I just had my goat bred one week ago. She is part Nubian/Saanen. How long before a goat begins to "show"? Or how can I tell if she has "taken"? The owner of the buck said to check her for another heat within 15 days, but I have never been able to tell when she is in heat. She never seems to show that strongly or I just don't recognize it.

-- R (thor610@yahoo.com), November 23, 1999

Answers

a goats gestation is 145-155 days with most (of mine anyway) falling right around day 150. a lot of does are difficult to detect their heat cycle when you're first starting out. having a buck around makes it a little easier but if you can't you can try a trick we've recomended to others. take an old hand towel or something similar and take it to a buck that is smelling like bucks do this time of year. rub it on the buck and get it good and smelly. then put it in a glass gallon jug with a nice tight lid. take the smelly cloth home and bring it out so your doe can smell it if she's not in heat you won't see much difference in her actions toward it, but if she's in heat they'll usually show a real intrest in rubbing on and about the cloth. as for being able to tell if you doe is bred about the easiest thing without experience is going to be to see if she comes back into heat.. if you seal the cloth back in the jug each time after you get it out it will keep it's odor for a long time....good luck ..ron

-- ron in n.y. (ronmister@hotmail.com), November 24, 1999.

Normal length of time between heats is 18 to 21 days. It is difficult to see pregnancy until the fourth month. Human pregnancy tests are said to work, if she'll pee so you can catch it.

-- Kendy Sawyer (sweetfire@grove.net), November 30, 1999.

Hate to contradict, but human preg. tests will NOT work on a goat. I can supply some urls I think for further info if you'd like. Vickie

-- Vickie Liguori (meadobrk@cfw.com), December 31, 1999.

R, hopefully you have the problem solved by now, a doe comes in heat every 18-21 days it lasts 24-36 hours at the beginning of the breeding season september thru november, then the time is heat gets shorter until she is in for only a few hours til about march-april depending on the weather. a nubian will breed out of season sometimes. a saanen is a swiss breed so she is more on the october to january cycle. they will get restless,they will bleat a lot more, the area under their tail the vulva will get pink and puffy, sometimes there will be a slight discharge, this is in conjunction with trying to crawl into your jug with the buck-rag in it. if none of the above happens you should have baby goats about 5 months from the time she was exposed to the buck. hope they are does!! karen

-- KAREN MAUK (DAIRYGOATMAMA@AOL.COM), January 29, 2000.