Just curious how many more milking years I might expect out of my girls. Penny & Annie just turned 6 this Jan.
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Just curious how many more milking years I might expect out of my girls. Penny & Annie just turned 6 this Jan.
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Poor body condition was one reason I retired my first doe when she was 9 years old ... that, and I just saw no point in continuing to breed a doe that was not giving me decent kids. Although she was a good milker in her prime, her obscure pedigree really showed in the mediocre does she produced. I kept her for sentimental reasons, and she's still here and kicking at 14 years old! Funny thing about genetics -- I used two of her sons for breeding, and both of their daughters were really great.
Rachel Whetzel said:
I think birthing issues would be a good indication that it's time to retire. I personally would also take into account body condition while nursing, etc.
It does seem like individual evaluation of each doe for retirement age would be the best approach. I wonder what factors would make one need to retire a doe early? Would it be because she has had a huge # of kids? Or difficult births? I understand that they will continue to have heat cycles to the end of their natural life? I also read that a common cause of death in an "older" doe is birthing complications.
Juliana, This is something I have paid a lot of attention to, the age of retirement and I honestly believe from what everyone with experience has said that as long as they are in good shape 10 year olds seem to be just fine. That seems to be the magic number, but not to always stop at, just to evaluate stopping at and by that I mean that it is probably a good stopping point for most does, but just as some should be retired earlier, some would probably be ok to go again. Remember I am a woman who had kids into my 40s and did just fine, so my opinions may be a little different. I feel that if they have already had 4 or 5 kids 8 or 9 times then they are probably pretty over it by then. But I also feel that if they have only had 2or 3 kids, say maybe 6 or 7 times and are in really good shape with an excellent record then it will probably be ok to go for kids in year 11 or maybe 12. If there is a real need for the milk or an exceptional breeding to be acquired. I know of a lot of successful breeding done along these lines. I too worry about this because of buying utter at 6 years. I have bee really afraid to breed her any more. She has had a lot of kids! I feel her having the single this time after her records was a real need to rest! But I have decided that the only reasonable thing to do is to take it one step at a time. I will make sure she does not have kids any closer than 12 months and take one kidding at a time. After seeing how well she is doing and her being a Swell Foop daughter we are going to go for this at least one more time (maybe 3 or 4 if she does well). They will be line-breedings off of him too, since my bucks are his great grandson and grt. grt. grandson. Ideally I would like to be able to breed her to each of them once and a new buck I will be getting once. He may (depending for sure which one) be her grt. grandson. That would mean 3 more breedings before she is 10, if she is doing good.
Sherri is ten years old and just kidded with twins and no problem, but I don't want to breed her again. I feel like I have everything I want from her -- have kept six does and a buck -- and it would just be greedy to breed her again. She is doing fine. I also have a 9-year-old doe that is about to kid, and she is just as huge as ever, so I'm expecting 4-5 kids as she has had in the last four years. I was hoping she'd slow down a little with age, but I also will not be breeding her again next year. I just feel too guilty looking at her and knowing how old she is, and I already have two of her daughters. My oldest daughter once bought an 11-year-old bred doe back when we were new, and the doe kidded with twins, no problem.
My buck Pegasus came from Rosasharn when his dam was 10. I think she was bred two more times, so kidded at age 12.
I think Deborah has a doe that is 9 or 10 that just kidded? She was talking about retireing her... I think it depends on the doe too.