# Keeping a buck and doe together



## Dav (Apr 26, 2011)

I'm new to goats.
Have purchased a brother & sister at one week old, there now two months old and I don't know where to go from here. I want milk, but if I castrate the buck, I'm afraid I'll have problems getting the doe bread.
I guess my question is what would be the results if I leave them together without castrating the buck?
Dav


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

Well, if you leave them together with the buck intact, the first thing they are going to do is breed much too young. You want to wait til the doe is at least 7-9 months old and well grown. Some bucks are capable of breeding as young as 3 months old or sooner.

If all you are looking to do is get her freshened for milk, then I'd breed a brother/sister. As far as offspring, I think brother/sister breedings is a bit much for most breeders.


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Yep, brother and sister, half brother and sister, still too inbred to keep kids offof. Should you decide later to breed a goat from a breeding like that to a close relative there will be issues.
Pens side by side take care of social problems. It keeps doe safe from early pregnancy and it keeps buck from running himself ragged.
Tam


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## prairie nights (Jan 16, 2009)

Tammy and Denise pretty much summed it up. Two problems here - inbreeding which can give you issues and - to me a bigger problem - the doe will be bred too young and you are risking her life. She also won't milk much if bred as a kid and kidding as an immature doe. The best way to get milk (and much cheaper ) is to get a milker. I don't mean to be sarcastic as it's obvious but it looks cheaper to buy a baby to raise ..... though it's not. Even getting her bred as a yearling, still waiting 5 months for kidding, then training to the milk stand and all the feed, meds and milk invested in her. It is much much cheaper to get a milker for $300 - $500. A lot of breeders could throw in a wether for close to nothing to get you started. Not even mentioning that kids can die of variety of problems before their first year. 

I hope this helps some. 

Jana


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## DostThouHaveMilk (Oct 25, 2007)

Would the person you purchased the kids from be willing to let you bring the doe back this Fall (assuming she is well grown and big enough to breed) to run with an unrelated buck and be bred?
I would suggest castrating the buckling. Look for someone willing to board your doe for a heat cycle or two and have her bred for you.
If you do not castrate the buckling, then they should be separated as the others have said. I would not purposely breed full siblings.
Grade bucklings can be had for fairly cheap as kids. You could buy a buckling to raise up to breed your doeling and the brother would make a nice companion for him as well, so they could be kept separate from the doeling when you do not want her bred.


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## Dav (Apr 26, 2011)

Thanks guys.
The people I bought them from when asked about bringing the doe back this fall for breeding said they don't allow any goats on there farm because of disease.
This after I bought them.
Now, I afraid if I castrate I'll not be able to get her bred.
So maybe castrating now & getting a new buck kid next spring to breed in the fall of 2012 would be best? As Roseanna suggested .
Yes, if I had to do all over again I'd get a milker, but then you don't know what your getting. 
The brother & sister I have now I've seen there mother & father a few times, she's a good milker, they sell milk on that farm, the reason they won't do breeding.
Dav


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## Bella Star (Oct 27, 2007)

Dav, Milkers are much better to buy as you can see how much milk she produces, how her milk taste and she should be just about milkstand trained . You will also be past the kid stage problems and also kid loss as lots of people have lots of problems and loss rearing a baby kid ,this can be or can get $$$ to grow a doe as just read the board here. IF I was just starting into goats,I would buy the very best milk doe and breed that I wanted that I could find and I would be very picky !! The doe would have to be blood tested for diseases CAE and CL for sure and other goat diseases that might pertain to your area or state as I hold my milk does to a higher standard than the Boers that I raise as I drink the milk raw/unpasteurised. Do a taste test on the does milk like fine wine, clear glass,roll the milk around the glass side, look at it's color /should be snow white and how fast the milk falls from the glass edge/ cream content test and smell the milk / no odor to a slight grass smell if the doe is eating pasture and then taste the milk ... it should taste like half/half  or it could have a slight ... grass taste but not offensive. A doe with a kid to keep the doe company and a LGD dog is what I would first star off with when starting into goats. Be very picky and patient to wait for the right doe and test ,however ...... you cannot test a kid goat under 3-4 months old as the test results wont be accurate.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

We started our herd by buying one 4H doe for my daughter and got her doeling kid with her. The first year we were allowed to bring this doe, her daughter and two more does my daughter bought from her 4H winnings back to the people we bought them from to be bred. You don't state your exact location on your message, but there may very well be other people in your area who'd either let you bring your goats to them to be bred (for a fee, of course) or who'll let you lease one of their bucks for a while so you can get your doe bred. Now that we have 30 does here I decided it's time to have my own bucks, but until now I really didn't think it was economical to keep/feed/take care of a buck if you only have one doe. At first I thought it'd be impossible to find someone to lease me a buck, but you have to realize that due to that same inbreeding others are warning you about, people end up with bucks that they have used a lot one year, and will be too closely related to most of their does the next year, so they'll let him go somewhere else. Good luck!! It may take some patience before you get to milk that little doeling, but it IS nice if you raised her yourself! And if you spend a good amount of time with her, and already let her get used to a stand as a kid (just get her up there and nibble some feed when she's a bit older, then use it for clipping feet, etc.) She won't give you any trouble when you'll try to milk her if she's already comfortable with her environment.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

Also there's probably people who will sell you one of their bucklings for not too much money if you don't want the paperwork with them. Almost all my Saanens are related, because we started with that one doe, and right now I have 4 bucklings from great milking does that I really should castrate (way to closely related to all my ladies), but I think it's such a shame, since their dams are great milkers and these bucklings would make a great buck for someone like you. If you happen to be my neighbor (is MI North-East USA?), let me know!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

It's very unlikely you would have any problems at all with this breeding...you are after all breeding to complete outcrosses of the breed Alpine/Nubian. I would pen them next to each other and breed the doelings in December or January when she is over 100 pounds, he can then (as long as he is nice to her) live with her until she has kids, keep a daughter of hers to keep her company and move him back into his own pen next door when she is very pregnant. Which will be nice so they have company all winter to stay warm. 

Stay on the fourm and read, and perhaps find someone with either an Alpine or Nubian buck you can purchase in the fall to raise up as your new herdsire to breed your now adult doe and new doelings if she has some...sell or butcher the original brother you used. Vicki


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