Thoughts on first goat breeding

[Lazy Farmer]

I determined their weight using the body measurement calculator. The doe is 81 lbs. The other two are 40.5 and 44 lbs.

My mobile Vet chooses my breeders sometimes. Hip placement and balance. Age and ranking in the herd as well.
Some of our girls are just eye candy and a small handful are nannies.
We have 5 wethers that just keep the tiny girls with company. Our Bucks have always had their own paddocks and only allowed to mingle with a single nanny at a time during breeding.
I love my herd..

 

[Latestarter]

Hey there. I don't own Nigies, I own Lamanchas, but from my time on BYH and all the Nigie owners over there, here's my input. They are year round breeders. You can expect that anywhere from about 2 months of age onward, the females can be capable of becoming pregnant. Therefore, you do not want to leave a buck older than 2-4 months of age in with any young female kids after they are 8 weeks old. They cycle every 18-23 days or so. Some will get really loud when they cycle, others do it in stealth mode. Watching a buck or wether if you have one and how it reacts to the females will tell you if they are in heat. Many times the females will "flirt" with the bucks at this time as well.

ETA: Most try for spring kids to avoid birthing in hot weather when insects are a major issue. In most experience, the kids also do much better starting out in cooler weather. Were it me, I'd be breeding for Sept/Oct kids vice June/July. But March for me is the golden month. (NE TX)

Once the female allows the buck to mount her, it's over in 20 seconds or less and many times, it only happens once, or multiple times in a short time period, so if you miss it, you most likely missed it. A blood test or if she does/doesn't come into heat next time around will be your best indication that she took. Or of course she will start to get very wide as the kids grow inside, but that won't help you with determining a kidding date.

Bucks (all) pretty much go into rut in the fall. They pee on their beards to perfume themselves for the ladies and rub their heads and cheeks all over the butts and female parts of the does and can get quite fragrant. I personally don't find it terribly offensive, but it does smell and if you're milking, the smell can transmit to the milk if you keep the males and females together. Only an issue when they are in rut. With year round breeders, they don't have to be in rut to breed. They breed year round. But rut still occurs in the fall.

If you're milking, you want to stop when the doe is about 3 months pregnant. This give her more reserves to aid in kid growth as they draw more as they grow. It also gives her time to build up antibodies for her colostrum. When the kid(s) are born regardless of anything else, make sure they receive colostrum as soon as possible but within 4 hours of birth, after 24 hours, it's pretty much too late. They are born with no protection and get their initial antibodies from the mother's colostrum. The milk will taste "off" for the first week or two after birth because of this. Please don't milk the doe any time before she gives birth as once the colostrum is gone, it's gone. After the kid(s) have gotten several good doses of colostrum from mom, you can milk the rest out and freeze it (good for a year) to use in emergencies down the road.

CD&T shot should be given about 4 weeks before kidding so that the antibodies are produced and passed to the kid(s). Should be an annual shot for them anyway. The kids should get their first CD&T at 4-5 weeks and a follow up booster 4-5 weeks after that. They should then be good to go for another year. Many do other inoculations, and you can research and determine if they are warranted or desired. be aware that if rabies is desired, it must be administered by a vet.

OK, when to breed a young doe. From a purely biological standpoint, in the wild, when a doe comes into heat, she gets bred. Sorry, just facts. The bucks pay no attention to their weight, width of rear end, age, size, or any other human expressed measure of ability/capability.

Now, that being said, if you breed a very young doe, it will stunt her growth. She'll be putting effort and nutrition to use for her babies, not her own growth. Much the same as a human mother will take calcium from her own teeth/bones for the baby if calcium intake isn't sufficient. Now, after birth, she will still have slow growth as everything will go to milk production. But eventually, she will grow to her expected size as dictated by her genes and her parentage. It will just take longer. It may become permanent if you never give her body a chance to catch up by continuous milking or pregnancies.

IMHO, if the young doe is healthy and at least 75% of her mom's size/weight when bred, she should be fine. Never breed a small doe to a much larger buck. Especially when crossing breeds. Example, never breed a standard size buck to a Nigie doe. This holds in virtually all cases. But even when this has happened, it doesn't ALWAYS cause issues, but why take that chance?

Hope I've hit everything you asked... post here or PM me if you have other questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

Oh, you should send a msg to either "BYC support" or "niftychicken" (site owner) about the issues you're having getting set up with BYH. They should be able to get it straightened out.

 

[cassie]

You should probably have epinephrine on hand before administering any injectable at all, whether it is an antibiotic or a vaccine. That said, I never had a goat have an adverse reaction to CD/T. I am not saying it can't happen. I just never saw it. I did have one goat go into anaphylactic shock from a dose of penicillin once, though. Epinephrine is cheap insurance.