# Breeding Doeling to Father?



## ETgoatygirl (Mar 23, 2012)

Hi everyone! I have a question for all of you goat breeders out there.. Have you ever bred a doe to her father? It sounds like it could definitely cause problems to me, if one wasn't careful. But I'm no expert I'm a little hesitant to do it. Here is my dilemma, I have one doeling who I would rather breed to someone other than her father. The doelings father is "boarding" with all of my other girls at my home. It just seems so much simpler just to use the buck I have here than to go bring another buck back here for a month and put him and my one doeling in a seperate pen. But I do want to do what's best for my goats. Is this father to daughter breeding a bad thing? I would only like to breed them together this once (as next year she should be big enough to breed to a very nice neighborhood buck). I just really don't want to end up with babies coming out with three heads, etc. Thank you!


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

It depends. How well do you know the line that would be doubled up? Have you seen his mom, sisters, kids, etc? You don't end up with 3 headed kids (although I'm weird to think that would be cool if it lived). What you end up doing is intesifying the good and the bad in the line. Such as, I have an oberhasli buck that throws beautiful strong udders but he has no brisket, it's horrible. Now he throws nice briskets on his kids as it doesn't seem to be a dominant gene in his line BUT if I bred one of his doelings back to him, I'm pretty sure that those kids would have the horrible brisket. The strengths of the line can make it worth the risk too. If his mom has a drop dead gorgeous udder, top line, or some other strength worth intensifying in the kids and he doesn't show a terrible fault. (clear as mud huh?)


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## Used2bmimi (Oct 3, 2012)

Actually Goathiker that's not a bad explanation at all. Father/daughter breeding can be done. Line breeding/inbreeding is often used by breeders to "set" positive traits in a line. It has played a large role in defining breeds and specific lines within breeds. The problem when it is used indescriminately is that it sets bad traits too. So in Goathiker's example, (in very simplified terms) if the offspring got 'bad brisket' from the father and 'bad brisket' from the daughter, then the offspring has no 'good brisket' at all to pass on in it's genetics, so the bad brisket is set. 

I realize that what you are really asking is if your doelings offspring will be deformed. There is no perfect answer to that as it depends on the buck's genetics. If he and the daughter do not share any problem areas then yes you could most likely get away with it. It would happen all the time in a wild herd. But then again a wild herd is more harshly culled (by nature) for survivability issues than a domestic herd. I, myself, do not like to see linebreeding/ inbreeding done (in any species) for convenience. But, I also understand that sometimes you have to take what you have and run with it.


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## GoatsLive (Jul 1, 2012)

My girl Molly is the product of a buck and his offspring. Molly has many many faults and I would never in a million years allow her to breed because of it. She's a very sweet and wonderful pet though


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 28, 2011)

We have done it several times. Linebreeding/inbreeding one time is not going to cause any major problems. Not sure what your sale is for your kids/her kids. We sold our offspring from father and daughter breedings as commercial, or for 4h kids as show wethers. 
If the buck you are using has any major faults or issue, your offspring are for sure to carry it. Like weak legs for example. by breeding that buck to an unrelated doe you stand a chance of having stronger legged offspring from a weak legged buck, but if you breed that buck to his daughter, the odds are pretty good you are going to see weak legged offspring. The same is true for a good quality in your buck. So if you like the buck and you don't feel that having the kids linebred so closely will bother your sale of the kids, then I would do it. Well, I have. One year we bred 5 does back to their father. We purchased another buck, but he ended up being to shy and young to breed the does and so we put them with their dad, rather than having them sit open for another year or having to go and buy yet another buck. 

We have also done it other years when we just had one buck and didn't want to buy a 2nd buck for just one or two keeper does.


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## animalfamily (Nov 23, 2012)

I personally am not a fan of inbreeding as well, but I must say that accidents do happen sometimes, and we have run into this situation once in the past. It seemed to have no ill effects on the offspring. We have sloved this problem though, as we now only keep one buck [and he's one HAPPY buck now!!]


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Goathiker said it very well!
The outcome can be really really good or really really bad. Not with 3 heads or anything bizarre. 
Both strengths & weaknesses will be magnified.
But if doe & sire have no glaring faults you should be ok.
Last yr the only buck I had was sire to one. It was easier to just have him cover her. It was more economical.
Kids turned out pretty good.


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## clearwtrbeach (May 10, 2012)

It has been said well by Goathiker and 20kids with them adding what you were planning on with the kids.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

If you don't think she should be bred to her sire, then don't. You're going to tighten those genetics up alot with a breeding that close. The kids *could* have issues, though quite unlikely, but things such as weakened immune system happens a lot with closely bred or inbred animals, growth issues, etc. Breedings this close should really only be done with a specific goal in mind and the breeder should be ready to cull because those type breedings don't turn out a lot of the time. If it were me and I didn't think she'd cross well on her sire, then no, I would leave her open til I could find a buck that would.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I do agree, it is is a gamble. You have to know, that line of genetics.
I myself ,wouldn't breed that close, as it may be something not worth waiting for, but yet ,if you know what you are breeding, you may get something extraordinary. 
It is up to each breeder.


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## WarPony (Jan 31, 2010)

My Togg twins are the result of a father/daughter cross. They are very nice, healthy does with decent FF milk production and lovely udders. BUT. Their sire comes from a small-teated line and my does got micro-teats from the deal. So if there is something in the line that you dislike on the sire's side and the doeling already has it don't be surprised to discover that the kids from them have it even more. Like teats even smaller than Nigerian Dwarf teats on a full sized goat. :-/


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## ETgoatygirl (Mar 23, 2012)

*Thank You*

Thank you all for the prompt replies! Hearing more about in-breeding that closely, I have decided to use the not-so-closely related buck on Skye instead of her father. It makes me feel more comfortable about it.. I feel like I don't know enough about conformation/breeding goats to get away with breeding that closely. And I would hate to have the kids come out with bad traits.. Plus, I'm pretty sure I can just figure out Skye's heat cycle and bring that buck over for just a few days (instead of a month, yay!). Thanks again, very helpful information you all shared with me..


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I know someone that inbreeds/linebreeds with boers and has had some really nice offspring. IMO one buck is a little too inbred for my liking, but he's a really nice buck, who has produced some awesome kids. It's one of those things you don't really know what to expect unless you 'experiment' a little.

We have two young percentage does, we weren't planning to breed until next summer/fall, but after some thought and some opinions on here, we decided to go ahead and let their sire cover them. We don't know if they took, if so we wouldn't have kids until April.
So we'll see what happens. 

IMO though, unless your animal is inbred on more than one line, etc. then you should be okay. You can see what breeding her to her sire will give. You could be surprised.
So do what you think is best


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