On the farm we are preparing our Bucks with our Does for this year’s kidding season which will result in offspring being born in Sept/Oct. This means selecting certain Does to go with Bucks who are not related and who will give us the best genetic offspring. Pairing begins first week of April. We want our kids to have the best start in life, so making sure we choose the Sire and Dame that will give us the best result is very important.
This year we have several maidens (which are young doelings that have yet to give birth to offspring) ready for thier first mating. These girls range from thirteen months to sixteen months old and will find being with a bcuk rather daunting until they come into heat which happens around every 18-21 days. The Does may not fall pregnant with the first heat so we keep our couples together for at least 6-8 weeks to give them the best opportunity to fall pregnant.
Older Does, those who have given birth before, are less fearful and willingly take part in the mating process.
I love this time of year and the prospect of seeing the end result. It’s a lot like a box of chocolate; you never know what you’ll get until you open the box, in this case until the kids arrive on the ground. Colours can vary, and even with twins and triplets, the colours are rarely identical. I’ve had triplets born all of a different colour and twins, one black, one cream, so expect the unexpected. It is very common for goat to give birth to twins and often triplets.
We hand raise most of the time, which means we separate kids from their mums at 3 days and bottle feed, but for those Does who are super friendly we let the kids remain but spend an endless amount of time in the paddock with the kids fondling them to make sure they are super friendly and reassuring mum we are there simply to love them.
De-budding (removal of horns) are done at between 5-7 days old. One may think it harms the animal or hurts them but it does not and horns on a goat can be dangerous around small children. Five minutes later, they are running around and feeding as normal.
Baby goats are weaned at 3 months but if bottle fed can go to their new homes after 4 weeks if the new parents are willing to do the hard work.
I am so looking forward to seeing what my beautiful girls give us this year. Feel welcome to check our website for available stock for sale.
All the best from Tiny Dancers registered Pygmy goat stud.
