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  • Amy Sousa October 16, 2010 at 1:10am
    Thank-you, I am going to weigh them tomorrow, now I'm curious. One looks as tall as the other but "beefier" and just bigger all the way around. and she's a few weeks younger! I'm nervous about having winter babies so I might just wait till spring regardless.



    Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
    A new goat owner picked up two doelings today, and she asked how old they had to be before she could breed them, so I finally took a scale out there and weighed some doelings. I was amazed at close the weights are! There was one that I think is definitely too small to breed yet, but she might be okay in a month or two. She weighed 31 pounds and was born in March, so she is seven months old. There was one that I thought was probably fine, and she weighed 35 pounds. Then there was one that I thought was definitely big enough, and she weighed 37! The last two girls were both born in February, so they are eight months old. I think she looks a lot bigger because she is very long-legged. She probably has an inch or two in height over the other two girls. I also weighed a 15-month-old that weighed 35 pounds, which is why I was saying that age isn't as important as size. If she would have been bred to kid at a year, I don't think it would have had a happy ending.

    Hope this helps!
  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle October 15, 2010 at 5:55pm
    A new goat owner picked up two doelings today, and she asked how old they had to be before she could breed them, so I finally took a scale out there and weighed some doelings. I was amazed at close the weights are! There was one that I think is definitely too small to breed yet, but she might be okay in a month or two. She weighed 31 pounds and was born in March, so she is seven months old. There was one that I thought was probably fine, and she weighed 35 pounds. Then there was one that I thought was definitely big enough, and she weighed 37! The last two girls were both born in February, so they are eight months old. I think she looks a lot bigger because she is very long-legged. She probably has an inch or two in height over the other two girls. I also weighed a 15-month-old that weighed 35 pounds, which is why I was saying that age isn't as important as size. If she would have been bred to kid at a year, I don't think it would have had a happy ending.

    Hope this helps!
  • Amy Sousa September 17, 2010 at 9:53am
    Fascinating! Great info.
  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle September 16, 2010 at 11:31am
    I know most people breed for does to kid as yearlings, but your post sounded like they needed to kid by a year. Maybe I misinterpreted it, but I just wanted to say that there's no rush. Although nothing is 100%. I have had some does that were within a couple inches of their dam by six months, and I definitely wanted to breed them, for fear that they'd get to be over-height, which may just be paranoia on my part, but it seemed logical. In eight years, I've never had a doe go over-height (knock on wood). Since we're breeding for milk, I do like to breed them as early as possible and get them milking. It's interesting that most people emphasize age when they talk about breeding, but really size is the important thing. I'd had goats for several years before I ever heard anyone say that they weren't going to breed a doe to kid as a yearling because she wasn't big enough.

    I've seen Jobi goats on the milk test list that freshened at nine months, which means they were bred at four months, and that would scare me, but she's been breeding for a long time, so I wonder if her goats just mature earlier than most or if she has a secret formula for raising them or what. I have a buck now that's 100% Jobi (but carries a different herd name), so we'll see if his daughters mature early. I wish she had a website. I'd love to know more about her goats and her management. Obviously, breeding so young works for her.

    Karen said:
    Deborah..I hear what you are saying & that is why I may wait to breed my doe that is on the smaller side. I' was just going by what all the breeders had been saying on ND Mini Goats Dairy. If you go to http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ND_Mini_Goats_Dairy & look up To breed or not to breed...that is where they were all stating that this is when they typically breed there does if they are not on the small side. I'm still learning so I am asking a lot of questions & doing a lot of reading ;-)

  • Karen September 16, 2010 at 9:26am
    Deborah..I hear what you are saying & that is why I may wait to breed my doe that is on the smaller side. I' was just going by what all the breeders had been saying on ND Mini Goats Dairy. If you go to http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ND_Mini_Goats_Dairy & look up To breed or not to breed...that is where they were all stating that this is when they typically breed there does if they are not on the small side. I'm still learning so I am asking a lot of questions & doing a lot of reading ;-)

    Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
    I've never really heard anyone say that they want them to kid by the time they're a year old. I've heard plenty of people say they don't want them to kid before a year or even 15 months. Size is the big thing though. If they're on the small side, you really should wait, especially because first fresheners tend to have singles, which tend to be bigger than twins or triplets or quads, so if they're ever going to have trouble, that would be the time. I've only had one goat have trouble giving birth to a big kid, and looking back on it, she should not have been bred yet, because she was too small -- she was 18 months when she freshened and only weighed 35 pounds. Now I won't hesitate to wait until a doe is two years old if I'm not really impressed with her size.

    Karen said:
    I am new to this also, but have been told by many breeders that they breed there does around 7-8 months so tht they kid by time they are a year old. My does were born in May, so I'm looking to have them bred in Dec. or Jan. One I may wait a little longer as for she is still a bit on the small side.

    Karen
  • Deborah Niemann-Boehle September 15, 2010 at 11:09pm
    I've never really heard anyone say that they want them to kid by the time they're a year old. I've heard plenty of people say they don't want them to kid before a year or even 15 months. Size is the big thing though. If they're on the small side, you really should wait, especially because first fresheners tend to have singles, which tend to be bigger than twins or triplets or quads, so if they're ever going to have trouble, that would be the time. I've only had one goat have trouble giving birth to a big kid, and looking back on it, she should not have been bred yet, because she was too small -- she was 18 months when she freshened and only weighed 35 pounds. Now I won't hesitate to wait until a doe is two years old if I'm not really impressed with her size.

    Karen said:
    I am new to this also, but have been told by many breeders that they breed there does around 7-8 months so tht they kid by time they are a year old. My does were born in May, so I'm looking to have them bred in Dec. or Jan. One I may wait a little longer as for she is still a bit on the small side.

    Karen
  • Karen September 15, 2010 at 10:28pm
    I am new to this also, but have been told by many breeders that they breed there does around 7-8 months so tht they kid by time they are a year old. My does were born in May, so I'm looking to have them bred in Dec. or Jan. One I may wait a little longer as for she is still a bit on the small side.

    Karen
  • Amy Sousa September 15, 2010 at 7:17pm
    Thank-you very much for the information!

    Genny said:
    They can be bred any time from about 7 months old and up depending on how big they are. I have doe that I didn't breed last year because she was tiny and it took another year for her to get to a size I felt comfortable with. The great thing about Nigerians is that you can pretty much breed year round so you don't have to wait a whole year if they aren't quite big enough.

    Where we live the weather is also a big factor for me ... I don't want my does dropping babies when the temps are below freezing, and I don't want them in the last part of their pregnancy when the temps are hitting triple digits.

    :)
    genny
  • Genny September 15, 2010 at 3:40pm
    They can be bred any time from about 7 months old and up depending on how big they are. I have doe that I didn't breed last year because she was tiny and it took another year for her to get to a size I felt comfortable with. The great thing about Nigerians is that you can pretty much breed year round so you don't have to wait a whole year if they aren't quite big enough.

    Where we live the weather is also a big factor for me ... I don't want my does dropping babies when the temps are below freezing, and I don't want them in the last part of their pregnancy when the temps are hitting triple digits.

    :)
    genny
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