~~~The Care of Keeping African Pygmy Goats~~~ Got Them~PICS~

[The Wolf Queen]

cmjust0 Yes I know about raising goats. Like I said, Ive had one before and his only problem was that he was fed too much

. My questions were about breeding them. Thank you to everyone who answered my questions. Well about an hour ago my mother and I went and we picked the little cuties up. Yep their not related, their 8 weeks old, yep I will post pics, and oops I have one more question lol. I will post pic momentarily and my question is "at what age do the does have their first heat?". Now to load my pics.

 

[Melissakins]

Usually around 7-8 months old - they're not like full sized goats in that they can breed year round. Most breeders will wait til the does are at least a year old to let them fully mature though.

Too young and the doe may be too small for an easy birth.

Bucks can be fertile at a VERY young age so be very careful....

http://www.ndga.org/about.html

 

[The Wolf Queen]

OK here are the pics as promised. They are temporarily in my silkie breeding pen till their home is finished (hopefully by tomorrow). They will have a pen that has a large run area and a pen on the side that will be used to rotate the pair so one runs around in the day and the other at night but they can still hang out through the fence and they wont be lonely because we have horses, chickens, ducks, and wild cats to hang out with. Back when I had my whether the local feral cat that I feed would lay on the goat when he was sleeping I never got a pic but it was SO cute.

The buck is the lighter one and the female is the blue roan looking one. Ive decided to call them Onyx and Zoe. By the way can anyone tell what you would call their colors? Sorry the pics suck but I haven't been able to sync my good camera to the computer so I used my cell.

Oh and was I right on their breed?

 

[Epona142]

They look very pygmy with maybe some Nigerian in there.

 

[ksalvagno]

I was going to say the same thing. They look very pygmy but could be a cross. They are adorable though.

 

[cmjust0]

Dunno what they are, but they're cute.

Just out of curiosity...what's in the feed pan?

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Oh I was trying to see if I could get them to eat some of the grain that I feed my horses(as a treat). My old goat used to love that except his all time favorite was, ironically, chicken feed lol

although that we wouldn't give him voluntarily. He would have to sneak up to me and stick his face right in the bucket then you would have to drag him away lol. What I fatty. As an update these guys were actually really scared and skittish yesterday but my mom's friend came over and just picked Onyx right up. Then I picked up Zoe(yes they both screamed bloody murder but they are getting better) and we just sat there petting them for a while. Then I did that today with my mom. I thought it was gonna take a lot of me just sitting in there and getting them used to my presence then eventually petting them. Boy was I wrong lol. Then today I picked them up one by one and they hardly made a sound. I even got Onyx to lay still. Im really happy that they are getting used to us already plus I think Zoe just has the cutest face. I like Onyx's spunk but I think Zoe is going to be my favorite (shh dont tell Onyx). Then about 10 minutes ago I sort of cornered them and knelt down and talked to them and they actually let me pet them and scratch their ears without making a single sound and or running away.

Here are pics from today. They are fascinated with my cell camera lol. They look at me like "why does that animal click?" hehehe.

 

[bheila]

Well of course your last goats favorite treat was chicken feed because they're not suppose to eat it!
I bought a doe from someone on BYC. Her brother apparently bred her when they were only 2 months old. She didn't tell me this and I only found out when I went out to feed and found 2 cold kids. Please separate them

You're asking for problems if you keep them together. You won't always be able to detect when the doelings in heat.

 

[cmjust0]

Some horse feeds are OK, since horse feeds are more likely to have the correct 2:1 balance of Calcium and Phosphorus. That balance is something you'll want to really watch with the little male...too much phosphorus and not enough calcium leads to urinary calculi. Urinary calculi is usually a death sentence.

Watch about feeding him textured feed, too.. Some little buggers get in the textured feed and pick out what they want...like corn, which is reeeeeally bad for male goats. Pelleted feeds are sorta safer in that respect, since every pellet is mixed the same way. No cherry-picking.

Really, though, the primary diet should be good quality hay.. Bagged feed is supplemental feed...use it to supplement.

BTW...have you found a mineral mix to feed yet? They do much, much better with access to high-quality, highly-bioavailable mineral offered free choice in small quantities and refreshed often. Mineral deficiencies can lead to anything from lameness to chronic illness to infertility, and they're very hard to pin down.. You're way ahead of the game if you can start them right and keep it up than to have to battle a deficiency later.

And bheila's right -- that buck's fertile *right now*. If she were to have an early heat -- which does happen -- and he breeds her this young....not good at all. If you're looking to breed them one day, get them seperated ASAP. If you decide he needs to just be a companion to the doe, band him.

They're really cute.

 

[lilbirdee]

Maybe they are Kinders? From a Nibian Doe & Pygmy Buck.