JerTheVintner
Ridin' The Range
I got my first goats 2 years ago and started out with a couple of cute little Nigerians. I got so lucky with those first two a little buckling and a little doeling that were from different farms. They were both purebred but neither had papers. At the time I didn't care because I envisioned keeping them forever and didn't care about lineage etc. They were both so sweet tempered and gentle, I found out just how great they were when I got my next 2 goats. The new ones were also purebred Nigerians without papers. The new goats were very nice but were way more skittish than my first two. It took over a year to really tame them to be easily handled. My wife then set the limit at 4 goats. Flash forward 2 years and we sold that first buckling as a wether and now after kidding this year we have 9 goats. I am now thinking I want to start breeding registered Nigerians and have decided to sell all but three of my current goats and buy a new registered buckling this season and then add a new registered doeling next season and gradually move towards all registered goats.
Here is my question. Which goats do I keep in the mean time. Since none of them will ever be able to be registered, I am thinking I should just keep the ones that I like and not really care about conformation, coloring etc, because in the long run I will be replacing everyone down the road with registered goats. Since none of these goats is registered, doesn't that mean that none of their genetics could ever be part of my registered lines???? I have two baby doelings that are beautiful. One is a tan, gray, and black buckskin with a white face who is the sweetest little thing, but she has bowed out knees. The other is all black with a white patch on her forehead who is just a stunning beauty with very good stature. I can only keep one of these two because I am definitely keeping my very first goat who is also a good milker and our herd queen and I am also keeping another doe who is a yearling but has the best udder and produces the most milk.
I think I heard somewhere that the all black is a recessive gene, so I might not see another one like her for a very long time. Who do I keep?
Here is my question. Which goats do I keep in the mean time. Since none of them will ever be able to be registered, I am thinking I should just keep the ones that I like and not really care about conformation, coloring etc, because in the long run I will be replacing everyone down the road with registered goats. Since none of these goats is registered, doesn't that mean that none of their genetics could ever be part of my registered lines???? I have two baby doelings that are beautiful. One is a tan, gray, and black buckskin with a white face who is the sweetest little thing, but she has bowed out knees. The other is all black with a white patch on her forehead who is just a stunning beauty with very good stature. I can only keep one of these two because I am definitely keeping my very first goat who is also a good milker and our herd queen and I am also keeping another doe who is a yearling but has the best udder and produces the most milk.
I think I heard somewhere that the all black is a recessive gene, so I might not see another one like her for a very long time. Who do I keep?