I am curious what sort of breeding/kidding schedule various breeders prefer? It seems like a lot of people breed in fall/winter for spring kidding. That's what we did this year and it worked well but I'm curious to know why people prefer their chosen schedule.
Additionally, how much time do you allow between freshening and the next breeding?
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I am hoping to do just that with Summer this year if she is anywhere near as good a producer as last year. Her mother's sister milked for nearly two years so hope is there. I would be absolutely delighted to have two does who milk for 18-20 months, ideal for my situation.
Deborah Niemann-Boehle said:
If you just want milk for your own family's consumption, you might want to go a couple of years between breedings. You have to have good genetics to do that though. We had a doe that just dried up after a 24 month lactation. We have had some others that milked for 18-20 months. If you don't have a great market for selling kids, that's another reason to kid as seldom as possible.
Ok, thank you. That is right in line with what I initially learned and makes sense to me. I had heard that some people breed less often and I was curious to the reasoning behind that. I appreciate the response!
Goats should only be bred to kid once per year. After kidding, you can keep them in milk (potentially) for 10 months but you can breed them again at 7 months after kidding. You can continue to milk for 3 more months "drying her off" 2 months before she kids again at one year.
Most breeds of goats only come into heat in the fall and that's why it's done that way but Nigerian Dwarfs "can" come into heat any time of year and can be bred year 'round. I say "can" because many don't and only come into heat in the fall as well. The other thing to consider is if you live where winter is truly winter (not Florida or Hawaii for instance) breeding goats to kid in the middle of winter is somewhat risky as you MUST be there to quickly dry the kids off to prevent hypothermia which can happen very quickly. Also, some people just don't want to milk in the winter so they plan it so they will not have does in milk in the dead of winter.