I am having a difficult time choosing my bucks and wonder if some of you who are experienced could give me some advice. I did choose a 6 week old buckling who is polled and has championships in his pedigree as well as milk. However, I need to choose my second buck. I know I have some time - unless I can find one in the next week to breed to my yearlings this month. There is one possibility. =)
So, I wasn't sure if I wanted to line breed, but after researching it a bit, I am thinking about doing it to some degree (not too closely breeding) so I can get some uniformity in my herd.
For example, 3 of my foundation does have Rosasharn's Ukelele Ke'a as a grandsire or great grandsire. All four of them have Rosasharn's Uni as a granddam. My proven doe has Rosasharn's Buckwheat Honey as a granddam. I think all of the goats I have are related to Goodwood Water Lilly in the first 3 or 4 generations.
I will probably not have more than 2 bucks at a time and would like to keep these two for as long as possible without breeding too closely. My first buckling has Camanna's Moonlight Sonata as a Granddam and TwinCreek's Crescendo as a Great Grandsire. One of the bucks I am considering has Crescendo as a Grandsire. The other ones have Rosasharn's Uni as a Great, Great, Great Grand-dam. None of them has Ukelele Ke'a or Buckwheat Honey.
How do I decide which line I want to pursue? By how many of my does are related to it? Or how closely? (of course only if the line is a good line) Or is it better to start my own line with a buck I bring in? If I do that, will I be able to earn a solid reputation and sales without having the credentials of recognizable herd champions in the first two generations of the pedigree?
I would like to start with as good as is affordable. I am realistic about the does I purchased. I believe two of them are quite good. The other two - time will tell and I will cull if I need to. I want to purchase bucks that can improve my does, which Ferdinand definitely can since he has the characteristics that my does lack. But for my second buck, I would like to go more for high milk production and maybe a pedigree with recognizable names at least in the Grands and if I can find one and can afford it, maybe even the parents.
I feel like I am rambling. =) Hope you all can make sense of this!
Replies
Kare at Chaverah Farm said:
Since I do not personally know any Nigerian Bucks and they are kind of new to my state, that isn't really an option for me. However, Anna is very descriptive and honest about her goats. She writes their strengths and weaknesses openly, so other than the fact that these will be young bucks and therefore unproven, I do feel that I know as well as I could know under the circumstances. The other breeder I am considering is about an hour away, but I have been trying since last fall to get over to see her goats and haven't made it yet. I have seen some offspring and talked to several people who have bought goats from her, so I also feel good about buying a buck from her.
Thank you for your help. I will keep all of this in mind as I continue to research. =)
I don't think there is a definitive right/wrong answer to your question. You could go either way with this and wind up with good/bad results. In some ways, genetics is a crap shoot. I am just now going to start to line breed this coming fall, because I only want to line breed on goats that I personally know -- and know well! So, I am keeping bucks out of some of my oldest does and am going to start using them.
If you look at the pedigrees on my website, you will see a couple on there that look like line-breeding, and technically they are, but I didn't choose the buck in the breeding because I wanted to line breed. I chose him because he seemed like the best option for improving on a dam, and when I saw the line-breeding, I figured I could live with it. The goats that show up multiple time are national champions, which sounds cool, but I really want good milkers.
Kare at Chaverah Farm said:
Rachel Whetzel said:
Thank you, that is good to know. I believe all of the breeders I am looking at dam raise their kids. These two I got early, so the buck had to be switched to a bottle when he was 6 weeks old in order to travel. I'll be done bottle feeding him by the end of the week. The wether was raised on a bottle since his dam didn't have enough milk. I am training them not to jump up or be obnoxious and they seem to be quick learners.
I do know what is important to me - definitely the same things you mentioned - easy to milk - which to me means, nice teats, soft udder, large orifices, huge production, and sweet personality - and then polled. This first buck is polled and his dam is easy to milk with very large, easy to milk, teats. She also has a high rear udder, which I need to correct in at least one of my does. She was in the top 25% for milk production out of 40 goats as a FF, but I don't know how much. His sires dam had great production.
For my second buck I want to concentrate on production without sacrificing the nice teats, soft udder, large orifices or personality. So is it better to choose a buck based only on these things and then start my line breeding with that buck? Or should I only look at bucks that are already in the lines I have in my herd and then find one that has the qualities I desire?
You need to research the goats in the pedigree as much as possible and decide which traits you hope to concentrate. Don't get too caught up in the glitz of a big herd name. Every goat is an individual with its own strengths and weaknesses.
What is most important to you? Make a list of the top three things that are most important to you, then look for a buck that can give you all three. My top three were teats, production, and personality. I wanted decent sized teats, good production (at least a quart a day average), and a goat that would let me milk her when she had kids nursing. This is one reason I wanted some Rosasharn genetics -- because their kids are dam raised. If I get a buck that was bottlefed, I don't really know what his natural personality is. It makes sense to get one buck that has the genetics to give you all three even if you have to pay more for him. Why get a buck that's inferior (or his dam is inferior) in something that's important to you? I think it's weird when people talk about having a "teat buck" -- why wouldn't you want all of your bucks to throw good teats? It will take you 20 years to get decent goats if you're buying bucks for a single purpose, because you'll have to go through so many generations to get all the good stuff together.
As far as getting a good buck -- no one should be charging you anything extra for a kid's grandparents -- because it only represents 25% of the kid's genetics. I've got a buck out of a national champion and 3X top ten milker, and I never charged an extra penny for his kids, because as a young buck, there was no guarantee what he would throw -- and from what I heard about his brother, I got the better buck. Now that he's classified an E and has thrown some gorgeous, productive daughters, I will be charging extra for his kids, because he's proven himself.