RAISING GOATS MY WAY (IF I COULD DO IT OVER AGAIN):
by Randy Kidd
RELATED CONTENT
RAISING GOATS MY WAY (IF I COULD DO IT OVER AGAIN) : PART I July/August 1983
b...
OK , fellow goat enthusiasts, here's the
second half of my discourse concerning some
reconsidered dos and don'ts of keeping caprine critters. As
those of you who read Part I will likely recall, I've
already discussed the number of does that (I think) make up
the perfect farmstead herd ... told you how to avoid the
pitfalls of "goatflation" . . . recommended qualities to
look for when buying a good milk animal ... and advised you
on where to keep your newly acquired charges once you get
them home. (If you haven't looked at the first
half of this feature, I suggest you pick up a copy of
MOTHER NO. 82 and turn to page 34.)
And now that the preliminaries are out of the way, we can
get on to some of the finer points of goat
husbandry ... namely, breeding, milking, kid care, and home
veterinary treatment. But before we launch into those
subjects, let me reiterate something I said in Part 1: The
following hints (most of which I've learned the hard way!)
are meant only as suggestions-not as steadfast rules?to
help you discover the most efficient and simplest means of
rearing and handling your own milkers.
BRING ON THE KIDS
I used to tell folks to keep a buck around their homestead
for breeding purposes. Now, however-having long tried in
vain to deal with the cantankerous nature and malodrous
scent of the male goat?I have to re tract that bit of
poorly conceived advice, and offer in its place another,
much more sensible, plan!
Why not get together with half a dozen or so other nanny
owners in your community, and pool all of your resources to
buy one exemplary buck that can serve all of your
does. Then-and this is the tricky part!?see if you can't
talk one of those other goat lovers into boarding (with the
expenses shared by everyone, of course) "old whisker face"
on his or her farm. Naturally, you'll have to go to the
trouble of hauling your does over to this benevolent
neighbor's barn at breeding time ... but-take my word for
it that's a very small price to pay for keeping
your backyard clean-smelling!
If you can't find someone magnanimous enough to care for a
"collective" buck, I'd suggest you utilize artificial
insemination (Al). This method is well suited to goat
raising and is the very best-and least expensive -way to
upgrade your herd. (Semen from some of the top
breeders in the country is available for as little as $5 to
$25 a unit.) Unfortunately, Al requires that you
artificially inseminate your does, and it's sometimes hard
to catch the females in heat ... but you'll have to in
order to do this. In fact, some gals won't come
into season unless there's a male goat on the premises.
However, you can fool them. Just take an old rag
and-during the fall breeding period?wipe it on a buck's
head, where the horns should be, and along its hocks. Then
hang the dripping-wit h? maleness cloth where the does can
smell it. Within 48 to 72 hours, your ladies should be in
heat.
Incidentally, while we're on the subject of breeding, there
are two often- recommended, tricks" that I would not
advise. First of all, don't try (by artificially creating a
facsimile of the declining daylight hours typical of "heat"
season) to bring your does into heat during their
off-breeding period in the spring. I don't feel that the
results warrant all the extra time and effort that are
involved in this particular technique. You see, the
percentage of does that settle (get pregnant) when bred
under such conditions is usually small, and oftentimes the
buck just isn't interested in mating during the spring.
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