What age do you breed minis?

[Wolf Flower]

I have a mini-Saanen doeling (F1), and I'm trying to figure out my breeding schedule for next fall. With Nigerians, I've heard that some wait as long as 2 years to breed. I know with standard size goats it goes more by weight than age, but not sure about minis. What is your experience?

[deineria]

You don't need to wait anylonger than a year. I have Pygmys, Nigerians and Full Sized.
Most minis are almost their full adult size sometime in the fall after their birth - assuming that was spring - and I would breed them then if that is the case. That is what I've done.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I have Nigerians also & I have bred mine as early as 10 months. Unless like Deneria said & I don't feel they are close enough to adult size.

[Wags]

I wait until my Nigerians are at least a year old. But since I want kidding to occur at a particular time it usually ends up with them kidding right around their 2nd birthday.

[mygoat]

My breeding season is odder than most, so I breed so that mine generally kid when they're 2. I breed in the winter for summer kids - so that year's summer kids generally aren't ready by that winter. Mine do not generally look ready at 8-10 months, anyways.

[hoofinitnorth]

I have NDs. I breed them depending on size and maturity, which is totally subjective. I have bred them as early as 8 months and as late as 2+ years (only because I have a stupid 2-year-old that doesn't seem to want to settle and I've been too patient between tests - she should just live with the buck until she has an udder!). Breeding young is not for everyone, though, and you need to have a good familiarity with what you're doing, what can go wrong, and where you can get help as the chances for problems are potentially increased with a smaller or younger goat. Sorry, I know that doesn't really answer your question...