Here's my two cents: For the record, most of my experience comes with Pygmy goats who tend to live a long time. You will want to be prepared and have extra helpers available in case they're needed to assist you with the multiple new babies. The average is two. Be careful not to breed your goats at too young of an age. At this age, goats can be used for meat, physical labor, and breading. This will make your life a lot easier at kidding time, and will allow you to manage your goats for a healthier, happier herd. Some herd owners don't even own a buck. Just be careful - it will accentuate bad qualities also. The burdizzo method crushes the spermatic cord. With AI you don't have to deal with the bucks. Knowing when to wean and understanding the weaning process are They can breed while in estrus for 12-36 hours. This will help ready them for the weaning stage. Just send a milk sample into a lab that does this kind of testing and the lab can let you know if your doe is pregnant again. You can breed your nanny twice per year, but that doesn't mean it is healthy to breed too close together. My neighbor had a ten year old goat that had triplets , but she died within a few days of kidding. Oh no poor thing and poor babies to lose their momma so early. As time goes on, they will no longer want milk and they will consume only solid foods and water. To combat the stress that your goat kid will inevitably face during weaning, studies show that you should wait to wean until their weight increases to at least 2.5 times their initial weight at birth. The great thing about an ultrasound is that it can sometimes detect how many kids are going to be born. The elder, age 6, is a cheerful, friendly saanen who looks like skin and bones in her back hips with a huge belly done below. At first, we were pleased to see two come out. You can then apply a formula to those numbers to arrive at a pretty good approximation of their weight. Billy goats (intact males) do tend to weigh slightly more than wethers - or castrated males. In that case, you may not want to remove your buck from your does, and an apron can keep them from breeding until you're ready. You will want to introduce them to the pen and possibly let them live there with their mother or other goats they are comfortable with, for a few weeks. Intact bucks and does over 8 weeks of age should not be kept together because a young buck can, and will,breed a female at 2 months of age, this includes his mother and 2 month old sister! After that, he's referred to as a "wether" rather than a "buck". Or, you may have a young buckling you don't want to wean from his mother yet, but you also aren't sure if he might be old enough to breed already. If you decide to wean goat kids by age, the process could start early as 28 days or later than 4 months. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. . What age do yo normally stop breeding your does and what do you do with them when they are to old? Under-feeding can lower her chances of getting pregnant and having kids and canalso reduce milk production after having kids.The genetic makeup of the animal also determines when puberty occurs in the female. However, goats have also been known to safely deliver septuplets (seven kids) on more than one occasion. You will want to plan the goat breeding so you don't have too many kids being born around the same time. That's why so many goat breeders will spend the money to get a quality buck. You must log in or register to reply here. Rabbit breeding schedules are usually based on 7-day intervals for ease in recordkeeping. She will usually get pregnant the second time. Goat Breeding Age. An alternative, if you plan to do a lot of goat pregnancy tests, is to invest in the equipment and training so you can do it yourself. Dec 15, 2017. Standard breed does will usually start coming into heat in August and should come into heat every 18 to 21 days. Then, when you wean, you will remove the mother or other goats from the pen instead of moving the baby. However, there is a huge variation of when she will actually come into heat and potentially become pregnant. 70 days are required to wean goats. This applies whether you own the buck yourself, or you borrow a buck from another goat breeder as a stud goat. This accelerates when he smells a doe in heat nearby. Nutrition during goat breeding season is critical. I read that if you stop breeding does at 9 0r 10 they will live up to 20 this is what I intend to do then again it dependes on the doe. We will monitor how well they are able to take care of their kids(weight/growth) plus what their condition looks like while nursing the kids and after the kids are weaned. It's usually more of a challenge to keep them from breeding, than to get them started breeding. Or, if you have someone show you how the first time, you can easily draw the blood yourself to save some time and money. Also, her uterus and birth canal may not be large enough to deliver kids. On the other hand, "Equatorial Breeds" that originated from hotter climates, like miniature breeds including Pygmy and Nigerian Dwarf, as well as meat goat breeds, can breed year-round. This involves holding the doe with your hands, or on a lead, so she can't run away and the buck can have a chance to mount her. A doe can often reach the safe goat breeding weight by around 8 months old or so. (source). Usually a young buck, about a year old, should only be allowed to breed with a group of 10 does max within the same month. at 6 it starts to be a crapshoot. There are many uses for goat milk and you can . I've heard of does being milked for their 10th lactation before. Not only that, people have found that if you retire your doe after she reaches about 10 years of age, it can increase her lifespan to 20 years or longer. During the fall, the endocrine system also increases levels of the sex hormones,testosterone and luteinizing hormone (Ritar,1990). That doesn't mean her body is prepared for the process. I know that sounds early, but it's totally possible! The same studies also suggest that kids that are already eating at least 1 ounce of solid food each day in the days leading up to weaning will have a higher growth rate afterward. We supplement our doe's nutrition with additional supplements during breeding season, sometimes using a Drencher, also known as a Drench Syringe. The goat will squirm and bleat a little. Why? From there, count backwards on the calendar 145 to 155 days (gestation period) to arrive at the approximate target breeding date. For example, Nigerian Dwarf goats typically average more kids than that with each birth. Of course, it depends on your personal preference. Colostrum provides baby goats with the immunity they will need to survive during the first months of their lives. This is because a doe will never quit going into heat. Age of your goats matters. The following information will help you recognize when your baby goat is ready Other breeds can breed year-round, such as Nigerian Dwarfs, Boers, Spanish goats, Fainting goats, and Pygmy goats. When a goat kid begins to reach the two-month mark, make sure that you are offering them a goat kid starter food. 2. Reactions: AmberLops. Coffee's Ready, Come and Sit on the Porch, Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey, Member's "Self Sufficient Living" Journals. Another strategy is "hand breeding". The number of does a buck can service at one time also dependson individual sexdrive of the buck,the terrain of the land and if he is managed by a hand- or pasture- mating system. goat, any ruminant and hollow-horned mammal belonging to the genus Capra. If you choose to "retire" your doe at some point, you will need to keep her away from bucks for the rest of her life. Sometimes a doe needs to be taken to the buck on a lead (leash) and held so the buck can mount her. Because a doe's body isn't prepared to grow and deliver a kid safely until she reaches a certain body weight, which is usually 60-70% of an adult doe's typcial body weight. The fist reason that I separate my bucks from my does is that a buckling can breed very early. Usually about 6-12 inches tall is ideal. You just need a blood sample from your doe and you can send it off to a lab to test for pregnancy. 4. Regardless, it's not ideal and should generally be avoided. The most humane practice is to stop a doe from being bred after she passes a certain age or physical condition. Trim hooves. Day length has an effect on reproduction in the buck and the doe. Surgical castration is considered the riskiest form of goat castration with a high risk of possible side effects like infection. I have been told (by a friend and mentor) that spring is the best time for rabbit breeding. This has to be inserted way down in the goat's throat, so the goat can't spit it back out or chew it. Just keep an eye on them and make sure they are eating their solid food and not losing too much weight. Multiply that weight by 2.5. How do you stop the mean goat? After age 3, he can probably handle twice that many. Southwestern Idaho. Also, don't be fooled into thinking a young buckling can be left with your doe and won't get her pregnant. The goat has an 18-21 day estrus cycle or "season." . Just be sure you have extra people around to help. A buckling should probably not be castrated before he's 10 weeks old, or you may increase the risk he could have problems with urinary calculi (occurs when his urethra gets blocked and the pee can't get out), which can be fatal. You can have too many kiddings to handle properly, and with kids being born at bad times (eg, during the freezing cold of Winter) So how do you keep goats from breeding? Miniature goats can be bred at 7-8 months (or 45 lbs.) You can get a vet to draw the blood. The Goat Horn Guide: Should You Dehorn Your Goats? But, as I mentioned before, you may decide to use a larger number of bucks if you want more genetic diversity in your herd. Information on the production basics for raising dairy and meat goats is included, as well. All baby goats should be vaccinated and dewormed before you wean them. but it would depend on how long and how well I know the doe and if she can handle it. If you end up owning several goats, and having kids born at different times, you can save a lot of time and errors by using a goat gestation calculator or goat gestation calendar to calculate your doe's exact kidding date. So, ironically, if you try to speed up your doe's birthing process, it actually lowers the rate of producing new kids. Many goat owners do not attempt to breed doelings until they are at least 80% of their adult weight. document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) All rights reserved. Clip the belly hair on bucks. The major disadvantage of this method is that the cords are . Neither strategy is wrong, and you should do what works best for your situation. Also, you don't want to wait too long to castrate either, when the testicles are too big to fit into the open elastrator band. The actual sex act only lasts for a few seconds. On our farm, we recently had one of our Nigerian Dwarf does deliver four kids at once. It may be better to control your goat breeding to stagger the anticipated kiddings at different times. Many commercial rabbit producers will breed does back 14 to 21 days after kindling. Bucks can be very determined when they want to breed, but a sturdy woven wire fence with electric wires on the top and sides will do the trick. The doe will remain in heat for 12 to 36 hours. Lambs typically weigh around 9 pounds when they are born. By having your doe give birth less often, you can possibly produce more kids faster. We had a good friend whose goat reared its head and stuck its horn into the friend's eye socket. Neither method is wrong but the goal to transition them completely from milk to solid food is the same. Fortunately, his eye was spared, but he had a long painful healing process. A ratio of 20 to 30 does per buck is typically recommended for best results. This doesn't mean your goat can't give birth to more than that at one time. During Standing Heat, she may even stand with her rear end up against a fence when she knows bucks are on the other side. You'll want to do more research before deciding on goat mineral supplements because the necessity and benefits of using them will vary based on breed, diet, and your soil and water quality. Their rationale is that she has to grow a strong body and bones before she's mature enough to carry kids. This can actually be beneficial, and is used by some herd owners to accentuate certain desirable qualities in their goats. An ultrasound is considered one of the most reliable tests for goat pregnancy. LaMancha goat milk contains 3.1% protein and 3.9% butterfat. Just by letting a doe smell the rag, this can sometimes trigger her to come into heat. As usual, make sure your goats have plenty of quality forage, hay and grain. At the age of five to seven years, the goats reach their peak efficiency. You have a little more control over when you'll have babies. This is why, as we mentioned earlier, at a minimum a doe can safely kid about every 9 months, but the best practice followed by most reputable goat farmers concerned about their doe's health is to aim at having a doe give birth to kids no more often than about once per year. Regardless of which method you choose, your goat kid should be living in a weaning pen, away from their moms or the bottle, within a short period of time. While some goats breed only during a certain season, some breeds of goats will breed constantly and breed year-round if you let them. Some does may not show signs of heat unless a buck is present. I thinking for future reference. But a DIY anti mating apron for a goat can be challenging. Many bucks have been able to actually breed a doe through the openings in a fence and get her pregnant. Miniature breeds average about 145 days. He will certainly watch out more closely around his goats. You may also hear people refer to a male goat as a "Billy" goat, and a female as a "Nanny" goat. This means that constant urination on the goat's face and legs can irritate and burn the skin and even remove the hair in those areas due to the acid in the urine. "Buck" and "Doe" are considered the technically correct terms. Be sure to write down their birth weight to establish the baseline that you will use to monitor their growth going forward. When choosing goats for breeding, your decisions will depend on what your purposes are for your herd. Up until this process begins, the baby animal has, for the most part, only consumed milk from their mother or milk replacer fed to him or her from a bottle. One option is to buy a livestock scale, but that could cost you several hundred dollars or more. Next, let's look at how goat breeding works exactly. Most goats are fall breeders and will come into heat during the months of September thru February. Weaning is the vital and necessary process of switching a young mammal from a liquid to a solid food diet. adventure. It may not display this or other websites correctly. A mammal (from Latin mamma 'breast') is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (/ m m e l i. /).Mammals are characterized by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones.These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, which they diverged from in the Carboniferous . For does, it's been determined that a lack of proper nutrition can actually decrease a doe's chances of becoming pregnant. Females are called does or nannys, and immature goats are called kids. A goat kid of either sex can be fertile at 7 weeks of age (though they should not be bred at that age). That makes it especially difficult when you are helping with new kids being born, while enduring snow, freezing temperatures, frozen water buckets, etc. You can gradually reduce the milk access until they are completely off it. With this, you measure the goat's "heart girth", wrapping the tape around your goat's chest just behind the front legs. Other breeds average about 150 days. Terms: Buck: Male Goat More on this later. Putting a buckling apron on him can prevent an accidental inbreeding from occurring until you're ready to wean him. Nannies give birth, usually to a single offspring, after moving to an isolated ledge; post-partum, they lick the baby dry and ingest the placenta. For more information on reproduction, you can return to the table of contents at: http://www.extension.org/pages/19565/goat-reproduction. So, we simply use a regular bathroom scale. The way it works is, when your buck mounts a doe, and he has a crayon on his chest during the process, you will later notice that any does that were bred by that buck will have a big colored mark on their back. This is completely normal due to the initial shock of all the changes they are facing. By 1-2 years goats are fully matured. Sometimes it may be because the doe is young, has never been bred before and is nervous about the process. we breed from the day they could breed, until about age 7. when goats are older you get more and more floppy kids. Nanny goats stand approximately 30 inches tall and Billy goats (or bucks) generally stand 35 inches tall. Acidity. I step on the scale and measure my own weight. A doe can go into heat again and get pregnant less than 30 days after kidding, maybe even within just a couple of weeks after delivering her last litter of kids. In about ten minutes or so the bleeding will stop and the goat will up and moving again. On a related note, if you're milking your doe, you can continue milking her even while she's pregnant. A doe will not automatically stop ovulating at a certain age, like a human woman who reaches menopause. This will either keep them calm or cause them more stress. Coverage should be increased during spring breeding to 3-4% (1 ram to 25-33 ewes). Attractive and desirable coloring is sought after by many buyers and recognized by many goat show judges. A doe can often reach the safe goat breeding weight by around 8 months old or so. The main thing is to keep a close eye on your buck's health and his nutrition during periods of breeding. Yearling kids may be bred in the first year at 7-10 months of age, depending on breed, if they have grown well to about 80 lb. Also, goats just have different personalities and moods. This is mating between goats that may be somewhat related but not direct family. Test for CAEV. Welcome! However, a better practice requires breeding adults who have achieved 70% to 75% of their mature weight. If you're still doubtful about breeding goats, you don't need to worry much about the specific goat breeding age. 7. A much cheaper option for larger goats that are hard to lift is to use a goat "Weigh Tape" or a regular measuring tape. The gestation period, or length of pregnancy,of the doe ranges between 145 to 152 days, or 150 days (5months)on average, and under normal circumstances, the doe can have multiple births (twins, triplets and rarely, more). And, they've never been bred at all. Lift the skin (in the armpit of the goat) into a tent. Make sure that the needle isn't in the skin or muscle, or through the other side of the tent. However, it's fairly common for a Nigerian Dwarf doe to deliver 3 or 4 kids, and sometimes 5. Prepare vaccine with proper dosage and 20 gauge needle. The process of weaning, along with the kid's weight and age, will play significant roles in its ability to fight off illnesses and thrive well into adulthood. Following the birth, it is usual for the ewe and lamb to be placed in a small pen for a few days away from the flock. They can survive for a long time. You can simply purchase the semen and use it to impregnate your goats without the difficulties and delays of the normal breeding process. We keep several bucks to create some genetic diversity in our herd. 15 Best Breeds of Goats for Milk, Meat and More, Goat Kidding: Pro Tips for Pregnancy, Labor and Birth, Oberhasli Goat Breed: Characteristics, Facts and Origin, Raising Goats: 11 Most Important Things You Need to Know, Doeling - Female goat less than a year old, Buckling - Male goat less than a year old, Estrous Cycle - The multi-stage reproductive cycle of a mammal, Estrus - One stage of the estrous cycle, during which ovulation occurs, Rut - mating season for goats; when a buck is "in rut" he experiences an increase in testosterone and heightened sexual interest in female goats, Freshening - occurs when a doe is pregnant, starts lactation and comes into milk; the first time she experiences this, she is referred to as a "First Freshener" or "FF", Mounting other does and letting them mount her, Movement felt on goat's right side (movement on left side is the rumen), Udder starts developing (often about a month before kidding).