I've been reading breed specific information and if I am not mistaken, this is the earliest that a Nigie can be bred---am I right about this?
I have two doelings and one of them was born in January. The plan in my head is to breed her in October or November, providing she is at least 40lbs (Deborah mentioned this in another thread). However, I have read elsewhere that a full grown Nigie will be around 75lbs - there was no distinction of whether this was an estimation for bucks or does. If that is for either sex, then the rule that Deborah says in her book, that a doe should be 60-70% of her final weight would bring the proper weight to somewhere between 45 and 52.5lbs, providing the doe's final weight is 75lbs.
A friend of mine who raises nubians said that she felt like 7 months was WAY too young to breed because the goats were still developing. However, she's a nubian mama mostly, having bred Nigies not very often at all. Still, she knows more about goats than I do, so I thought it was a worthy thing to ask about.
So, I guess my question to you all is, what are your "rules" for breeding your does? Do you wait until your does are 40lbs, or do you wait longer? Do you breed at 7 months, or wait until a year? Why?
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Great, thank you Deborah. I was *wondering* if 75lbs was kind of a high estimate for Nigies' final weight. 60lbs seems to make much more sense. I'm wondering if my Naomi will be a small doe in the end, because she doesn't seem to have gained much since I got her. No way to tell, though--I didn't weigh her (do you hear me kicking myself?). Willow is catching up to her in size. I'll definitely weigh her to make sure she is over 40lbs before breeding (I read your story on Giselle in your book--scary! But glad she is able to kid normally now.)
I was thinking that perhaps the nubians didn't mature as quickly. Also, my friend seems to be going by age AND weight (100lbs), and not the "2/3 of final weight" rule. I figured that was probably more breed specific to nubians than nigies, mostly because I had been reading breed specific information for months that coincides with what you have explained.
This is the earliest that a ND doe should be bred. She could be bred much earlier, but it's not a good idea. Does are usually around 60 pounds at maturity, but there are some lines that grow a little larger or a little smaller. If you know you have a goat whose dam was much larger or smaller, you might adjust accordingly, although I don't like the idea of going below 40 pounds because her dam is only half the equation, and if she is taking after her sire, whose dam was bigger, you won't know that until she's older.
Your friend with the Nubians may have a line that doesn't mature as quickly as most Nigerians. I have definitely seen some seven month old NDs that are not big enough to breed, but there are a lot of yearling milkers of all breeds at goat shows. In fact, it's usually the largest class.