At what approximate age does a doeling become fertile? I DO NOT want to breed this little girl, I just want to know if a 14 week old doeling can be safely housed with a 14 week old buckling. I'm going away for 10 days leaving my husband in charge of the goats and am trying to arrange pens in the most convenient way for him to deal with. I can separate these two if it's best, but keeping them together would be easiest.
Thanks.
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I didn't put her in a pen with him, I knew it might be an issue so I asked first.
Gale Wagner said:
I sure would separate these two kids at once. Your little girl is too young to be a mother. It might not be healthy for her or her babies. She should at least be close to 12 months old first. The little guy might cause trouble before she is really old enough. I'd call this a "Teen Pregnancy" waiting to happen.
I sure would separate these two kids at once. Your little girl is too young to be a mother. It might not be healthy for her or her babies. She should at least be close to 12 months old first. The little guy might cause trouble before she is really old enough. I'd call this a "Teen Pregnancy" waiting to happen.
I've seen 9-month-old does on the milk test results, so they can definitely get pregnant by four months. As for bucks, I think you're in a real gray area where it will vary from buck to buck. There are people who swear they've had two-month-old bucks get does pregnant, but I really have my doubts on that one. I've had six months olds who had trouble figuring it out. On the other hand, I took a three-month-old out of the doe pen this year when one came into heat and he was getting really close to figuring it out.
If I don't have a buddy to put them with at that age, I just put them with the adults. The dominance issues last five minutes or less because there's no challenge. On the other hand, I just put a baby buck with two wethers (same age) the other day, and they were butting heads for half an hour and falling to their knees in exhaustion, because they were both so sure they could be the winner!
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Gale Wagner said:
If I don't have a buddy to put them with at that age, I just put them with the adults. The dominance issues last five minutes or less because there's no challenge. On the other hand, I just put a baby buck with two wethers (same age) the other day, and they were butting heads for half an hour and falling to their knees in exhaustion, because they were both so sure they could be the winner!