Fall Babies?

[bubs-mom]

Does anyone out there breed for fall babies? We just got our first pygmy female and are anxious to breed her to our angora buck.
Also, how long should you wait to rebreed a female? (She has a 6 week old doe nursing now.)

Thanks for any advice. We don't want to do anything wrong.

[Helena]

I suppose there is a "correct" length of time before kidding again...but I would think you should give her a few months..at least. Just think of yourself..if you are a women..and wouldn't you want a break from babies and to give your body a rest. We breed once a year. But..we do have one doe that as hard as we try to keep the bucks from her she will kid either around Novemeber to Feb. Never fails. So I guess ...where there is a will there is a way. I have even seen the little "hussie" back up to the bucks fence !!! And you try to raise them proper and right ?? .. We now have 3 milking does.. so we are usually glad when she kids during this time. If you don't have any good goat books I would recommend you find some in the library and read up on the care of your goats. If you wanted her to kid in say November..you would have to start breeding her...maybe now or by July. Maybe a bit soon. What is the hurry in breeding her. Need the milk for the family ?? Hopefully others will write to you with give their advice. Good Luck !!

[animal_kingdom]

You would have to breed her now for fall babies.

Personally, I would advise against it because like Helena said, it's hard on them.

I breed every 8 months because I have goats that are capable of that and do very well with it.

So with that in mind...here's a suggestion: Breed them in September. That would give you February babies. Then breed again in mid to late May. Then next year you would have Fall babies.

You would want to be sure the mom is done nursing babies or just about before you would re-breed her. I don't have pygmies so I don't know much about them to be able to give you the absolute best advice.


If you have more than one goat to breed, you could stagger everyone so that you have babies every few months. I split up my herd into two groups.

[TexCountryWoman]

I go by body condition and natural willingness to rebreed. Some do well with frequent breedings, others need time to replenish themselves. I go by my gut.

[susanne]

how big is your angora buck? it is always okay to breed a little buck to a big doe but the other way around you can get kidding problems because the kids are too big for a little doe.
i would not breed a doe after six weeks fresh. i would give her some time to recover and get strong and some reserves.
if you are like me i can understand why you want to do it though
susanne