What are the breed are the Bucks. My Nigerians go into heat every month if not bred. I think I would go with the smaller ones. I am no expert though. Maybe some seasoned person will chime in.
Breeding question
I have a 10 1/2 month old nigerian dwarf doeling who I would like to breed if I can ever figure out when she actually is in heat (a whole other topic).
The bucks around here are full grown and seem huge compared to her, though she is a good size and very healthy. Should I be worried about their size? There are some bucklings that are smaller than her that should be in rut soon but I'm not sure they are up to the task.
The bucks around here are full grown and seem huge compared to her, though she is a good size and very healthy. Should I be worried about their size? There are some bucklings that are smaller than her that should be in rut soon but I'm not sure they are up to the task.
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Are they smaller because they are younger??? The buck I have now is giant to the buck I had at this age and he throws smaller kids then the other buck so I don't know if I agree with the small buck small kids if they are all the same breed
I don't breed my doelings until their second fall to kid out at around 2 years so of the 3 bucks I have...2 adults over 2 years and 1 at 6 months, all 3 are purebred Nigerian and all 3 are different sized, seeing the parents of a buck can help determine potential sizes of kids but feed management during pregnancy can also affect kids birth size.
I have a 9 month old doeling who is at 42lbs, the same height as her dam and I'm pretty certain that most breeders would not hesitate to breed her due to her size BUT I won't because she is still growing and I prefer to see proportion between height and length and at this time my doeling needs to have more length before I breed her. The buck I will use with her has a dam similar in size to my doelings dam and seeing his siblings also tells me that the resulting kids should be average sized at birth.
This doeling's sire is almost 3 years old and looks to be much bigger than she is, my other buck is almost 4 years old and is twice her size so the idea of breeding her to my older boy is scary because he is that much bigger but I know that kid size would be average.
I have a 9 month old doeling who is at 42lbs, the same height as her dam and I'm pretty certain that most breeders would not hesitate to breed her due to her size BUT I won't because she is still growing and I prefer to see proportion between height and length and at this time my doeling needs to have more length before I breed her. The buck I will use with her has a dam similar in size to my doelings dam and seeing his siblings also tells me that the resulting kids should be average sized at birth.
This doeling's sire is almost 3 years old and looks to be much bigger than she is, my other buck is almost 4 years old and is twice her size so the idea of breeding her to my older boy is scary because he is that much bigger but I know that kid size would be average.
Personally, I wouldn't breed her until she was at least a year old. The reason for that is because I have found out the hard way that younger doelings have a tendency to freak out when this little, wet, slimy thing starts nosing around for a teat. As far as detecting heat goes, look for frequent urination, tail flagging, mounting other does/being mounted by other does, and being more vocal. Bucks do not have to be in rut to breed.I have a 10 1/2 month old nigerian dwarf doeling who I would like to breed if I can ever figure out when she actually is in heat (a whole other topic).
Thanks everyone. Actually my question was not about the potential size of the kids - as a midwife I have learned that babies are all little when they are born regardless of the size of the dad (and big babies are less to do with parental size than other factors). It is more the size for breeding right now. She will be close to a year when I breed her (if I can figure that part out) and I am not worried about her growth. I am purposely waiting on my other doeling who is a month younger because she just isn't ready and won't be this year at all. I don't want her to get hurt when she is bred and like any mama all males look big and scary to me when I think of them with my girl.
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