Another Question!

17 months is great. Personally I like to breed the does when they are around a year. This year I have 2 that are gonna be around 15 months when I breed. Unless the doe is incredibly large I don’t breed before 10 months. I think a lot of people would say that it depends on size and maturity more then age. Just my thoughts.

Lots of people have lots of different opinions on this one lol. Some say if you don't breed them by a year old they get fat and unproductive. Some say if you breed them under a year it stunts their growth. It really depends on the lines and growth of your animal. A common rule of thumb is 8 months and 80 pounds, or 3/4 the size of an adult. ( for minis it is 8 months and 45 lbs.)

I made a thread like this last year. I ended up breeding my ND at 10 months and my Nubian at 9 months. The third was too young to breed last year. Both did well and had easy births and are in good condition. I can't say how the third will do as she will be bred this fall at 19 months.
I will say if I could go back I probably wouldn't have bred the nubian. She looks a tad smaller than other nubians I've seen, and I'll probably let her dry off when I sell the kids to let her fill out before breeding in the fall.

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Boers4ever said:

17 months is great. Personally I like to breed the does when they are around a year. This year I have 2 that are gonna be around 15 months when I breed. Unless the doe is incredibly large I don’t breed before 10 months. I think a lot of people would say that it depends on size and maturity more then age. Just my thoughts.

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Kass said:

Lots of people have lots of different opinions on this one lol. Some say if you don't breed them by a year old they get fat and unproductive. Some say if you breed them under a year it stunts their growth. It really depends on the lines and growth of your animal. A common rule of thumb is 8 months and 80 pounds, or 3/4 the size of an adult. ( for minis it is 8 months and 45 lbs.)

I made a thread like this last year. I ended up breeding my ND at 10 months and my Nubian at 9 months. The third was too young to breed last year. Both did well and had easy births and are in good condition. I can't say how the third will do as she will be bred this fall at 19 months.
I will say if I could go back I probably wouldn't have bred the nubian. She looks a tad smaller than other nubians I've seen, and I'll probably let her dry off when I sell the kids to let her fill out before breeding in the fall.

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Okay good to know. I have heard a lot of opinions and I know in the end its more of a personal decision but I wanted to ask and see what your guys opinions were.

Thank You Both.

Really you should go by weight and not by age alone. 😉 They should be at least 60-70% of their full adult size. I don't like to breed before around a year old though.

1 year, to a year and a half and of good size.

toth boer goats said:

1 year, to a year and a half and of good size.

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Thank you! You answered my question perfectly.
You all did.

You are very welcome, glad we helped.

I have another question.....do you think it would be OK to breed a doe that has had three kiddings in the past year and a half. We didn't intend for it to be like that but the buck and her had other plans.
She turned 6 years old this spring....and I would like to get a doe out of her but I also want her to be healthy.

How healthy is she? Is she of good weight?

ksalvagno said:

How healthy is she? Is she of good weight?

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She is healthy and a little over weight.

3 kidding in 18 months is a lot of stress on her. 1 kidding a year, once in awhile, 2 kidding in 18 mos. But then you need to,give a year off. She will wear out if she is continually pregnant or feeding kids.

Is she fat or is her rumen just big? Can you feel her spine and ribs?

She needs a break.