breeding goats

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My question is about a two year old baby goat that i got with her mother. she has never been bred. when i got her i new that i wanted a dairy goat but was never able to get her to a male due to transportation. i've heard that this lowers her kid crop when she is bred. is this true?

-- Missy in MO (missy@microcore.net), April 28, 2002

Answers

The only thing it lowers is the total amount of kids and milk she will give over her lifetime since you missed the first kidding. And honestly 99% of the does at my house have their first babies at the age of 2 or slightly older. Instead of finding a buck to breed her to, why don't you pick up one of the many bucklings around from dairies with the breed of your choice? You could use him this fall and sell him or butcher him. A lot less headache than breeding on the run! Where you located? Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.

thanks Vicki, that's what i'm doing. i'v bought a nubian cross with an Alpian i think and he's comming here to stay for a while.should i worry about him having CAE and giving it to her? can that happen? She is neg. on cae but her mother was pos. don't know how that happend since she was dam raised. i live north of springfield, MO about 20 mi. Thanks for your input.

-- Missy in MO (missy@microcore.net), April 29, 2002.

Missy, what is happening to you with this doe is actually very common. The older doe when tested because she had the stress of a move to your place and kidding, is testing positive, because her blood contains the virus which is active. He daughter which has not had the stress of kidding, and more than likely was born at your home and lives a wonderful life is still testing negative, because the virus is not active. When she kids send in a sample of her colostrum to WSU or Pan Am and test it, it will come back positive. She may never convert on blood to CAE positive. CAE is not passed sexually, though if a buck is allowed to breed and breed a doe it could be a problem if there is abrassions on both the penis and vagina. Far fetched but :) You should deal with your does as both being positive, if you want to start a negative herd, you will have to take the doe kids away from them as soon as they are born, raise them on heat treated colostrum and pasturised milk. Or you can just raise positive goats, most will not go on to be symptomaitc with swollen knees and hard unmilking udders, but you must be prepared for that, know ahead of time just how dibilitated you will let them get, and keep colostrum and milk in the freezer. Glad you found a buck! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 29, 2002.

Hi, missy. Iam also in mo. about 20miles north of springfield mo. Do you know about breeding in the same heard, Like father to daughter or hoson to mother, would like to find out how it goes, thanks

-- shirley stafford (boogerfirst @aol.com), March 13, 2003.

Inbreeding- I think we had a whole trhread on the subject here- look around- but the general rule with inbreeding is that you do need to be able to cull a kid if it doesn't turn out well. Often they are kids like any others, sometimes they're exceptional. It all depends on the bloodlines, the faults in those lines, and chance.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), March 17, 2003.


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