As we continue to define our purpose with goats on our farm, I've got a question regarding the annual breeding of does.
Once a doe is bred, is it beneficial to the goat at all to continue to breed her year after year? In other words, if we are going to breed a doe, is it important to her health and well-being to continue to breed her on a consistent basis year after year until she "retires?" Or, is it completely normal to bred her, say every other year?
The reason I ask is that the way we have things set up, we only have two kidding pens. Furthermore, I don't think we want to milk more than two goats at a time. Currently we have four does. Would it be better to only keep two does and breed them year after year, or would it be okay to do some kind of rotation with all four?
Thanks a bunch!
Replies
I know a lot of people say their milk texture changes from freezing, but I've had a couple batches that got frozen on accident, and didn't notice a difference. At least not a big enough difference that anyone in my family noticed... so you might try freezing a batch just to see, in case you decide that's an option you want. For our family, I just can't handle milking year round. I need a break. AND... I like being present for kiddings, and too many months of kidding would affect leaving for my kid's sports activities. Freezing will hopefully be a good option for our busy lives, and being able to have milk all year.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
I'm not a huge fan of freezing milk because it's kind of chunky when you thaw it. It's not "bad." It's just not too appealing for drinking when it's thawed. If you're using it in cooking, it'll probably work fine.
I wouldn't write off your does' ability to do extended lactations. You never know until you try.
With eight does, I'd probably have one or two kid each month from January to June for year-round milk. I don't count on fall kidding. My does didn't read the books that say NDs are year-round kidders. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. So, I only breed does in the spring if it turns out that they didn't get pregnant from the fall breeding. Oddly enough, those usually seem to take. But whenever I've planned to have kids in the fall, those does don't get pregnant.
Up until now, I haven't been able to find a good solution to year round milk... but I think I've got one now... I am getting more milk that we need right now, so I'm putting the extra into bags, and freezing it to use when my does are not in milk.
Thanks!!!
I just increased my kidding stall situation to three, and have a nursery area that I can put a fourth doe with older kids in. I have the kidding stalls full at the moment, and one more doe due to kid this year. I'm moving the oldest kid and her dam to the nursery pen this week, to get ready for the last doe. That set up is working pretty well for me right now! :) I've found that no matter how well I "plan" for things, the goats have their own ideas. One of my does that I bred did not settle, so even though I planned for her to kid this year, she won't be. It's pretty easy to shuffle everyone if you need to, so don't stress too much about only having two kidding stalls. :)
Ah, I remember those days. I was only going to milk a doe or two from spring to fall so that I could have goat cheese. That happened the first year. Then we were so addicted to the many different cheeses and the yogurt and the buttermilk and the soap that we've been milking year-round ever since! But just in case you don't get that crazy about the milk, here are the answers to your questions ...
If does are not bred, they tend to get overweight. That's really the main problem I've seen in my herd and others, regardless of whether or not the doe is milking. It seems that their bodies are made for annual kidding, as they start to put on weight after 6-7 months in milk, which works great for preparing their bodies for pregnancy. But by a year after kidding, they tend to be overweight, even if they are milking. We have a doe now that hasn't freshened since February 2013, and she's still milking a pint a day, but she is chunky, and she's not getting pregnant. They say that overweight does have trouble getting pregnant, so I'm assuming that's her problem.
The two kidding pens should not be a problem. Odds are good that you won't have more than two in labor at any given time, even if you breed them all to kid in the same year. But you could also space out the breedings a month or two apart so that you have a good supply year-round. If your does are dam-raising, they'll be feeding kids 24/7 the first two months after kidding and then half-time for a few months after that, if you keep any kids.
I would definitely keep the four that you have, if you like them.