All Does, Unbelievable ?

PTFarmer · #1 01/31/07, 12:42 PM

I have always heard that the Buck decides the sex of the offspring and after this year I totally believe it. Last year was the first year I used him and he threw six does and one buck. I was thinking maybe this was a fluke, but all my does have finished kidding for this year. Would you believe 8 does and no Bucks ?

jen74145 · #2 01/31/07, 12:44 PM

O.O
Oh wow! Hope I'm as lucky as you someday!

Jcran · #3 01/31/07, 01:15 PM

They call that prepotent I think and boy howdy, he sure sounds like it1 What breed?

**mygoat** · #4 01/31/07, 02:03 PM

out of 8 kids born on my farm in the past two years, only one has been a buckling. (I've recently started breeding) My first year was twin doelings. Then last year was twin doelings out of a FF and quads out of the doe from the first year... she had three does and one buck, the third born doe stillborn, and the buck came last. I attribute sexes to pure luck. male chromosomes are split right down the middle and can ONLY ONLY ONLY have 50% Y and 50% X, so whatever it gets fertilized is luck... except for the 'right' sperm have a special enzyme that eats away at the coating of the egg... so maybe there's a little more than luck to it, huh? but I doubt it is in any way linked to sex chromosomes, that special enzyme...

I love speculation.

jen74145 · #5 01/31/07, 03:12 PM

Or perhaps there is something wrong with the male sperm, so they hardly stand a chance?
Thinking back to genetics class...

moosemaniac · #6 01/31/07, 03:20 PM

I haven't started any kidding yet, but I'm sure I'm going to be really jealous!

Ruth

Sweet Goats · #7 01/31/07, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moosemaniac

I haven't started any kidding yet, but I'm sure I'm going to be really jealous!

Ruth

I am with you Ruth, I will be starting in about a week and a half. I want all does, that is not fair. But boy are you lucky.

DQ · #8 01/31/07, 04:21 PM

somewhere in my mushy brain I remember reading about how condition of the mother "possibly" can affect gender in offspring in horses. hypothesis was that most females will get a chance to reproduce but can only pass on their genes to a few offspring over their lifetime, and few males will get a chance at it but those that do can potentially pass on their genes to many offspring. there fore mares in hard times (poor condition) were better off having fillys and mares in good times (good condition) were better off with a shot of passing their genes through having male offspring. I'm not trying to imply poor condition of someones goats or anything but it would be interesting to hear if their is anecdotal evidence of this in any ones herd. there might be some potential for manipulating gender.

**mygoat** · #9 01/31/07, 04:44 PM

The female animal has no say in what sex offspring are... Unless they can somehow control which eggs 'stick' (ie, somehow keeping male or female eggs from embedding) but that doesn't seem possible. Females can ONLY pass on X sex chromosomes...

Quote:

Originally Posted by jen74145

Or perhaps there is something wrong with the male sperm, so they hardly stand a chance?

Alot of sperm have something wrong with them, If I rememeber right. I don't think carrying the X or the Y chromosome would make them more or less functional, however... I rather think that it's luck overall.

Gosh, I hope my doe years continue, though.

I'd love to prove myself wrong.

full sun · #10 01/31/07, 06:53 PM

[QUOTE=mygoat]The female animal has no say in what sex offspring are... Unless they can somehow control which eggs 'stick' (ie, somehow keeping male or female eggs from embedding) but that doesn't seem possible. Females can ONLY pass on X sex chromosomes...
QUOTE]

Yeah, but in humans I think the pH level of the vagina can change the internal environment enough to affect the number of Y's that actually survive to make it to the egg. Don't know if it's true for goats....

Jennifer

TexCountryWoman · #11 01/31/07, 07:04 PM

yes, it's the pH level of the vagina and cervix and also, the length the sperm have to live in the female after ejaculation before an egg is available to fertilize....i think "female" sperm (X) live longer than male (Y) sperm...thus, if an egg is not yet available, the male sperm may die off sooner leaving female sperm in larger numbers when ovulation does occur. This is only a matter of hours and days.

MillsFarmFamily · #12 01/31/07, 07:08 PM

So far we have gotten 8 doelings (no bucks) from 5 different does bred to the same buck.

But last year we only had 2 does bred from 2 different buckes (even different than the ones we used this year) and we ended up with 5 doelings (no bucks). These are all boer/boer cross.

mamagoose · #13 01/31/07, 07:23 PM

13 to 7, does are winning so far this year with 2 different bucks. Last year same scenario with 1 buck.

caroline00 · #14 01/31/07, 07:47 PM

we had a buck for 6 years that never produced a buckling.... always all does. It makes it good for us but we never were able to produce a buck to replace him.... with his track record, even if he only produced one buckling a year, we could have sold the buckling for $$$. When we moved, we gave him to heifer project.

Tam319 · #15 01/31/07, 09:46 PM

Ohhhhh, I am so jealous!! We were hoping to build up our doe herd but so far we have 4 big, smashing lovely bucklings and 1 little scrawny doeling. LOL My buck isn't in my good books so far. Lucky you with so many little doelings!

Jillis · #16 02/01/07, 07:02 AM

Okay, everyone who has mostly or all doelings, do you feed kelp meal to your does? I read in Pat Coleby's "Natural Goat Care" that the condition of the thyroid interms of a sufficiency of iodine will affect the doeling to buckling ratio...

Tam, supposedly that is a sign of iodine deficiency---lots of over-sized bucks and weak, small, even hairless doelings that don't thrive. It varies in degree of extremity. Try the kelp meal.

I had three huge, healthy doelings in my first kidding.

I feed it anyway, because it is very healthful for them, but I'd be interested to know...

PTFarmer · #17 02/01/07, 07:16 AM

My Buck, as well as all my does are all mixed breeds. What is a mixed breed goat you may ask ? Good question. I don't have an answer for that other than I know for sure they had some Boer-Spanish- Pigmy influences, but have no idea what else. As far as feeding, I only feed hay, minerals and forage when available. No grains. And if you saw them you might think they were over weight, but I call them healthy

. I'll try tomorrow to post a pic of my buck, he is as big and sweet as they come.

PT

nduetime · #18 02/01/07, 07:52 AM

I am looking for that green gilled jealous smilie again! We have had triplet bucklings this year so far, last year we had one doeling and triplet bucklings. I am not looking to expand my herd as we really just want the dairy but still! one of my boarders has just about closed on her own place and wants to buy two of the bucklings when they are ready to go ( wethered and disbudded of course) now I just need to find a home for the last one.

Zorro_Bones · #19 02/01/07, 10:10 AM

Funny, I had a doe that no matter what buck she almost always birthed bucks with an occasional doe, and I mean occasional.

**mygoat** · #20 02/01/07, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexCountryWoman

yes, it's the pH level of the vagina and cervix and also, the length the sperm have to live in the female after ejaculation before an egg is available to fertilize....i think "female" sperm (X) live longer than male (Y) sperm...thus, if an egg is not yet available, the male sperm may die off sooner leaving female sperm in larger numbers when ovulation does occur. This is only a matter of hours and days.

Could it the pH possibly be affected by what is fed, or the time of year, etc? It'd be interesting to figure that out, lol... Because then maybe we could purposly breed FOR a sex! that'd be exciting, lol.