# Best age or season to breed-Nigerian Dwarf goats



## brendaparry (Mar 5, 2016)

We have 5 eight month old ND does whom we wish to show at the state fair in February. They are all seriously in heat right now. Is it better to wait to kid them until after the show or do they show better fully pregnant? Is 8 months too young to breed?


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## ShireRidgeFarm (Sep 24, 2015)

8 months is a little too young for me, although some bigger kids would probably handle it just fine. I like to wait until they're a year or more. 

I wouldn't want to be taking pregnant animals to a show. The stress can cause them issues if they're farther along. If you bred them right now they'd be in their last month and about to kid in February - moving them around in the last month would stress them out a lot and can cause them to deliver early. 

What time of the year would you want to be having kids? I breed in December for May kids - that way they're born in the spring when it's warm.


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## lottsagoats1 (Apr 12, 2014)

I agree with Lauren. I would want to haul them that pregnant to a show. Way too stressful, plus there is an increased risk of picking up diseases that will be passed to the kids at birth if the doe is that far along. Most does are shown in milk, open or very early pregnancy.

What part of the country do you live in? What are your winters like? How warm/draft free is your barn? You want a draft free barn for birthing. You can kid out in the dead of winter, I have done it for many years, but now I aim for late March at the earliest.


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