Breeding Goats
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Introduction
7 Truths You Ought To Know When Breeding Goats
Fact #1:Among many things, the practice of breeding goats has one very important effect. Aside from the possibility of producing litters, the does or the female goats give off more milk than usual. In fact, there are some goat breeds that do not produce milk until after they have been mated. This is a good thing to remember especially if you are establishing a goat farm that leans heavily on milk production.
Fact #2:
Does can usually breed at 10 to 12 months of age, depending on the breed and the physical attributes of the animal. (Some animals do mature faster than its other herd mates.) However, male breeding goats or bucks reach sexual maturation only after their 12th month.
Fact #3:
Does become sexually receptive only after a short bleeding period (release of menstrual blood.)
Fact #4:
Does show very obvious signs of sexual receptiveness, which may include: frequent urination, bleating often, inflammation of the genital regions, secretions of copious mucous like substances in the genital area, wagging their tails energetically, and females also tend to ride other goats as well.
Fact #5:
Breeding and keeping goats should be carefully monitored, to ensure that fertilization happens. Many goat farmers recommend that the receptive does should be mated at twice a day (once in the morning and one more 12 hours later) by a carefully chosen breeding buck. This practice should continue for the entire length of the female goats' receptive period which lasts 2 to 3 days.
Fact #6:
Mated females must be separated from the rest of the herd, to ensure that the pregnancies will commence. Farmers usually check if the does are pregnant after 3 to 4 weeks. If the females remain relatively docile, this usually means that mating was successful. On the other hand, if the goats remain frisky as ever and exhibit the sexually receptive signs (from Fact #4) then these animals are usually re-introduced to the breeding male.
Fact #7:
Aggressive and older bucks are usually considered as desirable by the receptive does. However, you can also make the less aggressive and younger male goats desirable (especially if these carry the breeding traits you want in your herd) by simply keeping the other males away.
A Little Extra Reading..
Breeding Goats For Meat
4 Important Factors In Raising Goats And Avoid Frustration
Breeding goats for meat may be the next step to take after successfully establishing your goat farm. After all, continually ordering in fresh batches of animals from the suppliers can become a pricey affair later on. In order to breed meat-producing goats, you need to remember a few things though. For example:
1. Most meat producing breeds (e.g. Boer goats, Spanish goats, etc.) normally mate between the months of August and all the way through March. In order to give you ample time to prepare the does' nutritional needs and the birthing pen, try to plan exactly when you want the kidding or the birth of the young goats to happen. The usual gestation period of these animals lasts 5 months or 150 days. One way of maximizing your meat production is to try breeding the goats at twice during the mating season.
2. The term "flushing" is essential when it comes to breeding goats for meat. Flushing, or to be more precise: egg flushing simply means putting the does on a better and highly concentrated diet. This helps make the goat produce a bigger litter. Normally, goats produce 1 to 3 kids in one birthing. However, if the flushing is done correctly, the does may produce 4 healthy kids. It is also during the flushing period that female goats are de-wormed and given vaccines to help keep their health up during the gestation period.
3. An additional footnote when it comes to keeping goats for meat: if does are geared to reproduce twice during the mating season, it is very likely that the second litter will only produce 1 to 2 kids. Some goat farmers either choose to have their animals mated twice, or choose the flushing method instead. Combining both methods has proven to be detrimental in all the efforts for breeding goats for meat. Either the population of the goat herd becomes too extensive that the animals become susceptible to disease, or the mother goats' health is compromised that further birthing for the next few year is almost impossible.
4. Even with all the science and technology available to goat farmers these days, nothing could beat a buck's (male goat) ability to detect female goats in heat. Investing in one or more buck for your goat farm might be a good idea. Or, you could always ask other goat farmers to "lend" you a male goat 2 weeks before your estimated time when most of the does come in heat.
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Any Thoughts About Breeding Goats?
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genuineaid
Mar 1, 2012 @ 7:17 pm | delete
- Breeding Goats is probably fun, and guess what you were my one hundredth squidoo lens that I liked :)
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by raisinggoats
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