12 Does and 9 Bucks

[Necie]

No, I am not talking about kids born... I'm talking breeding. It's CRAZY!!

 

I have 12 does (7 seniors and 5 juniors), but I do NOT have 9 bucks... I have 3. Which is TOO many to begin with...but I digress. I have these goofy goat friends who also think they need TOO many bucks.

 

My BESTEST goat friend also has 3 bucks--one sr and two jrs. So I am breeding three of my does (one sr and two jrs) to each of her bucks.

Another friend has a very nice buck that I used last year and love the two doelings sired by him, so I am breeding another doe to him this year. That makes *4*.

Another friend has 5 bucks!! She's certifiable!! One sr and 4 jrs. I am breeding two of my jrs to two of her jrs. The other bucks will have to wait til next year... they just don't fit in the *plan* yet. That makes *6*.

 

I'm breeding two of my does to two of my bucks. Yes--I'm not even using one of my bucks . But he'll get used quite a bit next year. That makes *8*.

 

Which leaves.... FOUR. And they are all being bred to a LEASED buck. Yup--like we don't have enough bucks... we gotta go out and lease one! LOL It was a chance we couldn't refuse. Bringing back in lines that we lost a couple years ago that we ADORE! So am breeding three srs and on jr to him. That makes *12*. WHEW!

 

So I spent all last week-end hauling goats around. Picked up the leased buck and hauled him and 7 does to the *bestest* friends house. One doe to the other friend. Two jrs up to the third friend and brought back one of her does to breed to my *best* buck. (*Bestest* friend used my buck last month to breed two of her does.) Then yet another friend came and picked up my third buck, that I'm not using, to use on 4 of her does. Confused yet? Heck, I had a nightmare the other night that I was searching and searching and couldn't find my goats!!! I only have 5 goats here right now. Two of my does and two of my bucks and a friends doe. They're all in buck pens. Kagan and Ari (the Anatolians) are in HEAVEN! They have the barn and pasture all to themselves!! They're loving their little mini-vaca. They better get rested up, cuz the good thing about having goatie friends as crazy as I am, is having soooo many super bucks...which make SUPER kids...that ya don't want to let go... so the dogs will have ALOT of kid-sitting to do in about 5 months.

[lovinit]

I don't even have goats but I'd fit right in with your friends. Sounds like lots of fun!

[CrabGrassAcres]

LOL, I only have 16 goats right now and the buck is on furlough to a friend's farm so he doesn't breed the junior does. They are his daughters, but mainly they are still too young and small for me to be comfortable breeding them. Looking for a junior buck for them, but not really looking very hard. The 7 sr does are bred already. Start kidding in Jan except for Pony and Heaven knows WHAT she is doing, I sure don't.

[Necie]

I wish I could hold jrs over to kid as 2 yr old ff. I always end up with a dry yearling, which is fine having just one, but can't afford to wait 2 yrs to see udders. I love my 2 yr old ff being so big, but even yearling ff catch up by the time they're 2. I'd love to have Jan/Feb kids as they grow out so nice, but I HATE milking before March (would prefer May-LOL.) Have too hard of a time getting rid of whethers born after March and don't like the way summer babies grow out. Too many problems with worms/cocci. So I compromise and breed EVERYONE to kid in March. Jr does are all 7 months old and weigh 80-100+#, so they're very well grown and kid with no problems. I have a strict pre-breeding protocol using BoSe to encourage multiples. ALL my yearling ff, every year, have had twins that are 4-6#. And the weird part... they ALWAYS have a buckling and a doeling. I keep thinking, every year, that it's gonna get messed up. But not so far. Am kidding out 5 yearling ff this year (if they all take), so will see if the trend sticks.

I am breeding one jr to a sr buck. She's being pretty much *hand bred*. Not because I think the buck is too big for her, but because he's in with sr does that were being mean to her, so we pulled her out and my friend is watching for her to go into heat and gonna pop the buck in her pen for a day or so. Very special little doe and a very special breeding.

[CrabGrassAcres]

My Jr does are nowhere close to 70# at 7 months. They seem about par for the course for this area though. Very rarely see really large goats down here. Actually one jr is probably close to 60# cause I can't pick her up. But I can lift all the others. They are growing well and healthy. I think months and months of triple digits sets them back a bit. It was really super hot again this yr. We are only now staying below 95 most days.