Currently we have 22 does, 2 bucks owned solely by us and 2 bucks that are co-owned with a fellow Nigi breeder. Numbers keep changing (like, going up) so this is what I had last week.
We are down to 5 + a nubian kid who's already sold and will go home Aug 22nd when he's weaned. 2 NMGA Nigi does are bred with another ADGA/AGS/NDGA FF breeding planned for late September/early October. We plan to retain if she gives us a doe from this breeding.
My wife and I have 10 goats. 1 alpine wether, 1 pygmy wether, 1 saanen X boer doe, 1 saanen/boer/pygmy mix wether, 3 saanen X boer doelings & 3 nubian X alpine doelings.
Right now... 3 ADGA Nubians, 1 Nubian/Boer? (the prev owner said Alpine but I think that is bs) 1 tub o' lard inherited scrub goat that we're working on conditioning.
Earlier this week we had a sweet ND cross doe that just found a home yesterday (rescue). And earlier in the month we had a Nubian/Boer doe that came w/ the scrub but she went to be a companion to a doe who was going to be separated from her bucklings soon. She was not the terrible fatty bo batty that the scrub is.
All of my ladies are of a more mature or completely unknown age. Some come from not so great backgrounds but have all made great improvements since I've had them. I probably could have bought a champion Kastedemur something or other with what I've spent rehabbing these guys but it is somehow more rewarding to see them blossom.
My not so little guy is the only one I bought for his breeding capabilities but my thoughts on herd improvement tend to run towards spending more money on the buck and letting him do the improving work for me on the does. His recently discovered medication sensitivity means I may be doing some hard culls this year after we see if it transfers or not.
And I like my Nubians big and traditional with looong ears. Unfortunately it means we're working on breading out the old pendulous udders that can come w/ that build. In good health my 2 girls are about 150/160 each.
I'm down from 7 to five though and my yard is looking empty. It was very tempting at the fair to bring home a beautiful Boer doe but I have to remember I will have babies in um.. about a month or so we think.
Just two, an eight-year old Alpine doe and a yearling Lamancha doe. I bought them to milk, but they're both dry right now. I wanted to get used to goat care before I tried to get used to milking too! I'm going to get them both bred (probably to the same buck, a Lamancha) this winter. I'm hoping to get two doelings, one from each, to keep. If not next year, then hopefully by the year after. Four seems like a good number of does to keep, right? We'll see.
Three purebred LaMancha does, two LaMancha bucklings--one keeper, one for sale.
One Nupine doe.
One Mini-Nupine (we think?) doeling.
One LaMancha/Alpine wether, going to be Passover dinner next spring.
One Alpine buck, going to be goat burgers next week because he is vicious.
Breeding starts soon, (tomorrow hopefully for the first doe, she spent all of milking time flapping her tongue at me, time to run her down the street to the buck she is lined up for!) and I'll be breeding all five does, so that's 5+ kids coming in the spring. Females will be staying in our herd, purebred males sold, crossbred males become dinner. We are retiring our two senior LaManchas after next milking season, so their daughters will be replacing them to keep us at a doe herd of about 6-8 milkers to keep us busy with milk, cheese, butter, and soap.