Just Kiddin
Mini Goats
Breeders
of
Australian Miniature Goats
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Just Kiddin
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Disclaimer: All information provided on this website is as examples only. We recommend that it is used as a basic eductional tool and for general reference. We do not claim to represent the practices of all goat breeders, or veterinary practitioners practices or recommendations. We do not have veterinary experience, simply the experience of many years of goat management and breeding. It is recommended that you do not use any information on this site to diagnose or treat any goat health issues without consulting your vet. All information presented on this site is without guarantees, and we disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this information.
Breeding Objectives
Before selecting your herd animals, you should consider what your breeding objectives are. A sound breeding plan developed up front and purchasing animals that meet your objectives initially can save literally years of trial and error. Dont rush to purchase just any animal, rather take the time to acquire animals that will enhance your herd and offer the prospect of 'fixing' in those desireable traits.
If you are looking to breed Australian Miniature Goats, you should consider aspects such as conformation, height, type, coat, body shape etc. If you determine what traits are important to you, this will assist you when purchasing animals. A checklist is a good idea to help you ensure that you acquire animals that have the desired traits for your breeding program. A breeding plan will also assist when determining what pairings you wish to make now and in the future i.e. which buck/s should cover which doe/s. We recommend you put your breeding objectives/plan in writing and you refer to it regularly. You may need to update your plan from time to time as your experience and/or desired traits evolve.
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Breeding
There are generally two approaches to this.
Run your buck with your does.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.
Running your buck with you does: Advantages: Does not require seperate buck accommodation Does not require you to monitor your does heat cycles Disadvantages: You may not know the actual breeding date for your doe You will not know the actual due date for your doe so you cannot prepare properly for kidding. You may not be aware of the 'success' rate of your buck and may take months to find out that he hasn't performed You will not need to provide a 'friend' for your buck to share his pen with. Seperating your buck and introducing your doe on 'dates' Advantages: You can monitor the 'success' of your buck You will know the actual breeding date You will know the actual due date so that you can be prepared for kidding. Disadvantages: Requires monitoring of your does to detect heat cycles Requires time to take your doe to your buck when in heat May not resulting in the joning of the buck and doe at the height of her heat cycle Requires seperate buck accommodation, preferably close to your does so that it is easier to detect when they are in heat. Ideally requires a 'friend' to keep your buck company. At Just Kiddin we have tried both approaches. There are definitely advantages to not running your buck with your does, particularly if you are not experienced in how to detect signs of pregnancy and labour. It is more time consuming and requires you to understand when the doe is in heat and making sure that you can introduce the doe and buck at the right time. It can be helpful if your bcuk is inexperienced and you want to monitor his 'performance' so that you can determine early on if he is 'getting the job done'.
Running your buck with a group of does can be easier, but it does help if you spend time with your herd daily so that you can monitor and take notes of signs that a doe is/or has been in heat and if the buck appears to have covered her. If you happen to miss the tell tale signs, it is helpful if firstly, you are able to detect signs of pregnancy and secondly, if you do not know the due date, to be able to determine when the doe is going into labour.
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How old can a goat breed?
Goat kids of both sexes can be sexually mature as early as 4-5 months of age. Puberty is generally considered to be from about 4-12 months. That does not mean that they should be bred at this age. Entire bucks and does over about 4-5 months of age should be separated because a young buck can potentially breed a female at that age, this includes his mother and sister! It should be noted that a buck could potentially impregnate a doe from as early as 2-3 months of age so if housing young bucks with does you should monitor carefully and seperate as appropriate.
Some consider that as with sheep, the age at which the buck and doe reach puberty (starts to produce sperm or 'cycle') depends on live weight and birthday. Does born in spring will begin to cycle in autumn to early winter at five to seven months of age providing they have been properly nourished. Animals born in summer may not reach puberty until about 18 months of age.
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At what age should I breed my doe/s.
Many breeders breed their goats from about 9 months of age, others wait until anything up to 18 months to 2 years. Being bred too early may adversely affect their growth and milk production; being bred to late does not contribute to their health and wellbeing. With proper nutrition they’ll produce healthy kids and keep growing themselves.
Depending on the size and health of our young doelings, we will generally look at putting them in kid at about 12 months of age, therefore kidding at approx 17-18 months - it is critical to only pair them with a reliable small buck that is known to throw small kids however to avoid potential kidding problems.
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What is the breeding season?
As far as breeding goes, there are many theories on breeding seasons. Some consider that goat breeds from equatorial type areas which are hot all year will breed year round. These breeds are typically ferals, boers and sometimes nubian. There are also alpine type goats which include most of the dairy lines that are more likely to be seasonal having a season governed by length of daylight.
Seasonality can also depend on the goat have the proper nutrition and mineral balance e.g. goats that are copper deficient may not cycle properly.
Over the years many breeders have told us that their does cycle all year round, the reality (that is when the kids actually arrive) would tend to indicate that there is still a 'season'. There is also the influence of a mature buck who may be able to bring the does into heat out of season.
In our location, northern NSW, we find that the typical breeding season extends from Nov to Aug with January to June being the height of the season. Some years the bucks start getting quite worked up in November, other years nothing seems to happen until February and by July/August everything has settled down for a few months.
The does will come into heat about every 18-21 days whilst the buck/s generally stay in rut during the entire breeding season. Once the bucks go out of rut, they lose most of their interest in sex until the next rut.
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Out of season breeding
Goats can be mated out of season however the success of these matings varies considerably. Some herds with a small number of goats have achieved reasonable levels of fertility but an experiment in New South Wales at Wollongbar (Dr B.J. Restall) produced low pregnancy rates (12 per cent) to a September mating. Dr Restall concludes that the fertility part of the reproductive system ceased to function for this September mating, even though most of the does (88 per cent) were mated.
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Can I breed my doe again right after she kids?
A doe can come into season again soon after kidding, it is a mangement decision as to how quickly you want her to become pregnant again after kidding. Kidding and lactating can place a lot of pressure on a does system and she needs to rest and rebuild condition between kiddings. You may ocassionally decide to kid her twice a year, but you would not want to do this on a regular basis if you wish to keep her in good condition. Many believe does do best if they are only bred once a year.
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Can my doe get pregnant if she is still lactating (either still nursing her kid, being milked or both)?
Yes.
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What if my buck is sick?
Bucks sperm takes about 12 weeks to become viable and stored. If a buck is ill and cannot produce sperm he will go through a period of infertility about 12 weeks after his illness that will last approximately the same duration as his illness. You should be aware of your bucks state of health at all times and take note of any dates of illness and take this into account in your breeding program.
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Line breeding -v- In breeding
To quote an old saying: "If it works it's line-breeding - if it doesn't, it's inbreeding." This puts a very complicated subject simply, but there is some truth to it. Many breeders think line-breding can be the best way to improve a herd BUT there may be no better way to ruin your herd.
Selective line breeding, the breeding of closely related goats, can quickly improve a herd as good qualities can be accentuated BUT bad qualities can also be accentuated. As a result, you should carefully plan what you are doing, understand your goats traits, understand their qualities and plan using your head, not your heart. There is no hard and fast rule that says its okay to breed grandmother to grandson or father to daughter for example, although many say not to breed brother to sister, rather you need to assess each individual goat and decide if its valuable traits outweigh any bad traits.
Unless you are an experienced breeder with quality stock, you will probably have a healthier herd if you incorporate genetic diversity from the start. Many miniature goat lines already have a lot of inbreeding/linebreeding so you should be aware of the full lineage of your stock. Knowledge of one or two generations will not necessarily give you all the information you need. You should ensure you have the detail on all recorded generations, ideally at least 4-5 generation. The Australian Miniature Goat Association (AMGA) is able to provide this information on any registered animals.
The biggest challenge in a small herd is finding the right buck to use. Ideally you will start with one unrelated to your does, but after a few years you can't help but line-breed unless you introduce a new unrelated buck to your herd.
Heat cycles and signs of heat in a Doe.
A doe comes into season approximately every 18-21 days.
Signs of heat: (Each doe is different and may exhibit all, none or a few of these signs. As you observe and get to know your doe/s, you will recognise her individual behaviours which are usually consistent for that doe)
Flagging or tail wagging. (This is generally quite reliable when around a buck).
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How long will my doe be in heat ?
A doe may stay in heat anywhere from about 8 hours to 2-3 days depending on the individual doe. Each doe will generally have a 'peak' fertility period during this time (often in the early hours of the morning which is one reason why AI can be unpopular for goats!).
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How can I tell if my doe is pregnant?
There is no easy way to tell if a doe is pregnant. After about 2.5-3 months the vulva of a pregnant doe may look soft and fleshy, some show up quite early, others only in the last month and some hardly at all! Experienced breeders can generally be fairly confident of telling that a doe is pregnant after about 2.5 months into the gestation. It also helps if you kow your does as each one may vary in the type and extent of the indicators it shows.
Heat detection ability is one of your biggest assets in early determination of pregnancy. Failure to return to heat after breeding is a good sign of pregnancy, although it is not 100% accurate. A doe may appear to cycle one or more times at regular intervals while she is pregnant, but this is not very common. When it happens, the signs of oestrus aren't very strong, and she is usually ambivalent about standing for the buck.
For a variety of reasons, a doe can reabsorb the pregnancy at any time during the first half of the pregnancy. If this happens very early, she will cycle at her regular interval. If it happens a little later, she may return to heat 6 weeks after breeding. Watch for oestrus signs for six weeks or so after breeding.
Your vet can use various methods to test for pregnancy, it you really want to be sure, speak to them about your options.
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Pregnancy
The typical goat gestation duration is between 145 -155 days, the average being 150. We find that some does tend to kid on the early side and others on the late side, but each individual is generally consistent with that from year to year e.g. One doe may consistently kid at 148 days and another at 152 days. Keeping records of service and kidding dates helps you to predict this from year to year.
The easiest calculation of due date is to add 5 months to the service date and subtract 4 days from that date e.g. 10th May + 5 months = 10th Oct - 4 days = 6th Oct and then be prepared for her to kid for about a week before. We also find that if you regularly check tail ligaments all our does consistently kid within 12 hours of the tail ligaments going completely (although other breeders have varied experience with this, it is still a handy skill to have).
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What if I dont know the service and due date?
There isn't an easy way you can tell if a goat is pregnant by just looking at her until she is about 2-3 months into her pregnancy (even then, signs and time to show vary considerably from doe to doe). Watch you doe to see if she comes back into heat after she has been serviced, if not, she may be pregnant. Most goats are seasonal as detailed above therefore your doe should cycle every 18-21 days from approx Jan through to July (in our location - but this will vary from location to location). There is really no definitive way to determine if your doe is pregnant or not unless you get an ultra-sound. This typically needs to be done professionally to be sure and you have to wait about 7-8 weeks into the pregnancy anyway by which stage visual signs are often close. (It is also possible to get a domestic type scanner although results from this can be variable and less reliable). As you become more experienced and get to know your does, the signs of pregnancy become more obvious and can often be recognised earlier in subsequent seasons.
To an inexperienced eye, it is quite common for a goat to look pregnant but not be. Well nourished goats are naturally big after a days browsing. This is their rumen, which can make look wide but is a sign that your goat is eating well. It can be easy to mistake a well fed healthy goat with a full rumen as being pregnant.
In this photo the goat on the left is not pregnant, the goat on the right is about 3.5 months into her pregnancy.
It is also often misleading to equate the size of a pregnant goats belly, to how many kids she might be carrying. We have found more often than not that the 'larger' does have had single births, and the 'smaller' does have had multiples, although of course as in most things 'goat' that is not always the case!
There are two main 'visual' ways to determine if a goat is pregnant, the swelling of her vulva, and development of her udder although these vary greatly from one doe to the next. Some examples are given below:
Photo 1 - Doe approx 4 months into pregnancy. Note enlarged vulva and udder development Photo 2 - Approx 3 months into pregnancy. Note enlarged vulva and udder development Photo 3 - Approx 3 months into pregnancy. Note vulva still quite pinched but has udder development. Your goat may not begin to show until a month or sometimes less before kidding, some never really show at all. The wide variation of indicators in individual does is why it is important that you know the date your doe/s were serviced. This is the easiest way to estimate closely when she may kid. A doe that has not kidded before may develop her udder 1-2 months before kidding (although equally she may wait until even a few days before kidding to start developing her udder and it may not fill out the day of kidding). A doe that has kidded previously may not start bagging until a week or two before kidding or some may wait until the day she kids. If you are used to feeling the udder you will often notice that it becomes very full/firm on the day of kidding which can be another indication that the time is close.
Since determining when your doe will kid is not an easy task, it is good to know her service date. To enable this you might wish run your buck/s and does seperately and take your doe/s to the buck on a 'date' when she is in heat (this is a great way to know the exact date), or run your bucks with a group of does for a specific period - say a few weeks at a time which will at least give you a time period to work from.
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Objectives of breeding
Second only to dogs in length of time since their domestication, goats have been managed by man for approximately 12,000 years. Since this time, if one figures breeding ages in, goats have been subjected to 4,000 generations of selection by humankind. During this time the desirable traits of certain breeds were developed, meat and milk production possibly were foremost. When we as breeders select animals to breed we largely rely only on phenotype or visual appearance. Phenotypes are determined by genotype (genetics) plus environment. Normally the better looking goats are better genetically, but not always. One must keep in mind the environment that they were raised in. This means you might select a very good phenotype as a potential breeding animal who is not as good genetically as it looks. This is the reason many times the offspring of really good animals move downward toward the average for the breed while offspring of poor appearing animals often move upward towards the breed average. It may sound disheartening but through careful selection, improvements can be made, albeit slowly. The breeder’s job of selection is made difficult by the fact that each and every set of animals is raised in a different environment due to differences in herd management styles.
The objective of breeding is to breed a better animal. For you this may be size, temperament, udder type, fleece type, hardiness - this list can be endless. Each breeder should have fairly clear-cut ideas on the most desirable characteristics for them. Ideally, each doe should be bred to a buck who shares her good traits, in order to consolidate them more firmly. It is just as easy to concentrate good genes as bad ones, and nobody wants bad ones. The sire should be very correct in areas where the doe needs improvement in the hopes that he will pass this correct trait, not an exaggerated one. Always choose a correct trait rather than an excessive one, because it is very likely you will get both extremes instead of the blending toward the middle you hoped for. Occasionally an unlikely mating will produce exceptional progeny, if it does – repeat it.
Buck keeper or no, anyone calling themselves a breeder should be thorough in evaluating each breeding and making the best possible informed decisions on what their next generation is going to be. And that all depends on the sires you use now.
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Heritability
Some traits are more heritable than others. Faults are often all too easy to pass on, whilst the good characteristics are often harder. Generally you have a one in four chance of getting the trait you desire. This can be one of the most frustrating aspects of breeding and is why good quality proven stock is important. The potential outcomes of a breeding for a specific trait are:
Recessives are a trait that is carried by both sides, but may not show up for generations. This may be good or bad!Back to Index
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All text and images contained herein are owned by and are copyright © 2003-6 Just Kiddin Mini Goats. None of the contents of this site may be reproduced or republished except where written permission is given by Just Kiddin Mini Goats. Information about Australian Miniature Goats has been gathered from personal experience, experiences of other Australian Miniature Goat breeders and members of the Australian Miniature Goat Association Inc (AMGA)
