Help me be objective please - a bit long

[hoggie]

OK - here is the situation.

At the moment I have three nannies and one billy. They are all different breeds and therefore totally unrelated.

So far this year I have four kids. One pedigree billy kid who was supposed to be my second billy to help with the genetics as I increase my numbers and is unrelated to everyone except his mum. So far he hasn't done too well, although he is picking up well now that we have sorted out his chest infection. And the triplets that I showed pictures of in the week, of which one is a very strong sturdy young billy and the other two are nannies and are the offspring of Wilfred.

I have a number of options.

I can keep the pedigree kid "Chestnut" in the hopes that crossing him to the stronger types I have would water down any weaknesses that are a result of the GG lines.

I can keep the stronger kid, even though he is the son of Wilfred, and cross them against each other.

I can keep both kids, and hope that my herd grows a lot bigger to justify keeping 3 males.

I can get rid of both the billy kids and keep one of the female siblings of the strong billies to see what that line is "really" like.

I can get rid of EVERYTHING this year and wait and see how the mums get on.

I am sort of throwing this out there as an "open discussion" sort of question. What would other people do? What is the "sensible" thing to do?

I do have to bear in mind that to import anything else is both expensive and awkward. After the problems I have had I am not sure that I would want to import any more pregnant nannies (I am still worried that that may have been part of the problem with that pregnancy)

What makes the most sense in terms of growing on my little herd.

I am hoping that crossing Wilfred who has so far thrown out 5 strong healthy kids (my friends goat just had twins) to the GG nanny, I may get some stronger "nearly" Golden Guernsey kids

AARGH - I have time to think, but this is going around and around in my mind.


Any thoughts out there?

TIA

hoggie

[sungirl]

If what the "weaker" kid has isn't genetic and is under control and not infecting the rest of the herd then he would make a great herdsire. Since you are starting out I would slowly try to get the does & bucks better over time. So look for great top lines, good feet & legs, & udders to start with. After time you will start to see what animals need more work in areas and you will be able to fix them.

I like linebreeding (also called in breeding) If used in a way that inproves areas of the doe or buck, it can be the best way to make the animal better.

I would keep all the bucklings and look at them over time, which ever one excells over the others keep him and eat or band the rest.

Patty.

[Zone]

Here is an article on Line Breeding/In Breeding that I found very helpful. This might help you to make a more informed decision.

http://www.myotonicmeatgoats.com/Linebreeding.htm

[DQ]

that is a great article! thanks for posting it. it has given me a new perspective and possibly changed some of my plans!

[Alice In TX/MO]

Sometimes we rush to make decisions.

If we wait on events to happen in their own time, the decision either becomes apparent, or it makes itself.