Hi, I have been lurking for a few months.
I have a bunch of questions. But first some background about me & our farm.
We are in Southwestern Ontario, have 50ac. Currently have 13 sheep,horses. And now goats :-)
I purchased 5 bred does in Nov'11. With rough due dates for Jan/Feb. They are a mixture of. breeds. Alpine, Boer, Nubian, Togganberg. They are bred to a Boer.
Then 2 weeks later I picked up a little Saanen doe(2yrs),second kidding & Toggenberg buck(2yrs) the doe is bred to the buck. I plan to breed the buck back across the 5 does, & what ever doelings they have.
So here are my questions:
Milking questions:
I plan to milk the saanen & nubian once they kidd. How far from the buck do they need to be? Currently the buck is in a pen 13 feet apart from the does. I can move him to the far side of barn with the sheep that would put him about 40 feet away from the does. He is a good natured buck as I had the ram in his pen they got along well.
With milking I plan to doe raise the kidds. When you lock up the kidds over night, How long is this?
I do chorus in evening 6pm to 8pm then work midnights. Come home feed & water in morning around 8am(would milk does), then sleep through the day.
So if I seperate the kids around 8pm they would be apart for around 12hrs. Is this to long? Also if I milk out the doe in the morning do you milk her completly?, will the kidds get enough when I put them back in? Do I have to wait a bit before putting them in? Or do you only take say 1litre or so leaving some in the udder for the babies?
Breeding questions:
How long after kidding does it take for the doe to cycle again? Are they like cattle which can be bred back after 90 days? My reason for asking this is for watching for heat, and planning when to next breed. will a goat cycle while still feeding kids?
This is a great forum, I have learn't a lot from both the goat and sheep threads.
Now the pictures:
Taken in early morning winter Jan 2011.
Boer & Toggenburg Does
Toggengurg Buck & Alpine Doe
The woolley jumpers making faces.
Saanen & Nubian Does I plan to milk.
Boer X Doe and kid born Jan 3 2012
