# Line Breeding and Ages question



## kimsminis (Apr 2, 2009)

I have 2 registered Alpine dams that kidded this past spring. The one kidded twin does, and the other kidded twin bucks. The dams were bred to the same buck from another farm here in PA. So the kids all have the same father. 

Here is my question: Can I breed one of the bucks back to his Aunt? At what age should he be before I breed him? If I do breed the buck to the Aunt, then can I register the offspring? 

Is this a good idea or should I search for and outside buck to breed to the aunt/dam?

Also, would you even consider breeding the twin does to the twin bucks at any point? 

Thank you. 
Kim


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I have a similar situation here...I bought my Chief as a 10 week old baby after I bought my Senior doe Binkey, it wasn't until after I was filing papers that I realized he was her nephew. They have been bred together for kids in Feb.
The lines are close and you need to consider any faults in the lines as they can be accentuated with the close breeding. It is up to you wether or not you want to use the buck, and yes, they can be registered. As far as age of buckling, some mature faster than others...my pygmy buck sired his first kids when he was 4 months old, Chief, my nigi buck sired his at 7 months...depends on how much your boy has matured.
As far as the breeding of same sired kids...I don't think I'd want to go that close in bloodlines.


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## firelight27 (Apr 25, 2009)

I think that aunt and nephew is alright if you are prepared to deal with line breeding and the results. Like Liz said, it will accentuate faults, but will also accentuate the good points. If the doe and buck in question are built well, don't have any serious faults and have some great pluses and you like their type, you can duplicate that type more easily through line-breeding. I think that half-brother/sister is too close as well. I've dealt with horses a lot longer than goats and have seen the results of very close inbreeding and the good points can become so accentuated they go over the top and become bad (mostly seen this in dished faces in Arabians, where they ended up having really weird, squished looking faces that were almost alien.)

Here is a good example of what occurs from half-siblings being bred: http://www.mostlypadron.com/photos/index.html ... While this is a horse, the results are the same in other animals, you magnify the qualities. Both his dam and sire were fathered by Padron, a very famous Arabian stallion. It is hard to find many great pictures of Padron online, a few headshots and a body shot here or there. But I have a gazillion Arabian magazines from as far back as the 70s and it is scary how identical he looks to Padron in every detail of his facial structure, his neck, and the build of his body...down to his carriage.


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## Bellafire Farm (Jan 5, 2010)

As a horse person, tight breedings kinda freaked me out at first. But now I've seen how closely bred these top of the line Nigerians are and it's definitely not that big of a deal with goats. I've seen a stellar animal come from a brother-sister breeding...not that I would ever do that or recommend it. But half siblings is very common, as is the aunt/uncle & nephew/neice. Rosasharn is an example of tight breedings...as are many other top breeders I'm sure. For some reason it's just not such a big deal with goats??? Maybe someone else can explain why?

The other author here was very correct in stating that it's very important to keep in mind the FAULTS that you are doubling up on too... not just the PLUS side.


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