4 Things to Consider Before Breeding Your Doe
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- Most new goat owners only think of being sure their doe is old enough before breeding, but there are actually 4 things you need to take into consideration before breeding a doe. Want to learn more about goat breeding? Check out my free course: thriftyhomeste...
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What a blessing to run across this video!
I must have really lucked out. My doe (first) freshened at five years old with zero issues. I had tried to breed her the previous year but it didn't take. The following year she effortlessly pushed out triplets but 2 weeks after rejected the doeling (in that she wouldn't let her nurse). I needed a buddy for my new bottle baby so it worked out and luckily, even at 2 weeks old, the doeling took to the bottle in a couple tries.
Nothing is ever 100%, but the odds are not in your favor with a FF 5-year-old. I'm glad it went well for both of you!
What weight do regular dairy goats need to be to breed?
At least 2/3 of their adult weight -- so if an adult doe in your breed weighs 150 pounds, a doe should be at least 100 pounds before being bred.
I am new to Goats. I just bought two Nigerian dwarfs doelings born the first week of August. Until listening to your video I thought I was supposed to wait until my goats were one year old to breed them, not one year old at first kidding. If my math is correct that means they should be bred at seven months. I am just wondering if it would be better to wait until they are at their full adult weight to breed them instead of 2/3 of their adult weight. Or doesn’t it really matter?
I never said they "should" be bred at 7 months. The point of this video is to STOP people from breeding simply because a doe is 7 months old. They CAN be bred at 7 months IF they weigh enough. Weight is the most important thing. Many does are NOT big enough to be bred at 7 months, and you could wind up with a c-section if they are too small when they go into labor. Goats continue to grow a little until they are close to 3 years old, so it's not a good idea to wait that long. There is no harm in waiting to breed them to kid as two-year-olds, and in fact, I prefer that because they produce more milk so they tend to have kids that grow faster.
Since your goats were born in August, you would be able to breed them when they are a year old, but many people can't breed does when they are a year old. When does are born in spring, it is unlikely that you will be able to breed them when they are exactly one year old because that will be in spring, and contrary to popular belief, Nigerian dwarf goats do not ALL come into heat year round. That is a trait of desert goats, and the longer they are out of Africa, especially if they are in the northern parts of the US, they do not retain the year-round cycling. Many years ago we made a huge mistake when we decided to only breed half of our does in the fall, thinking we could breed the others in the spring for a more even milk supply. NONE of the does got pregnant in spring. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, because we have had kids born in every single month of the year, but I wouldn't count on it. Since these particular does were born in August, that means they had a dam that was cycled in spring, but I did a survey of 212 ND breeders, only 39% said all of their goats could be bred for fall kidding.
I also want to add that if you bought kids born the first week of August, I hope you're bottle feeding. You may be saying "duh," but I've seen far too many people just pull kids from mom far too young, and they wind up with stunted growth and parasite problems, which would mean they are not going to be anywhere near large enough to breed by a year even, perhaps never, if they wind up with permanent intestinal damage. My goal is for all of my kids to be 20 pounds by 8 to 10 weeks of age, which is what you need in order to hit 40 pounds by 7 months.
@@DeborahNiemann thanks for your thorough answer. I think I will wait until my does are closer to 12 months of age to breed just to be on the safe side. And yes, both of our babies were and are going to be bottle fed all the way to 10 weeks of age.
@@JB-ln3vu Weaning really should be based upon weight rather than age, although I know so many people think that 8 weeks or 10 weeks or 12 weeks is the magical age. For many years, I followed that guideline also -- until we started tracking weight gain on our kids and realized we were doing a huge disservice to the kids that were not gaining as quickly.
I want my ND kids to be at least 20 pounds before I consider selling them, which means weaning. If they stay here, they can nurse as long as they want. Even though most of my kids hit 20# by 8 to 10 weeks, we bottle feed until at least 4 months, sometimes 6. There is no other food that can provide the concentrated protein and calcium that milk can. Since milk is liquid, they can consume so much more of it than they can of solid foods. They can consume up to 20% of their body weight in milk whereas they only consume about 3-5% of their body weight in solid foods. There is no benefit to weaning early.
If these are your only goats, you may have a challenge getting them to eat solid foods since they are not around other goats. When they are being raised by mom, they start eating when they are only a few days old because they are imitating her. Bottle babies should either be on pasture or have hay available 24/7 at an early age, even though they won't start to eat it usually until a month or so.
@@DeborahNiemann Yes, I watched one of your videos this afternoon that made me decide to go beyond my weaning at 10 weeks plan. I definitely won’t wean them before they reach 20 lbs. and I may decide to go well beyond 20 pounds. They are on a small pasture, but at five weeks of age they are only now starting to nibble on pellets. It never occurred to me it could be because they don’t have other goats around to imitate. You have given me a newfound respect for milk. I think I will keep bottling them for as long as they seem to be benefiting from it.