1. Heat Detection Signs of heat: (A doe may exhibit any, all, or none of these signs) "Flagging" (wagging) her tail Mounting other does Letting other does mount her Fighting Letting herself get beat up without defending herself Having a "crush" on another doe No interest in feed Swollen and/or pink rear end Mucous discharge from her vagina Her side tail hair is wet and/or clumped together Yelling for no reason

2. Selective Breeding Segregating does from bucks is crucial in the development of sound breeding programs. Purpose of selective breeding to get offspring that are more ideal for the breed standard than both the dam and the sire. A sire should be selected who has the best chances for producing offspring that improve upon the dam’s weaknesses without taking away from her strengths. Common error - occurs when breeders use the buck that has produced the most show wining offspring or offspring that have had the most production. These bucks may do little to produce the same offspring in a completely different herd. If starting a herd, a new breeder should put most of their investment into a buck and build a foundation herd from that buck.

3. Line Breeding The old saying goes: "If it works it's called Line-breeding and if it doesn't, it's called Inbreeding." This saying puts a very complicated subject very simply, but it has some truth in it. "There is no better way to improve your herd than with Line-breeding, BUT there is also no better way to ruin a herd."

4. What Age Can I breed a Goat? A goat kid of either sex can be fertile at 7 weeks of age. That is not to say that they should be bred at this age. Intact bucks and does over 7 weeks of age should not be kept together because a young buck can, and will, breed a female at 2 months of age - this includes his mother and 2 month old sister! Full size type goat does can be bred at about 8 months of age. They should weigh at least 75 pounds.

5. Regardless of kidding practices there are a few standard precautions you should take and some basic supplies you should have prepared in advance. – Paper Towels – Fluid mixed with blood leak from does through the entire delivery. This makes handling kids very difficult. You will need paper or cloth towels to removed fluid and other membranes from the kid. – Navel Antiseptic – The navel should be disinfected as soon as you are aware there is a new kid. There are different home made antiseptics but there is also a 7% navel Iodine made just for newborns. – 2 feet of clothes line – In the event you need to pull a kid during delivery, clothes line is easier to slip into the doe and remove a stuck leg than a person’s hand. – Colostrum/bottle and nipple– Few kids survive without receiving colostrums. Colostrum caries antibodies that the new kid needs to protect itself from diseases among the herd. If the mother is unable to produce colostrums or in the case of dairy goats where colostrum needs to be pasteurized to prevent colostrums born diseases then the herd manager needs to get some in the new kid as soon as possible. Many breeders freeze colostrums for this reason. For best results the new kid needs to get the colostrums in the first four hours. After four hours the benefit to the kid reduces by about half as each four hours passes until about twenty-four hours passes then the kid receives almost no benefit at all from colostrums.

6. Gestation The average gestation of a goat is between 147-150 days. Some breeds like the LaMancha have are reputation for delivering early.

7. Kidding Many goats deliver fine on their own while others need significant help. Kidding is one of the areas where the type of goat you raise many determine your kidding management program. If you are raising a meat type breed and are running your does year round with the buck you may wish to allow bred does to remain with the herd. Dairy Goat breeders usually control the does breeding date by keeping them separate from the bucks until estrus. Dairy breeders tend to separate does who are about to kid several days before they are due. When they deliver the kids are separate immediately and given bottles.

8. Kidding Signs Tail Dropping - As the doe gets close to kidding time, her body will start to adjust to allow the pelvic bones to spread out. Look at the back bone of the goat as it connects to the tail area. Either side of the tail bone will indent showing the body is getting ready. The picture to the right was taken 8 days before she kidded. This is not the best sign. It is not very specific and sometimes we just don't see the tail dropping.

9. Kidding Signs Losing Plug - Vets calls this "losing their plug". You will see a small amount of creamy jell leaking from the vulva. The picture to the right was taken at the same time as the picture for the tail dropping, 8 days before she actually kidded. Drippings like this may be seen up to 2 weeks prior to the doe kidding, therefore this is not a very good timing signal unless it changes into "streaming". Streaming will be discussed later.

10. Kidding Signs Bag Strutting - This is one of the better signs for estimating eminent labor. The top picture was taken 8 days prior to kidding and the bag looks full but the skin is not a shiny texture like the bottom picture. When the bag is strutted, the skin is as tight as it can get and the skin will be very shiny. The dirt on the bag in the bottom picture is not part of the strutted sign. That is coming from another sign, "streaming", which will be discussed later. The bottom picture was taken 2 hours before she went into labor. The bag changed from looking like the top picture to the bottom picture in about 3 hours. Some does that may not have a strutted bag prior to kidding. The bag fills up after kidding, but that is not the norm. When we see the bag get strutted like the bottom picture, we expect labor to be very soon and will start to watch for three other signs...streaming, doe going off by herself, and soft talking by the doe.

11. Kidding Signs Streaming - This is an extension of the "losing the plug". The difference is in the amount of creamy mucus coming from the doe. This picture was taken at the same time as the "bag strutting" picture which was 2 hours before labor started. You can see the large amount of mucus streaming from the doe is what caused all of the muddy dirt on the bag. One hour earlier, there had been not streaming like this. It had looked similar to the "losing the plug" sign. When we see streaming like this, we expect the doe to start labor within 4-5 hours at least. We have seen does stream like this for several days and not go into labor and we get concerned when this occurs. Especially if the mucus changes to a strawberry

12. Other Signs A Doe is Ready to Deliver. I want to be alone - When we see a doe going off by herself, we get our kidding tools ready. We expect labor within 4-5 hours at least. Especially if we have seen strutting and streaming. Soft Talking - Another sure sign of eminent labor is when the doe starts baaing very soft. This is a different sound than she normally makes and much softer. She will also be looking back at her stomach quite often and can't find a comfortable place to stand or lay. We expect labor within 4- 5 hours at least. Pawing the ground - The doe will start pawing the ground like she is trying to clear a place for kidding.