breeding goats

[1 old goat]

At what age do I stop breeding my goat. I think she is 7 or 8? her last litter she had a little trouble with one being born. The first baby came good the second I had to pull a little, the third came ok. She has had 3 sets of 3 the last 3 times. we plan on retiering her to the pasture when she gets to old. Thanks 1 old goat

 

[taylorm17]

I have never breed before, but am planning too and looked this up a few times. Most places suggest to retire around the age of 8-9. The earlier you retire a goat, they can live a lot longer. That is not a guarantee, but the chances are very high. From what I have read I would say she can be bred once more or maybe twice. That is only an opinion of what I have READ. I have no personal experience so make sure you get other advice than me.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

On my little farm there are no hard and fast retirement criteria. It depends on the goat. If she kids easily, recovers nicely, is a good mama and throws kids that are better than herself - I keep breeding her. That's a lot of "ifs" but those are important "ifs" in my book.

I've been known to retire goats at 6 or 7 if they aren't doing a good job of being a mama. And, on the other hand, I've got a doe that's 12 years old right now and she's expecting in April. She is a doe that's consistently thrown show ring winners after a short but sweet show career of her own.
I doubt that many people could walk around in my herd and pick her out as the oldest goat.

Her twin sister on the other hand, I gave away about a year ago. She had decent babies in her day, but they seemed to take a lot out of her so I stopped breeding her at least 5 years ago. She's living in a great pet home now.

Watch your goats, get to know them well and they'll let you know when it's time for them to retire. Good luck!

 

[rebelINny]

Yeah I second the motion that it really depends on the goat. I think I would probably start retiring a goat at the latest at 10 years old. I am getting ready to retire one now and she is only 6 but she has other health issues that prevent her from taking care of her kids so I bottle-feed them.

 

[1 old goat]

thanks for the info helped alot