Hi! I've got two saanen doe's ready to freshen soon I think. last year I had such a hard time catching estrus that I bought a Buck. I had read that he could breed at 4-7 months. so I just put him in with the Does cause he was very young. Then I made the mistake of not seperating him and then breeding season was here so I left him in the barn with the does.So needless to say I have no actual date of breeding. Well now both does have started to bag slitely and I'm wondering how long till the moment of truth .I have learned from this mistake and will only let the buck with does for short periods of time then return him to his pen. How long after they start bagging do I have to get things ready? A freind of mine who is good with dairy cattle tells me roughly a month is this the same for goats?

-- Russell D. Horner (rdh123@bright.net), January 28, 2001

Answers

Hi Russell,

That little fellow of yours must have been a bit busy! if they are bagging up then figure roughly a month. I have some sites below I copied and pasted addys to that may be of interest. Good luck and keep us posted.

Bernice

http://members.tripod.com/goatwisdom/ch1baby_care/deliveries.html httphttp://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/3014/Swing.html ://www.7mfarm.com/goat-health2.html#last-weeks

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), January 28, 2001.

Russel,you might have a month,maybe not.Some bag up early some wait until the last minute.I realize that isn't much help. Flylo Farms has a website with an excellent article on what to look for at kidding time.Title of the article is "Those Pesky Ligaments" Here is the site address. Http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/5505/GoatHome.html As you can see,I havn't figured out how to put a hotlink in here. Hope this helps and,in addition,I am sure you will get plenty of good answers here

-- JT in Florida (gone2seed@hotmail.com), January 28, 2001.

Hi Russell, I also do alot of pen breeding, just simply put the buck of choice in with a group of does. But then each evening and morning feeds, I check tails. Just lift the tail as they are eating or being milked, and see who has been visited by the buck. In Nubians all of this is just so much eaiser because of the vocal nature of the girls. In LaMancha's it was and is very different, the girls spend no time with the buck after they are bred, where in the Nubians, the buck romances them, breeds them, and then until another doe comes into heat they seem to hang and lay together alot. So though on my Nubians I usually have very good kidding dates, in my LaMancha's it is usually more like, well she is doe from December 1st until December 21st! If you will spend some time this year writing stuff down, like that this week you noticed she bagged up, that next week you noticed a slight discharge, and then you noticed her udder tight and shiny, and then she lost her tail ligiments, and had a floppy tail. This will help so much more next year because the does have the same symptoms each year. Most of my does are starting to udder at least 6 weeks before they kid. The most dramatic sign of birth for my girls, is that under their tail, they loose the smiles under their, and exchange have nice new pink puffy skin showing, where those smiles used to be. That and the tail flop, loosing control of their tail. By the time you wait for the, not eating breakfast and the seperating themselves from the herd, and digging holes, you have better run for the kidding bucket!! Good luck with your does! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 28, 2001.

Where are you ? I might be interested in a baby if you sell any .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), January 28, 2001.