# Breeding of Boer Goats



## Circle J Farms & Hatchery (Jul 17, 2013)

I am still in the research stages, but am looking to start a small herd of Boer goats.
I have read that I do not need to breed my doe's until I wean my Kids.
So after three months.
Is that correct? 
If it is, that means I can not keep my bucks and doe's together?

All opinions and answers are appreciated!


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## Pearce Pastures (Jul 17, 2013)

You should avoid running your bucks and does together.  Bucks will breed doelings that far too young to safely carry and they will rebreed a doe has had JUST kidded right away.  The rule in general is that a doe should not be bred before 8 months of age and only if in good condition and then should not kid more than 3 times in 2 years.


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## AshleyFishy (Jul 17, 2013)

Pearce Pastures said:
			
		

> You should avoid running your bucks and does together.  Bucks will breed doelings that far too young to safely carry and they will rebreed a doe has had JUST kidded right away.  The rule in general is that a doe should not be bred before 8 months of age and only if in good condition and then should not kid more than 3 times in 2 years.


2x


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## Circle J Farms & Hatchery (Jul 17, 2013)

Thank you!
So i could breed when I wean the kids, correct?


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## Rocco (Jul 17, 2013)

Most Boer breeders are going wean their kids at around 3 months. Some pull buckling kids off their dams as early as 2 months - I think that is too young myself.

Yes, you can breed them right after weaning, but ideally you need to give the doe some time to recover. The quality of your kids will be better if you allow the doe to regain the weight she lost after kidding and lactating to feed those hungry kids. Remember...the higher the live weight of your doe at breeding, the bigger and better off your kid crops will be.

I don't like kidding a doe more than once a year. Some will disagree with that, but for the long term I think it is better management practice.

So the above gives you - Breed the doe and 5 months pregnant, kid and nurse 3 months, let mom recover about 4 months AFTER weaning = one year.

And keep the bucks separate from the does and kids if possible. My neighbor runs a buck with his herd and after starting with a really nice herd of Boers he now has a bunch of runty-looking kids from moms being over-bred and kids bred too young.


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## jodief100 (Jul 18, 2013)

General rule is breeding no more than once every nine months.  Notice I say NO MORE than.  I believe that if you are breeding this often you need to be feeding a lot of supplemental feed, wean babes at 8-10 weeks and be very diligent with the condition of your does.  Having a 9 month breeding cycle means every year you are shifting when the kids are born.  This can affect your selling markets and the health of your kids.  Weather at kidding time does have an impact on how well your kids grow.  

With goats there are several different markets you can supply and most of them require breeding at certain times of the year.   For instance, around here, if you are selling to 4-H kids, you want them born in January.   

Another thing to consider is your climate.  If you live somewhere where it is very hot and humid in the summer, you really don't want to kid in the summer. Kids born in hot and humid weather do not grow as fast no matter what you feed them.   If it gets very cold in the winter, you don't want to kid then.  You will have to either stall the does or risk loosing kids to freezing weather.  Anytime you use the 9 month cycle, you are going to at some point be kidding when the weather isn't conducive to good kidding or good growth. 

I agree with Rocco here, once a year is better for the does and I find it is better for me.


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## Rocco (Jul 18, 2013)

jodief100 said:
			
		

> Another thing to consider is your climate.  If you live somewhere where it is very hot and humid in the summer, you really don't want to kid in the summer. Kids born in hot and humid weather do not grow as fast no matter what you feed them.   If it gets very cold in the winter, you don't want to kid then.  You will have to either stall the does or risk loosing kids to freezing weather.  Anytime you use the 9 month cycle, you are going to at some point be kidding when the weather isn't conducive to good kidding or good growth.


In our record keeping we have found that kids that are born in Late February, March and April do put on weight faster than kids born in November - January (we are in Texas, BTW). I think the simple reasoning is that the kids expend less calories in keeping warm and put more calories into growing. Because of this we now breed mainly from mid-September and on. We do have a few does that get bred at other times as well, but we prefer having the kidding in the cool conditions of Spring. It is easier on us as well!!


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## 20kidsonhill (Jul 23, 2013)

we are in VA, and our best growing season for our Boer kids is December through march, Summer kids do not do that well, they grow slower for us due to the higher parasite loads on the pastures and require way more worming, if you dry lotted them you could get away with better growing summer kids.  When breeding every 8 to 10 months, your kidding time will constantly shift as already mentioned.  Your market for your sale of your kids will also change, unless you are just raising to butcher for your own needs. Our best market in our area is to have them ready to sell march through May.  Things that are helping the boer goat prices in our area in the spring time are , Easter and spring time sales, 4H project sales and the fact that people love to start adding to the farm when the fresh grass starts to grow.  No one is hardly buying going into the winter months to add breeding stock to their farm.  Slaughter kids do sell okay year round, but meat prices are normally lowest in the summer months and then go back up towards the end of the year and stay up through EAster late spring.  So we kid one time a year, January through march, a couple in April and then rest our does on summer pasture after weaning the kids. We breed back end of August through October.  Even though Boer goats are able to breed year round, their system is still some what seasonal and they do come into better heat going into the fall compared to other times of the year.  Not saying they wont breed other times of the year.


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