~Pygmy Goat Breeding Questions~

[bdavidson]

This picture was taken yesterday and I was told she is a pygmy but does she look like a Nigerian dwarf or a pygmy?

 

[Stacykins]

This picture was taken yesterday and I was told she is a pygmy but does she look like a Nigerian dwarf or a pygmy?

I bought her in October and she was about 2 months old and I think she must have been bred at about 4 months old because she is 9 months right now. Would being bred so young cause her to stop growing or should she grow more?

So..you allowed her to be bred that young. You need to separate whatever intact male goats you have running with your girls now. Because it will happen again. If not to her, then another goat. Actually, as soon as she recovers from her surgery, unless she had her ovaries and/or uterus removed as a precaution against more pregnancies.

Being bred too young can cause her to stop growing. Common sense really, she was forced to valuable energy she should be using to grow her body to that of the fetus. Kids are hungry, both when a doe is pregnant and when she begins lactation.

She might be pygmy...she might be Nigerian...she might be a mix. Unless you have papers, nothing can be proven and is just speculation. She does look far too tiny for a healthy pregnancy, which you just found out the hard way. So to stop it from happening to any other goat, separate your does and bucks.

Running does and bucks together with a breed that can come into heat and become pregnant year round is irresponsible, and asking for early doe death when they are overbred. They will be bred too young (bucks will breed kids at their first heat, like this doe who had hers at four months old), then, as soon as they give birth, breed them again. Being constantly pregnant and lactating will ruin a doe's health. They need time to recover, just like humans.

 

[bdavidson]

Should we breed her again once she gets about 14-18 months old or should she never be bred again?

 

[Stacykins]

Should we breed her again once she gets about 14-18 months old or should she never be bred again?

She should never be bred again. The risk of uterine rupture has increased significantly because of the surgical wound. And she will likely never grow to her full size if she is so very tiny for her age, so a pregnancy that can safely go to term is unlikely. Unless you are prepared to spend the money for her to have a cesarean section with every pregnancy... She also might develop adhesions from her surgery. Adhesions are bands of abnormal tissue that form due to a surgical wound (they are hard to prevent, think scar tissue inside the body cavity attached to organs), and can affect the internal organs by moving them out of place.

This article about pygmy goats and C-sections is very informative. That website in general has a lot of great information about pygmies, and a great deal of the information applies to other breeds of goat as well.

How did she get bred so young in the first place? Do bucks live with the does (even if they are too young)? Was there a buck escape?

 

[bdavidson]

The buck escaped his pen and got to her. Do you know about how much it will cost to spay her?

 

[Stacykins]

Only your vet can answer that question. Veterinarians even in the same area can charge wildly difference prices for the same services. Ask different livestock vets for their prices.

If a buck escape ever happens again, it is your responsibility to take care of any unwanted pregnancies if the does are too young, rather than assume they cannot get pregnant (because they can). You go to the veterinarian and ask for a 2mL dose of a drug called Lutalyse. Give the drug 10-14 days after the doe was bred. This will terminate the pregnancy. The injection must be given into the muscle, it cannot be given subcutaneously. It is an prescription drug and only a veterinarian can give it to you.

I think the youngest instance of a Nigerian Dwarf doeling getting successfully bred that I've read was a three month old doe. Considering the bare minimum for breeding a Nigerian Dwarf is 9 months old and at least 40lbs, that doeling definitely wasn't ready. This is why it is so important to make sure bucks and does are separated at all times.

 

[H Diamond]

Should we breed her again once she gets about 14-18 months old or should she never be bred again?

One of the things you should also take away from this incident is that breeding should not occur based on age. Breeding needs to be based on weight of the doe. It doesn't matter how old the doe is (past the minimum of course) if she is not large enough she should not be bred. Stacykins gave you the minimum for the small girls, for full size goats it's 80lbs and 8months old. Preferably larger, but that's the bare minimum.

 

[bdavidson]

Today a different doe gave birth to triplets but the first one came out dead. I think it had been dead for a while because it didn't look completely developed and its hooves were really soft. Could this be something wrong with the doe or is it just a thing that sometimes happens? The other two are fine

 

[Stacykins]

Today a different doe gave birth to triplets but the first one came out dead. I think it had been dead for a while because it didn't look completely developed and its hooves were really soft. Could this be something wrong with the doe or is it just a thing that sometimes happens? The other two are fine

I think it happens sometimes. I had a doe who had beautiful, healthy kids before. Then last year she too, kidded a kid like that. Underdeveloped, weird. If it happens a second times, perhaps it might be the doe, but more likely it is a fluke.