# Fall breeding?



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Anyone else gearing up for fall breeding?

I didn't want to breed my girls for kidding more than once in a year, but I think we've set our sights on fall breeding instead of winter/spring. Mostly because if our kids like 4-H, and want to do it next year, they will have older kids to work with. And by the time the cold weather really hits, the kids will be older and have a chance to adapt to the cold...

Our boer/nubian who kidded in early Jan was just bred! I am guessing she was bred on Tues or Wed, so I will put that in my notes. We saw some white discharge late yesterday, and today her tail is real goopy.

I hope this will also help her dry up, as she still lets her 5mo nurse once in a while! We don't really have a way to seperate them, other than keeping her in with the buck....the doeling flips out if she is not kept in the big pen with the other kids/does. 

3 other does have kids that are 9 weeks old. We were going to wait and breed, but then we run into winter kidding. So, we've opted to let our buck stay with the herd, and breed when the girls come in heat. Their bucklings are starting to extend and pee in the mouth, so we need to sell them soon  
One of them is the one we've all grown attached too...OMG it's going to be hard to let him go... He's a beautiful dark red w/black highlight out of a nubian/boer doe by our buck. She was a FF and her kids were small at birth, but he's really grown a lot the last month. 

So while I am excited and watchful of breedings for the fall...I am also heartbroken that I will loose my boys.... At least we will keep the doelings until the fall and decide who we sell and who we keep...VERY HARD decision, we have 5 doelings, and will most likely only keep 2!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

yes...we are going to breed maybe at the end of October.... kinda throwing it around still...



> I hope this will also help her dry up, as she still lets her 5mo nurse once in a while! We don't really have a way to seperate them, other than keeping her in with the buck....the doeling flips out if she is not kept in the big pen with the other kids/does.


Have you tried teat tape... sometimes it detours kids enough to leave it alone but some do come off....worth a try...



> So, we've opted to let our buck stay with the herd, and breed when the girls come in heat. Their bucklings are starting to extend and pee in the mouth, so we need to sell them soon


 Leaving the buck in there...may cause accidental breedings to the young kid doelings.... 
It is a good idea to let the Does dry off for at least 2 months before rebreeding....I messed up and rebred to soon...and one of my Does prolapsed on me...she was the 4th generation of this line and I never had any Does prior prolapse on me... until I messed up and rebred her when she still had her kids under 3 months on her....never will I do that again....and never had an issue since... you can do what you want of course... but I thought I'd warn you about it....


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks Pam! I will look into the teat tape. 

I worry about rebreeding so soon as well. Our does who kidded last year were rebred before totally drying off and did just fine, but I don't want to push my luck! I wanted the older doe to be rebred since she kidded at the beginning of Jan. I told hubby if we're breeding to kid in the fall I'd look into Nov/Dec kiddings. Weather isn't horrible for us then, and most of the things I do in the fall would be over by then.

Our buck is out during the day, and in his pen at night, and he isn't out if we are not home. They typically hang out in the backyard right now, so I can keep an eye on them, as I am with you I don't want him breeding the youngsters. Now that I am home 99.9% of the time it's much easier watching them


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

Don't forget that the buck can have a successful breeding in a split second. It happens VERY fast.


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## Perfect7 (Apr 19, 2010)

I can't believe we're already thinking about breeding season as well! We still have one left to kid in July. I'm taking one of our does for AI in July (she stays 10 days, I think) for December kidding. We're wanting all of our kids next year born in Dec-Feb. I hate it that we wont have that lush green grass yet but the kids do need to be older for 4-h shows than our March kids this year. So yeah, Jul-Sep here! I have one that wont be a yearling until November, so we'll have at least one kidding next April if I don't hold her over until next year. This year I'm going to hand breed them for better due dates and less stress.
And thank you, Pam, I hadn't heard of that either but something I definitely want to avoid!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> Thanks Pam! I will look into the teat tape.





> And thank you, Pam, I hadn't heard of that either but something I definitely want to avoid!


 You are both very welcome.... :thumb:


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## polopony (Jun 24, 2011)

I have two does in with the buck right now for our end of May show. I will put the others in the end of July/midAugust for our fair kids. 

This will be the first use of our new buck. I am really excited to see what he throws.

:stars: :stars: :stars:


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

How exciting! Won't be long before you have kids running around keeping you busy!!! 

We have one doe I think is pregnant, whom I posted about in my first post on this subject. she hasn't come back in heat, and she's been gaining a lot of weight. Hoping to do a pooch test soon! I'm so excited, but I kinda wish she would kid later in the year! If she took then she'd be due at the end of Sept.


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## Steve (Mar 12, 2011)

I have a FF due any day now,shes starting to bag up and you can see the kids kicking her sides.I hope she only has 2 but she is big enough for 3.I just hope she will be back in good shape to breed her in Oct. Might be a case where i have to separate her and feed her out to get her weight up after weaning.I hate doing that,they get so lonely and bored,then have to get back in the pecking order with the herd later.


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