Breeding

 

Goats are very prolific animals! You will often see bucklings as young as a few weeks old trying to breed their littermates. Young doelings will start coming into heat long before they are old enough to breed.We prefer to wait until our does are at least 15 months old before they are bred for the first time. This allows them to achieve the majority of their growth before they are bred. We feel that they are also more mature and make better mothers if they are a little older when their first kids are born.   Bucks are often capable of breeding by only a few months of age. We like to wait until our bucks are at least six months old before using them for breeding. We also limit the number of does they breed in their first season. Being in rut and chasing the girls uses up a lot of energy. We would rather they put the majority of their energy towards growth in their first year or two.  Some of the signs that you may see to let you know that your doe is in heat are (you may see some or all of these): flagging (wagging her tail), mounting other does, allowing other does to mount her, fighting, swollen or bright pink vulva, increased vocalizing, etc. We pasture breed our goats, which means that we take a group of does to the buck's pen and leave them with him until they have all been bred.  We do observe them daily and write down breeding dates so that we will know when to expect kids.  Additionally, we draw blood from the does 30 days post exposure to the buck and send it to BioTracking for pregnancy testing.  The test is very inexpensive and lets us know for sure which does are pregnant and which are not.

 

 

Kidding

 

Does are pregnant for an average of 150 days. For the majority of their pregnancy, we treat them just like we did when they were open. During the last four to six weeks of pregnancy, we start to increase their feed slightly and will often divide their feed into two meals per day. As the kids get bigger, the doe can’t eat as much in one meal as she could before. One month before the doe is due; we vaccinate her, trim her feet and give her a Bo-Se injection. We repeat the Bo-Se two weeks before her due date. Five days before the doe is due to kid, she is moved into a kidding stall, where she will stay until her kids are old enough to go outside. We have installed a barn cam above our kidding stalls so that we no longer have to make several trips out to the barn during the night to check on the does.  Every doe is different; there is no definite list of things that every doe will do when kidding is imminent. Some of the signs that you may (or may not) see are: the ligaments on either side of her spine near her tail will be “gone”, pawing at the ground (nesting), restlessness, a full, tight udder, any behavior that is out of the ordinary for THAT doe. We always try to be there when our does kid in case the doe or kids need help. After the kids are born, we help to dry them off, dip their umbilical cord and feet in a chlorhexadine solution, weigh them and make sure they nurse. We also give all newborns a dose of Bovi-Sera after they have nursed and a dose of Bo-Se the day after birth.Once all of the kids are born, we wait for the doe to deliver the placenta so that we can dispose of it. After that, if all seems to be going well, we leave the doe and her new kids alone to bond.