Hello All~
I am a newbie :) I joined the community about a year ago and have since just been hanging around, reading here and there. I only recently got my girls; Ana Mary Marie (registerd ND) and Chloe ( is a Dwarfahasli). I borrowed a friends ND buck and brought him down to breed the girls to. I have seen him breed Ana several times and Chloe once. How long should I keep him? Ana was in heat the day I brought him. She had all the signs of heat; flagging, swollen behind, and discharge. She was also trying to mount Chloe. Chloe was in heat a week or so ago but today I noticed she was flagging and swollen. So I don't know?? This is my first go so I'm super nervous!!!
Thanks in advance for any help!
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Well, we raised New Zealands...and the doe I had was apparently old because she would only have like a couple of babies at a time. I got sick of waiting and feeding them so we just sold them.
I took the buck home yesterday. He was driving me nuts!!!! I may be checking in to AI if they didn't take. Because I dont' think I can handle another buck being here. I'm too OCD for that! LOL Or I may have to find someone that will let the girls come to their place. :/ Which I'm totally nervous about.
How long will it be before I start to notice physical changes if she's pregnant? I'm super excited about babies though :)
Now I have to come up with a herd name/homestead name. I can't think of ANYTHING! I want something cute and whimsical :) LOL But sorta country too??? I'm crazy! LOL
Margaret Langley said:
I understand Maranda, I am having problems with the blood draw thing myself! I really need to talk myself into doing some more of it though! Someone helped me with a couple last year and then I tried one that was not successful and I haven't been able to talk myself into it again!
So you don't keep the same pigs for like a few years? You just slaughter the grown ups every year?
Can't wait to have chickens laying! The only 2 adults we have are a bantam roo and a huge black hen that I suspect is very old! I have seen no sign of an egg! They were both given to me by a goat breeder. Both times I went there to pickup a goat I left with a chicken too!
I am reaaaaally confused about it getting to hard to find rabbit does??? Did you slaughter them every year too? Instead of keeping them for a few years and replacing them with some of their daughters? You know, I understand they are the fastest and least expensive way to produce meat, pound for pound. We have had them as pets and for show, but this will be our first ones for meat!
NOPE, I don't have 18 NDs! I wish! I have 18 total, but only 13 are NDs! 2 bucks, an older doe and her doeling who is about 9 months, and 9 FFs from about 18 mos.-2 yrs. The other 5 are the beginning of out meat herd! We have 1 doe who may be an oberhasli type and her doeling who is almost a year, whose dad was suppose to be a boar, "NOT" maybe a cross at best. Our other doe (suppose to be a boar) who is about 2 is definitely at least part boar has buck/doe twins almost a month old by one of my ND bucks, so I call them my Mini Boars, or my Mini Meat Goats!
Ok...I guess we will have to wait and see! I don't think I could draw blood from her! LOL I'd be a nervous wreck! I guess I'll hang on to him a couple of weeks. I just know he's a way bigger mess than I realized! LOL Oh well, I guess that comes with it, huh :)
PIGS!! We have yorkshire mix. We currently have 3. We usually raise just enough to eat and sale all the others. I try to keep it simple and cost effective...because they can get expensive to feed! We usually keep 2 sows and 1 boar. We breed them, let them farrow and then butcher them. And start all over again :) I love it!!! Pigs are probably the easiest animals to raise.
We only have about 20 chickens and 2 pekin ducks. Only half the chickens are laying age.
We used to raise New Zealand Rabbits for meat but it just got too hard to find does. So we butchered everything and sold the coops. I sorta miss them tho :/
And WOW on 18 NDs!! That's awesome :)
No problem sweety, I TRY to help if I can, the good Lord knows I have to get lots of help with certain things.
Rather or not a week is long enough will really depend on when she was in season last or more importantly when she will be again. As I said, they cycle about every 3 weeks! So any time you have a buck available for 3-31/2 weeks you should have had them through at least one cycle and hopefully they will have gotten pregnant. As far as knowing goes, it could be anywhere from 3 months to delivery, unless you have pregnancy test done. You can actually send in a blood draw and have a test done if you want to for less than $10. Don't remember how long you need to wait!
Like PIGS! What kind do you have? I want to get 1 or 2 from Deb one of these days if I can ever time the availability, funds, and especially the transport all at the same time!
I have approximately 50 chickens so far this year and hope to have about 75 by the end of chick season. Only 2 are grown and the rest are this years chicks!
I also have recently bought us 1 buck and 3 doe rabbits! To raise meat rabbits with!
Our goat herd is now up to 18 and hopefully our 9 yearling (a few more like 2yrs.) NDs are all pregnant as FFs!
Thank you! I think I got it :) I'm terrible with things like that! You did much better than I would have! hehe
As for the buck, Hershey, I can keep him as long as I want to. I don't leave far from the friend I rented (haha) him from. I just prefer NOT to keep him long! Ugh he smells terrible (he has my whole barn smelling terrible!) and is pretty aggressive. Not like mean, but just pursuing the girls HARD! I guess that's a good thing, we just aren't use to dealing with him. Chloe seems pretty miserable about him being here. When I go down there she hides behind me. :( It makes me feel so bad!! So maybe she's not in heat after all? Maybe she just gave in so he'd leave her alone?? He only pursues her like that when they are out of the barn. When they are put up and in a small space together he doesn't seem to be as pushy?
I thought maybe I'd keep him about a week? Would that be long enough? How would I be able to tell they are pregnant?
Thank you for all your help!! You have been such a blessing :) I typically raise pigs and chickens so this is all so new!
I don't know the proper way to do this. But I can try to write it out to were you can get the pronunciation right!
Here goes: O bur haz ly - and the a is short like the ah sound we use to tell a child to open wide and say ahhh!
I hope that works for you LOL! Told you I am no pro, but I try to get my point across!
Ok, as to your question about how long you should keep him! For starters I don't know how long you CAN keep him or how far you would have to travel to borrow him again, if needed. Those things would of course affect your decision.
Sounds like Ana may have been caught at the right time, (based on signs and repeated breedings) and as for Chloe (real cute BTW) well, lets put it this way, it only takes once, however the guys are pretty good at sneaking in a quicky on the girls sometimes even if it isn't the right time. So if you haven't seen more breedings or signs of heat I would go on the premise that she MAY NOT be successfully bred yet! Which would mean that if you can you should try to keep him for another 3 weeks if possible to cover the time of 1 complete cycle on Chloe, unless of course she has an obvious heat and standing for repeated breedings before that time. Like, say for instance, in the next week or so. Sometimes they seem to be in season or breed a week or so before they really are. But at any rate, they do cycle approximately every 3 weeks.
Hope that helps a little!
Thank you for responding Margaret. I brought him here yesterday morning. And yes, she was exposed to him today when I noticed the signs :)
As for her cross....Yes she's Oberhasli/Nigerian mix or at least that's what the lady I bought her from told me. I'm so new to all this :) I like the sound of Mini Oberhasli better! LOL Who do you pronounce that?? LOL
Thank you again!! I'll have to add a pic. I have one of Chloe and I :) She's my baby!!!
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How long since you brought him there?
Was Chloe exposed to him today when she was doing all this? I hope!
Is she half ND/ half Oberhasli? or some other mix? Just never heard one called that before. If she is a ND/Ober cross most people would refer to her as a Mini Oberhasli.