Breeding Annie

Annie is our Nubian goat who is 2 1/2 years old.  We thought that she had been bred back in December and were expecting her to kid in May.  We noticed that she was beginning to show signs that she was about to kid in May as her udder began to swell, but then she never went into labor.  We never found any signs that she miscarried.  It was just strange all around.  To this day we still don't know for certain what happened, but we're not giving up and want to try again.

We began to search the area for Nubian bucks to breed her and fortunately were able to find that a gentleman right down the road about four miles or so that has a Nubian buck.  He also has Jersey bulls and we had taken our cows over to have them bred before, so we are familiar with him and his set-up.  I made arrangements to bring Annie to him so that his buck could breed Annie.  Benjamin and I went into the pasture tonight and found Annie sitting atop the round bale of hay.  We grabbed her by her collar and let her out of the pasture and toward the driveway.  Annie hardly ever gets out of the pasture and she was leery.  What are they up to?  Big Boy was barking his head off and Annie became very nervous and jittery.  She tried to bolt and run, but we held her tightly.

Time to go, Annie

Since Nellie (Annie's mom) died in December, we hadn't had any goat kefir to drink.  Goat kefir is a drinkable yogurt made from goat milk.  We add honey, fruit and a dash of cinnamon and it makes a delicious, healthy breakfast smoothie.  We are anxious to get Annie bred so that she'll kid and be in milk so that we can have goat milk once again.

We don't have a trailer to carry her in, but being that the buck is only four miles down the road, we lifted her into the back of my son's truck and Benjamin and I jumped in the back, holding Annie tightly, as Tricia chauffeured Annie down the road to meet the buck.  I'm sure we were a strange sight riding down the road with a goat in the back of the truck!

Riding in the back of the truck

At one point Annie got very antsy and nervous and began to cry and try to get up, but I laid down on top of her and held her firmly until we reached our destination, pulling her out of the truck with the leash.  The gentleman I spoke with has many goats and dairy cows, along with bees.  He has a nice place.  We began walking Annie into his pasture toward a pen.  He'll isolate Annie and the buck in the corral for however long it takes for her to get bred.  

Immediately the buck came running and jumped on top of her - repeatedly.  But Annie is not in heat yet.  Goats are like deer and only really breed during the fall/winter months.  I don't know for sure how to tell when a doe is in heat, but I did read something that said that just being around a buck will cause a doe to come into heat.

I don't really know how long it will take for successful breeding to take place.  It could be a few days. It could be a few weeks.  We'll just wait and see.  Hopefully, though, Annie will be successfully bred this time around, and she will kid this spring.