a bottle baby.

Then again, I'll be raising more kids this year than in years before, and more kids always seems to mean that less are overly friendly, and as amazingly out going (and possibly slightly annoying, lol) as the bottle babies!

[GoldenWood Farm]

I have yet to meet a dam raised baby that was real friendly. I do have some who are mildly friendly but nothing like a bottle raised baby. I always will choose bottle raising over dam raising.

MotherClucker

[KSALguy]

the more kids you have to bottle raise the less time you have to spend on things more important like school and work and other life "must do's"

if your going to sell them anyway as bottle babys its not that big of a deal, but if your going to keep them, and you already have tame goats as the mothers and your going to spend alot of time with them they will be just as tame as any bottle baby just like you said you have both that are very tame, and its a WHOLE lot less work for you,

but everyones plan is differint and every plan works best for thoughs who use them, so that said, if bottle babys are what you want and can accomodate then by all means you are awsome for doing it,

just dont bottle rase any intact breeding potential males as this can become a VERY difficult possition for you or who ever ends up with them,

[GoldenWood Farm]

KSALguy I am curious as to why you say don't bottle raise any males? I have never found them to be anymore dangerous than dam raised..if anything dam raised prove to be more of a danger. They are more wild and the bigger they get the harder to handle.

All of my guys are bottle raised and I haven't had a problem with one yet. But then again I don't take nothin' from them. So that might be part of it. I didn't make pets out of them although they do get a scratch or two when NOT in rut . I have been around both dam raised and bottle raised bucks and by far I would NEVER want to handle a 250lb dam raised buck NO SIR! Give me bottle raised anyday!

MotherClucker

[mygoat]

I can work the schedule around school, and bottle raising doesn't neccesarily take all that much time, but more or less effort. Something I'm more than willing to do. I think that taming the dam raised kids will take as much if not more of my time than it would to just carry the bucket full of milk out to the kid pen a couple times a day (depending on how many kids I have at the time). I've hadt the majority of my kids turn out not so tame, so I decided this will be the way to go.

All of my kids will be bottle raised, buck, doe, or wether. I think as long as the kid, no matter the sex, and with proper education on the new owner's part, most everything will turn out fine. I sold a kid this last year as a bottle baby, they kept him as a buckling... In fact, we're planning a kid swap, lol. They love him to death, he's as sweet as can be. I kinda wish I had kept that kid... he would've been a wether, but I think I'll always miss that boy. His 'name' while he was here was Rocketbutt.

[KSALguy]

a friend of ours raised BarBado sheep and goats, she had to bottle rase a ram lamb and wound up keeping him as a breeder when the herd sire suddenly died, while a lamb it was the sweetest thing, but when it became the herd stud, he decided that she should be eather another one of his Ewes or get out, not that it was actually being UGLY towards her he was just used to close contact with humans and thought it was still ok to associate her as part of his harem. he wound up in the freezer once his job was done, the next set of rams were dam raised and stayed as far away from people as much as possible. (not an overly socialized herd, meat only)

as to Goats, i have seen large bucks who were bottle raised be more apt to come at you when in rut (or not) when they felt the need for some fun or who knows what, and an animal that big who thinks your just another goat is not safe, any male animal live stock animal needs to have a healthy respect for humans and while yes some good bucks can be delt with as adults after being bottle raised alot cannot, no sence in haveing a cute little bottle baby you cant spoil, and a spoild breeding Male is not easy to handle,

but then of corse i am of the mind set that the less you handle a big stinky animal that could easily do serious damage to you the better, and while i wont take no Crapp off an animal i wont ad to the possibility of it occuring, so a dam raised buck is better to me than a bottle raised. that way he learns to be a "Goat" and not a "Human" so to speak.