# Breed or wait?



## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

I am debating on breeding three young doelings this winter and thought I'd ask for some input. They are all october 2011 does, if I bred them it would be late november/december, no later as it gets too humid here to kid past June. The largest doe had deer worm a few weeks back, so if I bred her it would be to our younger buck. She is at least 130 pounds. The other two are smaller, my january does that were born here are the the same size, so imo are a little on the small side, but are solidly built. They have to be at least 120 pounds, I can try to get some more accurate weights this afternoon. I would want to breed them to Copy Cat and he is almost 300 pounds despite me keeping him on the lean side. 

I would like them to be a bit bigger, but if I don't breed them this winter I will have to wait for a fall kidding. I had problems getting some first time does bred this year for a fall kidding because of the heat we have here. They were with the buck since May and got bred in August, one just got bred last week. So I hate for that to happen again, but also don't want to push the girls too soon.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

They will all be over a year so I think it would be fine. Did the one that had M Worm recover ok? As long as she is pretty much back to normal, she should be fine too.


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## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

Shes still walks a little wobbly and has a slight curve to her spine, but seems completely happy and healthy and runs around with the other goats just fine. I thick our larger buck is just too heavy to breed to her though, I just don't think her hind end can support him.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

They should be OK. It is worth a try, with the one Doe, to see if see is able to support a buck.


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## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

I have a doeling from October 2011 I bred last month. I don't see a problem with it.


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## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

I think I am leaning towards just waiting now. I guess I wouldn't be questioning it if I thought they were ready, they are big enough, but just not mature enough to me.


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## RPC (Nov 6, 2009)

Personally I would breed them. I just want them to be a year old when they are bred so they are 15 months when they kid. Mind you I dont have any anymore but I would totally breed them or else you are just feeding them an extra year which can make them fat and have hard times conceiving and kidding.It is actually harder on them to wait till they are 2 years old to kid.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Hey, do what you think is right. You are the one looking at them physically and seeing how they act on a daily basis.


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## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

Good point about them getting fat Roger. I know I sure have a problem with fat does here! I guess part of the reason I have hesitation too is that I don't want to push our kidding season so far out into the spring.


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## Tenacross (May 26, 2011)

Maggie said:


> Good point about them getting fat Roger. I know I sure have a problem with fat does here! I guess part of the reason I have hesitation too is that I don't want to push our kidding season so far out into the spring.


I'm with Rodger that they are old enough. If I was going to wait on one
it would be the one that had MW. It just seems like the whole advantage
of having October bred does is you can breed them the next fall. It would
bother me giving that advantage *back* to mother nature. Ha.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Use your best judgement


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 28, 2011)

We are breeding later in the spring than we care to. We try not to kid any later than the end of March, but looks like we will have some due in April of 2013. Summer kids never do as well and it is so hard on the does nursing in the summer. But I agree with the comment that if you let them get too old, they may get too much fat on them, which isn't very good for them either.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

IMO you know your girls best, if you think they are ready mentally and physically, give it a try. If you don't think they are quite ready yet, then wait and let them mature.
All of the does we've owned have kidded as young yearlings.
Madison kidded @ 13mo old, twin girls, no problems and excellent mom. 

We bought 2 fullblood does in the spring that were born in Dec 2011. They were born right around Christmas and are a week apart. The bigger one I wanted to breed in Sept. She came in heat towards the end of Aug. and we went ahead and let her in with the buck. #1 she was over 100lbs. #2 From my observation, her mentality was more on a level with the adult does and not the younger ones.
I was leary that the breeding wasn't successful, as she did have a little trouble with his weight, but we didn't force it and decided if it is meant to be...then it is meant to be..
Well here we are 2 months later, she's never come back in heat, she's looking wider these days too. 

Her buddy on the other hand, although mentally I think she is fine, physically she is smaller. I decided Oct for her at the earliest. She did come in heat Oct 6th, I wasn't home my husband was, but he doesn't think the breeding was successful. If she doesn't get bred, that's okay, although I'll admit I wish she would get pregnant before we sell our buck. 

We have 2 Feb does who are 100+lbs. and there is no way they will be bred. I'm thinking fall 2013 kids for them at the earliest. They are not mentally ready, they are still 'babies'.


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## 20kidsonhill (Feb 28, 2011)

HoosierShadow said:


> IMO you know your girls best, if you think they are ready mentally and physically, give it a try. If you don't think they are quite ready yet, then wait and let them mature.
> All of the does we've owned have kidded as young yearlings.
> Madison kidded @ 13mo old, twin girls, no problems and excellent mom.
> 
> ...


I just bred my February does, And I have bred them that early for a couple years now. bred 4 last year and they had 7 kids between the 4 of them. One refused to care for her 2nd born, so I bottle fed her. That turned out great. The bottle baby sold right away for a really good price. Two of the does from the 7 kids we kept and are doing very well. Now we don't show the does as adults, so if they loose a little weight their first year it isn't really a problem. Our plan is to kid the main herd in January/Febuary. Keep some of those does and breed them back in October, so the first timers will kid in March or April. More than likely we wont keep anything out of those late kiddings. Then those does that kid in March April will be bred back in JUly to kid in January. We will keep those does seperate from the main herd unti until their 2nd breeding, to allow them to have their own feed and less compitetion with the more mature does. This has been workign out well for us, but you do have to really watch the condition of the 12/13 month olds. We will wean as early as 7 weeks of age if we need to.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

20kidsonhill said:


> I just bred my February does, And I have bred them that yearly for a couple years now. bred 4 last year and they had 7 kids between the 4 of them. One refused to care for her 2nd born, so I bottle fed her. That turned out great. The bottle baby sold right away for a really good price. Two of the does from the 7 kids we kept and are doing very well. Now we don't show the does as adults, so if they loose a little weight their first year it isn't really a problem. Our plan is to kid the main herd in January/Febuary. Keep some of those does and breed them back in October, so the first timers will kid in March or April. More than likely we wont keep anything out of those late kiddings. Then those does that kid in March April will be bred back in JUly to kid in January. We will keep those does seperate from the main herd unti until their 2nd breeding, to allow them to have their own feed and less compitetion with the more mature does. This has been workign out well for us, but you do have to really watch the condition of the 12/13 month olds. We will wean as early as 7 weeks of age if we need to.


Very good plan you have going there  We only planned to keep 5 does at the most, and have 7 lol
I really wish we could breed our Feb twin girls, but mentally they are like kids, lol. Maybe because they are spoiled brats? 
Of course the other thing is the only buck we have is their sire, and I don't want them bred back to him. So, we'll save them for next year until a different buck comes into the picture.


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## Maggie (Nov 5, 2010)

Well we went ahead an breed the girls, seems like they all had a good growth spurt. I was going to put them in with the bucks in december, but decided to go ahead and breed them a month earlier so it will be bit cooler when they kid. We bred the paint, Dot, and lighter red, Del, to Copy Cat and the dark red, Dixie, (that had deer worm) to Jack our dappled headed buck. The two with Copy Cat seemed ridiculously small in with the big moose, but no issues getting bred. I had been worried about Dixie supporting a buck, but no issues there. Jack is only 7 months old and only slightlier larger than Dixie. They all got bred on the same day, so pretty happy about that, just hope they all take! 
Not the best pic of the but for size comparison, the doe up front is a 4 year old doe (shes my homely unreg doe.. but awesome momma lol, her february daughter behind her), shes prob 150-160 pounds. The red doe Dixie in the very back got bred to Jack, the paint Dot is right in front of her. 








The other light red doe Del with Dixie again.


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