How many years in a row do you breed?

[TroutRiver]

Just wondering what you guys' systems are? How often do you dry off your does and let them "rest" for awhile?

[julieq]

We breed every year about the same time with usually a two month dry time before spring kidding. This year we bred some for fall kidding and some for spring kidding though, which will work out well.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Don't take a year off unless you are milking through the winter and around to the next fall. I had one doe that milked 20 months without breeding/kidding.

[mygoat]

If you let your goats 'rest' a year, they'll just get fat and that causes a whole host of problems. Not to mention profits you loose to goats who aren't producing kids or milk, and are just 'wasting' feed as they get fat.

A good dairy goat should be structurally sound enough to be bred yearly and milk for 10 months out of the year until old age.

A good boer goat should be structurally sound enough to be bred 1-2x yearly and raise an average of twins for butcher each time.

[HappyFarmer]

Every year, we are trying for 3 kiddings in 2 years but that ain't happenin. We don't milk though and I'm assuming that is why you are asking the question.

HF

[TroutRiver]

Oh, wow. I didn't realize that it's not common practice to give them a "rest" for a year every now and then. I was hesitant to breed back my alpine/nubian doe because I don't know when the last time she went a year without kidding was, but now I know she will be fine! She is strong and healthy.

I think my sickly looking nubian that I've posted about a few times will be drying off and going back to the farm she came from in the Fall, unless the ivomec plus really does the trick for her (which would be great, but at this point I would be surprised if it was as easy as that) it's not worth it for me to keep feeding her and paying for her health problems anymore, it's causing me more stress and I'm spending more money than it's worth. But good to know I will still have the other who I love and is a great mom and a great milker (she adopted one of the triplets from the other doe all on her own, without my intervention) and my yearling will probably get bred this year, so it will be ok that I'm getting rid of her!

[houndlover]

I dry mine off during September, breed in October, then head south until after Christmas, at which time lambing starts. About the time the lambs are weaned, kidding starts. With that kind of schedule, we all need the break every year.

[KSALguy]

if you just have goats for fun you can give them a break when ever you want but if you have them for production of milk or meat then you dont want to give them a break and you dont want to wait too long to breed them, the longer you wait to breed a first time doe the more apt she is to get fat and not produce well, if you dry off a produceing doe and dont breed her back she WILL get fat and you may never get her back up to production the way she was, besides the fact if she is dry and not bred she is a liability for the farm not an asset,

[mekasmom]

A healthy uterus is a pregnant uterus and vice versa. You breed every year until age 9 or so. Some people breed until the doe passes, but many let her live her twilight years in the pasture after age 9-10 or so. Goats, healthy well cared for goats, live 10-13 yrs, so breeding the last couple of years of life is a risk of loosing the kids as well as Nanny. And the fertility drops after age 8-9 too, so they don't always conceive anyway.

[TroutRiver]

Originally Posted by KSALguy

if you just have goats for fun you can give them a break when ever you want but if you have them for production of milk or meat then you dont want to give them a break and you dont want to wait too long to breed them, the longer you wait to breed a first time doe the more apt she is to get fat and not produce well, if you dry off a produceing doe and dont breed her back she WILL get fat and you may never get her back up to production the way she was, besides the fact if she is dry and not bred she is a liability for the farm not an asset,

So then, what do you (all of you) think about breeding a doe in her first year, instead of waiting until she is a yearling and full grown? I have heard different things. I have heard that does bred in their first year will have easier births and higher production throughout their lives than those who are not bred until the next year. I've also heard that breeding them before they are full grown will stunt them and they won't produce as much. My yearling was in with the buck last fall/winter, but didn't get bred. She was on the small side, so we figured it was for the better, but now I wonder...

[Alice In TX/MO]

Breed so she kids near her first birthday. The risk of waiting is again fat forming around the ovaries and internally, creating problems with conception and birth.

The exception is exactly right - what you did! A small doe can be given a year to grow. Just don't over feed her.

[sammyd]

we breed so she kids at about a year as well.
Never heard of giving them a "year off"..........

[KSALguy]

yes breed so she kids at around her first birthday, some does will breed sooner than others, and some that do breed sooner than others are perfectly fine for it, but generally speaking its best to breed so she kids at or just after the one year mark,

[mekasmom]

Originally Posted by TroutRiver

So then, what do you (all of you) think about breeding a doe in her first year, instead of waiting until she is a yearling and full grown?

It depends on the size/maturity of the doe. It will stunt her growth to be bred too early, but if she is full size, then it's fine. 15+mo, near full size, fine. Six mo, very small, not near a full size goat, not a good idea. Anywhere in between is fine too as long as she is of good size.

I've let 5-6mo pygmys breed, and they do fine. A sanaan at that age? I probably would wait until she was closer to a year or looked of good size.

[Heritagefarm]

We breed every year. You only skip a year if milking through or have an ill goat. It would also be nice to do a more than one time per year breeding, but they never come in soon enough...

[Wags]

I breed my does to kid for the first time about the time they turn 2 years old. Nigerians are a little slower to mature than some of the larger breeds plus I want to be sure they are putting their full energy into growing babies instead of trying to grow themselves and their babies.

After that they are bred yearly for approximately the same time, although since I can bred year round I sometimes move a doe from a spring to a fall kidding schedule and then keep her on that. 9-10 months in milk and then a couple months dry before kidding.

[madness]

Originally Posted by HappyFarmer

Every year, we are trying for 3 kiddings in 2 years but that ain't happenin.

I had never heard of this until I read the book Year of the Goat. It seemed only applicable to meat goats, but I think the context was for dairy goats. What's the problem you are having - conceiving that often? It just sounded like a lot of kidding to me! no pun intended...!