(In)Breeding Question

[Meaghan]

Some of you know we purchased four doelings a few weeks ago, and they were both a pair of twins with the same father (Curley) but different mothers (Me Too and another doe).

I spoke to the breeder this week, and she has a buckling available from very good lines. However, he is related to two of our does as essentially a "half uncle". He is out of Skip Too (dam) and 8 Second Ride (sire). Skip Too is also Me Too's dam.

If he is bred to Emerald or Sapphire, the resulting kids would have Skip Too as a grandmother on the sires side as well as a great grandmother on the dams side.

The breeder isn't afraid to inbreed and has done it before, however, she isn't recommending we do this pairing. I'm meeting with her on Friday to see the buck kid and to hopefully get a better explanation of why she doesn't think we should pair this buckling with the doe kids we have.

I was hoping to get a bit of clarity on this. I don't distrust the breeder, but I am open to other input as well. We are in no hurry to purchase a buck kid and ultimately she has many more babies on the way all the way through April, so there won't be a shortage of buck kids. We just want to make the right choice for the does and future babies, and don't want to miss a good buck if it will be a good pairing.

 

[Southern by choice]

You can put in all the info through the ADGA and find out the % of inbreeding and the animals involved.
A really good place to start as you may be ok with 3% but not 10% or 30%.

You might want to see if the breeder wil breed the does for you when they are ready and then look for an unrelated buck... just in case you choose to retain anything from their FF. Believe me when I say it is reallllllly hard to give up your very first kids and you will find every excuse in the world to justify keeping 1 or 2.

 

[Meaghan]

We will definitely be keeping all of the does we get, so... Lol

The breeder won't breed our does, as she'd rather sell her buck kids. The next closest Nubian breeder, two hours south, that we've found reputable won't "rent" a buck either. The only ones we have found in the area that do aren't ADGA registered.

I tried doing the planning thing through the ADGA website, but the girls just got registered last week and the buckling isn't registered until he's named and sold. Is there a way to do it on their website without the kids being registered yet? Their parents are on there, but I'm new to the software so I'm not sure if I'm just on the wrong page.

 

[SheepGirl]

I have bred dam x son, sire x daughter, maternal half siblings, and twin siblings. I currently have the two ewes out of a twin sibling breeding in my flock (25% COI). Both are nice ewes, one is more productive than the other.

As far as your dilemma, I wouldn't have a problem breeding an uncle to a niece. The COI of the kid would be 6.25%. However, if the breeder advises against it, I wouldn't do it. She likely knows her animals and knows how the genetics mesh with each other.

 

[Meaghan]

So, normally 6.25% wouldn't be bad as a cross?

 

[babsbag]

I too have bred daughter x sire with no problems. I have also done it and seen an over abundance of nuisance undesirable traits show up, like ears that fold wrong and entropion. I am sure it was because that genetic trait was present in both dam and sire.

You can get the very very good, but also the very very bad. If the breeders suggests that you don't do it then perhaps there is genetic predisposition lurking that she doesn't want to see amplified. I would certainly ask her why and what that is. Even if you don't by a buck from her what is her hesitation in that breeding.

 

[Meaghan]

@babsbag: That's why we are meeting with her on Friday, because she isn't exactly tech savvy and can be hard to communicate with online.

 

[OneFineAcre]

So, normally 6.25% wouldn't be bad as a cross?

That's not particularly closely bred. Like babsbag and Sheepgirl said, I would want to know why the breeder wouldn't recommend it. She would know her animals better than anyone.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Before you buy any Nubian buck, be sure your goats are tested for G6S.

If you do decide to do the above breeding, be sure you know every teat defect, eye issues, ear issue, allergy's etc etc.

I saw your girls on the other thread...... SO ADORABLE!

 

[Meaghan]

I hadn't heard of G6S, so thank you for making me aware of it. We unfortunately are not in a position to spend $50 per kid at the moment (newly bought house + motorcycle troubles for the SO + disaster with chicks needing replacing means we are low on cash for the next two or three months).

I'll ask the breeder if we can test whatever buckling we do decide to buy from her before we decide to buy. I'm not sure she knows of it, she never mentioned it.