I know what some say about in-breeding/line-breeding (if it works, it's line-breeding, if it doesn't it's in-breeding). That said, I want to know if it's too close to breed my doeling from one doe to her 1/2 brother from another doe (same sire)? Would you do it if they both have exceptional milk lines? One highly regarded breeder I know bred his doe back to her father and that seemed to be acceptable and even desirable. I'm confused about what is okay and what is not.
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Thank you for your thoughtful response! I will NOT be breeding them together.
I hate that line! It is totally wrong. There are actual definitions of those terms, and anyone who says that is either joking or clueless. The problem is that there is no easy answer to your question. It TOTALLY depends on the genetics of the goats you are using. The saying that is true about breeding relatives is that you often get trash or treasure. I know some people who will purposely breed a doe to her sire (inbreeding) to see if anything bad comes from it. They are trying to force the issue so they can get rid of the buck if anything undesirable comes out.
So, the answer to your question is ... do you feel lucky? And how do you feel about literally eating your mistakes? People who do serious inbreeding are willing to go for bust trying to reproduce a great goat, and if they get a kid with three teats or only one testicle or an underbite, they have no problem slaughtering the evidence. I'm not saying that's good or bad. That is just what you have to be ready to do if it turns out badly. We had an accidental mother-son breeding here many years ago, and had quads. Two or three had extra teats, and one had ears that stuck straight out to the sides. The boys were castrated, and the doe was sold without papers. And the dam was really great. I sure would not have expected such a train wreck litter of kids from her. One of her sons (from a different breeding to an unrelated buck) wound up siring a doe that became an ARMCH.
I personally have never felt that I had a goat that was so awesome that I was willing to inbreed or even closely line breed. And that is really the bottom line. You should not inbreed or linebreed because of convenience (not wanting to buy another buck) unless you just don't care about the quality of the offspring -- or at least you won't be heartbroken if the result is bad. We also had an accidental ewe-son breeding with our sheep many years ago and wound up with a kid born without an anus, and he had to be put down when he was only a couple hours old.