At what age do you stop breeding a doe?

The oldest goats I've heard of kidding were about 12, but it's a really individual decision. In addition to the things PlayRite Farm mentioned, the quality of the doe's kids is also a factor. People tend to keep breeding does who throw great kids. I think one reason you don't hear about a lot of older does kidding is because they start having fertility problems after about eight or nine.

So far, I personally have retired two. I retired one after age nine because I had trouble keeping weight on her. She's 12 now and her body condition still is not great, so I'm glad I haven't bred her for the last three years. She is still coming into heat every three weeks like clockwork. The other doe I retired was one that I bought at age six, and she had trouble kidding both times I bred her. In addition, she had only half an udder due to mastitis before I bought her, and her kids were nothing special, so it seemed pointless to put her and us through another kidding. Her last time kidding was also at age nine. I currently have a doe that will be eight next year and a couple who will be seven, and they're all still going strong with no kidding problems and still making plenty of milk, so I don't have any plans to retire them anytime soon.

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Deborah Niemann-Boehle November 21, 2010 at 6:45pm

The oldest goats I've heard of kidding were about 12, but it's a really individual decision. In addition to the things PlayRite Farm mentioned, the quality of the doe's kids is also a factor. People tend to keep breeding does who throw great kids. I think one reason you don't hear about a lot of older does kidding is because they start having fertility problems after about eight or nine.

So far, I personally have retired two. I retired one after age nine because I had trouble keeping weight on her. She's 12 now and her body condition still is not great, so I'm glad I haven't bred her for the last three years. She is still coming into heat every three weeks like clockwork. The other doe I retired was one that I bought at age six, and she had trouble kidding both times I bred her. In addition, she had only half an udder due to mastitis before I bought her, and her kids were nothing special, so it seemed pointless to put her and us through another kidding. Her last time kidding was also at age nine. I currently have a doe that will be eight next year and a couple who will be seven, and they're all still going strong with no kidding problems and still making plenty of milk, so I don't have any plans to retire them anytime soon.

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