How Old is TOO Old to be a FF?

To make a long story short (which I am not particularly good at...haha) I have a doe who is now six years old and has not freshened yet.

There are a few reasons for this:

First, when I originally purchased her, she couldn't be bred to my buck. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to buy a doe that couldn't be bred to the buck I had. I was just starting with goats, was a little too eager, and didn't think that decision through.
The second reason is that I took a couple of years off from breeding while attending college.
The third reason is that when I was done with my brief sabbatical and finally had a buck to whom she could be bred, that buck turned out to be infertile. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize this, but after over a year of different does (including her) not settling when bred to him, I finally figured out that the problem was the buck, not my timing or the does.

Now I have a proven buck to whom she could be bred, but she's so old now that I'm not sure if I should try that or just let her be a big pet. To give you a little background on her, she has always been in good health and condition. I've never had a single problem with her. She is a little over-conditioned, but she is not really fat. All she gets to eat is grass hay and browse. Last year, she actually developed a precocious udder for the first time, but tested negative for pregnancy.

I thought I remembered reading somewhere that six is the cut off to safely breed a doe for the first time, but I cannot find that source now.

What are your thoughts? Should I just let her be a pet? Or should I try one last time to successfully breed her?

This is not sounding good for Ginger. She will be three in March and may or may not be bred. She has been at the breeder since November 25th for weight loss and breeding. I think I am going to bring her home this weekend as this is getting to be too big a window for kidding (first of May to end of June) *if* she is pregnant. She was supposed to kid last August but didn't settle, likely because of her weight. The breeder thought she was in heat around December 11th but her situation is such that she cannot watch that closely; my girls are with the buck all the time they are there.

It is sounding like if Ginger doesn't breed very soon, that I should not breed her as she will be four in March of 2016. Does that sound right? Hopefully, she will be pregnant now and this won't be an issue - that she will have babies late this spring.

So, if she isn't already bred, shall I not try again or can I still try until this fall?

Honestly, I am starting to wonder if the buck is not compatible with my girls. Capri did settle for last spring but it was the second breeding with him. At the time, because she caught pneumonia right after she got back the first time I thought that was why she didn't settle. But now with Ginger not settling for last summer, and Dancer has been down there twice and she may have come back into heat is causing me to wonder. I cannot use the buck I have been using because he is dad to both Ginger and Dancer though when I breed Summer, I am going to use him again. When I take my girls to him (Legend), they are there a few hours and 145 days later I have babies.

Replies

Judy Asarkof February 21, 2015 at 9:19am

I just read on a goat site that someone is breeding a goat that was a pet for a while and goat was returned to them. So she will now be a FF at age 6. Woman had no qualms about this- has 30 does but I will let you know what happens!
Judy Asarkof February 1, 2015 at 7:44am

Minor signs as in silly things like not eating as much, slight change of behavior and removing herself from herd. No physical mucus or bubbles, etc.
Judy Asarkof February 1, 2015 at 7:40am

I had a first freshener that kidded when she was 4 and of all my first fresheners- she had the easiest birth and was the best mother. Lots of milk and babies grew well. In fact- she showed minor signs of upcoming birth so we assumed it would be hours, put her in kidding pen with camera on her, went home, looked at camera 20 minutes later and 2 babies are RUNNING around all cleaned and starting to dry and already nursing. Sneaky girl waited for us to close the door and spit them out!

I don't think they are like guinea pigs where the pelvic bones fuse if not bred when young.
Glenna Rose January 31, 2015 at 12:58am

This is not sounding good for Ginger. She will be three in March and may or may not be bred. She has been at the breeder since November 25th for weight loss and breeding. I think I am going to bring her home this weekend as this is getting to be too big a window for kidding (first of May to end of June) *if* she is pregnant. She was supposed to kid last August but didn't settle, likely because of her weight. The breeder thought she was in heat around December 11th but her situation is such that she cannot watch that closely; my girls are with the buck all the time they are there.

It is sounding like if Ginger doesn't breed very soon, that I should not breed her as she will be four in March of 2016. Does that sound right? Hopefully, she will be pregnant now and this won't be an issue - that she will have babies late this spring.

So, if she isn't already bred, shall I not try again or can I still try until this fall?

Honestly, I am starting to wonder if the buck is not compatible with my girls. Capri did settle for last spring but it was the second breeding with him. At the time, because she caught pneumonia right after she got back the first time I thought that was why she didn't settle. But now with Ginger not settling for last summer, and Dancer has been down there twice and she may have come back into heat is causing me to wonder. I cannot use the buck I have been using because he is dad to both Ginger and Dancer though when I breed Summer, I am going to use him again. When I take my girls to him (Legend), they are there a few hours and 145 days later I have babies.
Rachel Payne January 28, 2015 at 4:14pm

How strange! I thought there would be a possibility to increase the risk of kidding complications, but I would not have expected mastitis to be connected to age at first freshening. That's definitely not a risk I want to take.

She will just be an extra "wether." I kind of figured that's what would end up happening anyway, but I wanted to get other opinions first before deciding for sure.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle January 28, 2015 at 4:03pm

I wouldn't breed her. The oldest I've ever heard of people breeding is for the doe to kid at age 4. I did that once, and it didn't work out well. The doe wound up with raging mastitis the first time I separated her from her kids at one month then again at two months. Then she was asymptomatic with a high SCC, and when she freshened the next year, she died a couple days later from mastitis. I can't remember who, but someone else had a mastitis problem with a doe that freshened for the first time at age 4 also. It doesn't seem like there should be a connection, but that's what happened here.

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