Last year my neighbor Mr Wilson's doe had 5 babies (kids) and this year the same doe gave birth to 6 and all are healthy though they are being bottle fed. Is there others around having these large litters?

-- Billy Poe (bilpo@kans.com), April 05, 2002

Answers

Billy, what breed of goat is it, do you know? Our Pigmy(and I think Saanen) cross doe had twins and it FELT like 6 by the time I pulled them out--I was pooped! Both had their front legs bent backwards. My first "assist" and I lived through it, but just barely! Jan

-- Jan in Co (Janice12@aol.com), April 05, 2002.

In a dairy goat that is rare, I do recall seeing a pic in a old Dairy goat Journal in the 70's of a Nubian who had 6 or maybe 7, was a big deal too. I can't imagine how that poor doe felt, can you imagine us having 6 kids? I say the fed companies offer free feed for 6 months to a yr like the baby food companies, diapers, etc do.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), April 06, 2002.

And I say if she's an Alpine (sorry, my favorite) the doe produces mostly doe kids, she a good milker with high butterfat and has it in her history, I want her or 10 clones of her.

Dennis;-)

-- Dennis (westwoodcaprine@yahoo.com), April 06, 2002.

One of my Nigerians is from a litter of six, but I think only four survived. I'm hoping she doesn't have six when I breed her. That brings up a question - is number of kids a repeatable or inherited trait or just chance?

Wendy

-- Wendy in VA (wendy.weirich@redbridge.com), April 06, 2002.

We had a Nubian doe who had 4, at least 4 times, with triplets all the other times, we bottled, though she certainly had enough milk for all the kids. I have seen an Alpine have 5, all healthy, and seen the same doe again have 5 with twin boys dead at birth. Never seen 6 though I have heard about it. I know in Nubians it has all to do with genetics with great management, but alone great management isn't going to get you to over 3. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (Nubians) (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 07, 2002.

I've heard of Nigerians having six, and Nubians having five, and my Alpine buck is a quad. Yes, it's genetic, though the doe has to have the nutrition to fulfill her genetic potential.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 07, 2002.

I'm curious, I mentioned half heartedly that I should keep the buckling that my first doe had for making meat babies because he is SO huge and beefy. My friend told me not to bother because he was only a single.

I always thought it would have more to do with how many viable eggs the doe had?

Would a single buck be more likely to pass on only singles?

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), April 07, 2002.

No. The doe is the one who ovulates the eggs, and no matter how many eggs, the buck should be able to have more than enough, like a million more than enough :) sperm to fertilize them. You don't keep a buck for any other reason than his dam and sire are better than anything you have. The reason why, only if you have a top herd, do you usually keep bucks out of your own herd to use on your own herd! Surely someone out there has nicer stock than yours so you can improve, and not stagnate. You really should look at a buck as a walking eating breathing semen storage tank and nothing more. I think the whole "show buck" mentality is a really poor one. Yes you want them to be correct, four legs, two teats :) But having a really great looking buck is gravy, you are using genetics of his period. Lots and lots of really ugly bucks out their (with dams who classify 90+) throwing really nice kids. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (Nubians) (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 07, 2002.

But, if the buck's dam has a history of singles, even after she is fully grown, then that buck's daughter's may also inherit the tendency to drop fewer eggs. You will not see it in the does that he is bred to, but rather in his daughters. Keep in mind however, that # of offspring is not as highly heritable as other traits. I would be hesitiant to use a line that throws big beefy newborns- they have lines like this in the dairy breeds too. Pulling three triplets that are tangled up is one thing- pulling a huge 14 lb kid ( and out of a big roomy doe, too) even when it's presenting just right, is another. When they are too big it is a real ordeal for everyone!!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 08, 2002.