Mini Manchas- Breeding Trouble X Henry

[Southern by choice]

Two of the doelings we sold earlier this year dropped in for a pen breeding this evening.

W do not lease, or driveway breed to just anyone. Our conditions are as follows-
~ they must be our goats that we sold
~ must not own or have had any other livestock on their farm other than our goats
~ generally just first time breedings until they have their first kid - that way they can retain and then get a buck for future kiddings.

So anyway- These does are just at 8 months old they are 50/50 % but F-2 Generation.
Being F-2's they ended up with erect ears, their triplet brother ended up with gopher ears. We retained him.

We are very proud of their owner's management- she has done a great job!
Loving how these two does are looking.
They have great dairy length, excellent legs, very wide escutcheon, excellent width between hock, teat placement and teat size looks awesome!
We just need to see how they udder.

I may buy a doe kid from out of one of them A little line breeding but we think it will be good!

They are out of Bingo (f-1 50/50) and Chami (f-1 50/50 polled)

Bred to Henry (star x casey)


Bingo's FF udder -Dam (she kidded on her first birthday)


Bingo's Dam Zephyr


Chami's Dam & Henry's Dam- Star's udder



@Sweetened - I saw you were breeding minis now- They are my favorite! The best for production with feed conversion! The ultimate in the perfect homestead goat.
Everyone has a different focus- ours is NOT the ears, but the udder. They take work. Ears cannot milk!
I can work on ears later... I will be posting a lot about the minis because it is my focus this year. We have focused so much on the lamanchas and dwarfs, it is the year for minis here!

 

[Sweetened]

Thank you for including me in this, Southern! Im sp happy to be following this thread and learning from your escapades as well as mine! With the exception of our one girl, saffron, I have grately enjoyed them so far (the herd hasnt been here long). Saffron os just nasty to other goats, straight up, and I just closed them in the garage (err... "barn") this evening, and Im already tempted to pen her alone for the winter as she is a damn wretch!

Keep posting! I LOVE learning.

Can the F2's with long ears throw correct ears f3?

 

[Southern by choice]

I know I have this in another thread but I thought I'd keep the mini's on their own thread.

I think I mentioned in the other thread that we have some does we are thinking of breeding for minis this year so we can start another line.
I want two lines - there still will be some line breeding- so I can breed from what I have on my farm.
There are some really nice minis out there but most are on the West Coast. There are some nice ones here in the East but either farms are not testing for everything I want OR the bucks (which is what I need) just don't have the udders behind them that I want. I might see a really nice udder on the dam but the sisters are not nice... or attachment is great but not teat placement... seems like I just keep getting pointed back to my own farm to do the work here.
I know there are nice mini bucks out there... but lets face it no one know every breeder or stock out there. Lot's of mini folk are testing now... I just can't find the whole package so far.

Thank you for including me in this, Southern! Im sp happy to be following this thread and learning from your escapades as well as mine! With the exception of our one girl, saffron, I have grately enjoyed them so far (the herd hasnt been here long). Saffron os just nasty to other goats, straight up, and I just closed them in the garage (err... "barn") this evening, and Im already tempted to pen her alone for the winter as she is a damn wretch!

Keep posting! I LOVE learning.

Can the F2's with long ears throw correct ears f3?

You were posting while I was typing
I am so excited you want to be part of this thread!

Is Saffron bred? Some goats turn into jerks when bred. How long have you had them?

Glad you asked about ears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to post about ears but I was afraid I'd bore people.
I was going to make a chart for the ears. And hopefully explain some "generation rules".

 

[Sweetened]

Shes been a jerk sonce I got her, got told that as we were loading her, sigh... everyone else is great, but I would ha e passed on her had I known (person drove from 2 provinces west tp drop them off). Had them just over a month.

That would be awesome. Ill have to pick your brain on selecting doe kids and estucheons etc. Everyone I knpw puts little value in it, but k owing someone who can tell me EVERYTHINH about a cow and how she will milk etc from a very young age (and do so acurately) leads me to believe it can be done with goats as well.

 

[Southern by choice]

When we got Mariah (lamancha) she was a jerk- for the first year really. Now she is fine and the herd all gets along. I wish we would have kept her apart though... she was such a jerk that she slammed Star into the feeder shattering her femur. Star had to be put down. It was devastating. I still have Star on our website- cannot bare to take her down. Loved that goat.

Well, it will be fun to look and share what we like and what we think we want to change. This will be fun. Having extra eyes is great! So excited! You made my day!

 

[Southern by choice]

@Sweetened

This is a probability chart for ears. Based on the Punnett square.

 

[Southern by choice]

Today Jane (Standard Lamancha PB) was bred to Isaac (Nigerian Dwarf) for F-1 Esp 50/50 Mini Manchas

I went back and forth of whether to breed her for Standards or minis.
Then after deciding Mini's... who?
Goat Whisperer said I could use Issac (and previous conversation with OFA asking if he would mind)
I think this should be a beautiful match.

Kids will be retained for that separate line. This is Jane's 2nd Freshening.

Too cold out - no pics

Day 150 should be April 19th

 

[Hens and Roos]

Can't wait to see pictures

 

[Wehner Homestead]

You've got me interested in the minis! How does the size and production compare to a Nigerian? You mentioned production and that caught my attention. As you know, having milk available here is of the utmost importance! Also, do the Minis breed year round like a Nigerian or are they seasonal like the Standards?

 

[Southern by choice]

You've got me interested in the minis! How does the size and production compare to a Nigerian? You mentioned production and that caught my attention. As you know, having milk available here is of the utmost importance! Also, do the Minis breed year round like a Nigerian or are they seasonal like the Standards?

IMO they are the best goat out there.
Since we breed all 3, Stds, Miniatures, and Dwarfs I can be very open about all 3.
I am not going to ever give up my Lamanchas, and we will always have our nigerians as well.
So... the feed conversion is excellent! The butterfat is excellent! The size really is variable. We keep our minis at the 50/50 % mark because I want my minis to be minis.

Production for us has been great. Keep in mind we feed mostly grass hay, we do supplement with alfalfa but our goats do not get straight alfalfa. We do feed dairy goat feed 17% on the stand. Our goats forage when it is available. Fall/winter everything is dormant here.
For a FF 50/50 f-1 I want to see 5-5.5 Lbs by 2-3 F 7-8 lbs
I don't base a whole lot on FF- depends on age, parent stock, kids, etc... but I want to know it is an udder to work with, milks well, great orifices, and general good udder even if it needs improvement. One of the hardest things on a mini is the same issue dwarf breeders have- teat placement.