Things You'll Need
- Goat pen
- Buck rag (and glass jar with lid) or young male goat
- Notepad
- Pen
Instructions
Preparing Young Goats to Breed
Ensure that your goats are in good health and that they maintain a healthy body weight. Breeding sick goats will result in dead or unhealthy offspring, or no offspring at all. If you are using a male stud from another breeder, you must have your female goat inspected by a veterinarian, as most breeders will only allow their males to mate with healthy goats.
Establish when your female goat is fertile, or in heat. Female goats are at their most fertile during autumn, as they respond to the shortening of days. You can recognize a female goat in heat because she will mount other goats and bleat much more frequently than she usually does. Her eating habits and her production of milk may change unpredictably as well. She may follow male goats around the pen. It is difficult to predict when a young goat goes into heat, and it may be harder to recognize the signs, but these techniques should work regardless of the goat's age.
Obtain a "buck rag" if you are using a stud to breed your female goat and do not own a male. Rub a piece of cloth on a male goat until it takes on his smell, and keep it sealed in a jar. Remove the buck rag from the jar twice a day and present it to the female. Observe her behavior. If she becomes animated and stays near the rag, it is likely that she is in heat.
Observe your buck, or a stud that you are borrowing, to ensure that he is also in heat before attempting to breed him with your female. If the buck urinates on himself, it is a sign that he is in heat, since he is attempting to attract females with his scent.
Introduce a young male and female in a pen, and allow them to cohabitate until they have bred. Adult goats usually breed best by running together in an open space until they mate. Since it is more difficult to determine when a young female goat is in heat, allow lots of contact time between her and the male by keeping them in the same pen. The male goat you introduce to a young female should be docile and about the same size so he does not injure her.
Breeding Young Goats
Take notes while the goats live together in the pen. Write down changes in behavior, and keep track of when you moved them in together. Observe the tails of the goats twice a day. Matted, dirty hair indicates that the goats have probably bred, and you can separate the goats again.
Reintroduce the female goat to the male or the buck rag. Do this twice a day for at about a month after the goats have mated. If the female has not conceived, she will go into heat again. If she begins showing interest in the buck rag or male goat, she needs to be bred again.
Monitor females that appear to have been successfully bred for about five months. At this point they should give birth.