my great debate...... plz imput welcome.

[sammileah]

alright I have a cross doe she is a great little doe about 60lbs. she kidded great wonderful mom easy to milk.
her problem shes little so doesn't produce a whole lot of milk i'm pulling kids off for 12 hours and i get about 10 oz. my hubby complains about her small teats but i'm not to worried about that.
i don't have a buck last yr I picked up a kinder buck waited till i was sure she had settled and set him to freezer.

so I'm thinking of upgrading to a full sized breed. so do i want to buy a new doe with better lines or pick up a buck with better lines and hope for a girl.

add your 2 cents below.

 

[glenolam]

I'd go straight for a doe - that way you'll always have 2 to milk & no hoping for a doeling that may keep her mother's milking genes anyway.

You can get two bucks, one for each doe then & everyone is happy!!

 

[freemotion]

Is the little doe a first freshener? If so, you really don't know what she is capable of yet. My ff Ginger is VERY talented at withholding milk from me....I could barely get a few ounces out of her after separating her all night from her single gigantic doeling. Then I'd put her back with the doeling and her udder would be FULL, so full that when the doeling bumped her, the milk would spray many feet away. I usually ended up with milk sprayed across my glasses most mornings! From an "empty" udder.

I will be bottle feeding her kids full-time this spring to see what she can do. My plan is to give her three lactations before I make a decision. But I am new at this, so take this with a grain of salt.

I say do both. Buy a young, proven doe and keep your current doe and breed up. But I tend to be an enabler when it comes to acquiring more goats....

 

[chandasue]

I agree. Get a standard doe from good lines. I'm transitioning into standard size dairy goats too from ND's. I'm keeping the ND's I have (I luvs 'em) but I'm adding a lamancha doe. I'll probably end up getting a ND buck as well so they can all be bred without birthing issues, but eventually I can see phasing into having only standard size goats.

 

[sammileah]

i'd love to do both but hubby is against that. blah
i don't plan on getting rid of doe i have she is to sweet.

 

[julieq]

Our first fresheners never seem to get up to speed in milk production until their second freshening. Also, she might be holding back milk for her kid. But for more milk production I'd grab another doe for sure.

 

[freemotion]

i'd love to do both but hubby is against that. blah
i don't plan on getting rid of doe i have she is to sweet.

Am I misunderstanding? If you are not getting rid of the doe, and not getting another......the decision is made, right?

Or do you mean that hubby wants only two goats, so it is her and another purchased doe, or her and a possible doeling? If that is what the situation is, then you need to decide which is more important to YOU, the pet aspect (keep her and wait for a doeling to keep, using the best dairy buck you can get). If milk production is most important, buy a proven doe who is on her second or third lactation and is currently lactating so you can be sure she is producing enough for your needs.

Either works for me. I love my goats, so have no problem with choosing the pet aspect over practicality! Until I see the grocery bill..... :/

 

[sammileah]

the debate is get another doe with better milk lines or a buck and hope for a doeling next yr. well ok really its if i should get another doe cause i'll need a buck anyway.
we started with 2 goats prossessed 1, bought a pygmy, doe had twin bucklings so now have 4 haha.

my hubby is anti livestock 'we don't live on a farm' is a line i hear alot. so i'm debating with him more then myself. i'm more of 'you have a what? oh it needs a home. of course i'll take it'

 

[chandasue]

I lived in IA for 20+ years... It doesn't matter where you live, you can pretty much say you live on a farm there. Call it a "homestead" or "self-sufficiency" or "freaked out foodie" if he's anti-farm...

 

[Mea]

.
we started with 2 goats prossessed 1, bought a pygmy, doe had twin bucklings so now have 4 haha.
'

'If' i have this correct... You have a Pygmy doe ??
The Pygmy breed is more of a Meat breed. ( Nigerians are a Dairy type.). You probably will not get the ammount of milk from a Pygmy doe that could be expected from a dairy doe.

Just my $.02. YMMV.