You all know I'm obsessed already. This will add to the fodder!! I have a chiropractor who sees ME, and she also happens to do horses, dogs and any other animal we patients own. I've used her for 15 years and love her. I use her with the goats - had her help boys recover from neutering, mothers balanced before breeding and before birthing, and now - after-birthing checks.
One of my triplets was smaller than the other 2 and he was a bit sat on during birthing. Frankly - he was weak and not suckling super well. I was stressing over this and then remembered my chiro has helped many a failing to thrive puppy that has had a hard time suckling and was weaker than other pups.
So - had her come over. She checked him over and she uses kinesiology for determining where and what they need. She did all 5 kids and moms. All the triplets needed a little tweaking but the little buckling - once he got his - went from just lying around to now trying to push his sister out of the best spot under the heat lamp, small jumps and started suckling much better.
My favorite thing however was that the twins from my queen needed nothing. They were strong and great. Just like their Mom and Dad - two goats on my farm that almost never have needed any support.
To me - if I'm going to be breeding - I want to focus on strong goats, easy keepers, good milkers, excellent mothers (and birthers).
SO..... as I go into this - couple questions:
1) do you all give a doe a couple kiddings before you determine if she is a good or mediocre mom - both in actually birthing and in care of kids?
1b) are there different ways of being good mothers - ie. my queen is ultra fastidious about cleaning babies and right there should a baby make a cry, protective and really just likes to be a part of their activities. 2nd doe has become more attentive by day 2 now (not great on day 1), but isn't as fastidious - still cleans babies but not to the same degree, much happier to be away from babies, only somewhat curious if her babies cry but very protective of them when other goats come near pen.
Both does kidded easily and quickly - 2nd doe wouldn't have sat on baby had OWNER thought about having her kid in big area and then moving her into the stall as she had planned to do - instead allowed doe to go into small stall where she got too close to edge.
2) do you keep or sell your girls that are nice goats but don't fit your program?
3) how old do you breed your does until? My queen is 5 - this was her first kidding as I didn't buy her with the ideas to breed back then.
Judy
Replies
There are so many factors that play into mothering... I had a FF reject one of her kids last year, but this year, she's been a great mom to her tripplets. If I stopped breeding her, it would actually be because she isn't very friendly, and she's a lot of work. I would like to get a doeling out of her before I stopped using her for breeding, though.
I think there are definitely different variations of a good goat mommy. Just as there are with humans, and in personality in goats.
I cull goats that don't fit into my program. I have one that I will be culling this year. :(
I have a 7 year old doe that I would like to get one more doeling out of. I'm hoping to get that in the next or two, and then retire her.
I have not seen a huge difference in mothering between NDs. They all seem to be pretty good, so far. I just had one reject her kids, but that's the first time in 12 years where there were no extenuating circumstances (like premature birth or trauma). And because I own at least a dozen great does related to this doe, I am definitely giving her a second chance.
I cull based mostly on milk production, personality, and parasite resistance, not necessarily in that order. My herd is so big now that I have to sell goats that I am not absolutely in love with. My mantra is basically, "Give me a reason to sell you," because I have a hard time parting with them.
I quit breeding around 10 years of age. If a doe is not super great, I may retire her sooner than that.