Nigerian Dwarf doe not in heat

Wild Bug Ranch

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I have a one year old Nigerian Dwarf doe. And it has been over a month, coming into a month and a half that she has not gone into heat. We have no bucks around since we are not interested in breeding right now. How come she isn't in heat?
 

chickens really

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Seasonal heat cycle. Usually starts August through to March depending on your location. My Fainting Doe just started a heat yesterday. Last heat was in March.
 

animalmom

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Nigerians are year around breeders. They also are notorious for having sneaky heats... she could very well cycle and not be bothered to mention it to you via noise or tail flagging.

My Nigerian does are rather quiet about their cycles and I have bucks.
 

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What makes you think she is not in heat? Most does are rather quiet about it unless there is a buck nearby that they call to. I can't always tell when my ewes are in heat, that is why I put a harness and crayon on the rams to see when they get bred. Goats are just as hard to tell.
 

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so she hasn't been calling, no tail wagging, no loud bleats, no discharge! Its just weird
 

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They don't necessarily do that unless there is a smelly buck around. If she is an annual breeder rather than an all year around breed, then she may not do that until September or later. Most goats and sheep don't put on any show of heat at all. That is why there are so many surprises in the barns! LOL
 

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Yeah so Nigerian Dwarfs are all year long breeders and Dixie normally shows her heat cycles. But this year she really hasn't shown any signs! Is she possibly pregnant and we don't know how? Or what?
 

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We bought her last year the day befor Thanksgiving. I don't know, our neighbors have bucks but they are about 10 mintues down
 

Ridgetop

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Here are the facts:
You have had Dixie confined on your property for 8 months.
The normal gestation period for goats is 5 months 5 days.
There are no bucks currently on your property, only wethers.
You have not seen any stray bucks anywhere around (after breeding her they would have stayed around her).

Dixie is 1 year old now. Probably she has just adjusted to coming into heat every couple weeks and is not letting you know about it anymore. Don't worry about it. In addition the 2 young bucks that were (hopefully) wethered are only 2-3 months old. You just added them to Dixie's pen and haven't noticed any breeding activity. Since she is 1 year old and you are not sure about the castration technique or that it was successful you need to remove those bucks/wethers from her pen immediately.

Your older LaMancha X wethers are definitely wethers right? They have been trying to mount Dixie and she doesn't run out from under them. She may be cycling and they recognize it. How were they castrated? Were they banded? Surgical castration? Since they are LaManchas they should not be coming into rut until September and if they are bucks they would stink. Are you sure that they are wethered?

IF ALL THE MALE GOATS ON YOUR PREMISES ARE CASTRATED WETHERS, THEN DIXIE IS NOT PREGNANT.


However, I imagine that Dixie is coming into season, the wethers realize it from her smell, and are mounting her for that reason. Since you are not sure about their successful castration, I would immediately remove Dixie from all the other goats and make sure that the males are definitely castrated properly.
 

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