Dairy Goat Breeding
The basics of Dairy Goat Breeding in a Commercial Dairy Goat Setting
The qualities that are looked for when deciding which animals to keep your replacement stock from will be similar to those identified as Breed Standards but in a commercial situation, the priorities will be weighted mostly towards milk production and overall animal health and longevity.
Improving your Herd through Genetics
Whilst the number of dairy goats in New Zealand is growing, there is currently insufficient data to create accurate Breeding Values (BVs) or Production Values (PVs). Despite this, good genetic gains can still be made within your herd by deciding which traits are the most desirable for your farm and selecting dams and sires with these traits.
Initially, any goats who are non-productive (dry or empty) or who have health issues such as CAE or Johnes, will be culled from the herd, or at least marked up for exclusion from your breeding programme. Following this, milk yield (how many litres of milk each goat gives in a day and/or over a season) will most commonly be the highest ranked trait. Following this, good udder and hoof traits are likely to be the next most commonly sought after traits, but this will vary from farm to farm depending on what the existing prevalence of these traits is (especially in comparison to other traits) in their herd and their own personal preferences.
Buck Selection
Bucks will initally be kept based on the production traits of the mother. From this, they will be grouped according to traits such as being in good physical health and thrift, having nice body frame (size, bone structure of hips (wide) and back (straight), and lack of hoof issues. Testicle development i.e. both in good position, with even shape and not ‘split’ in the middle may also be looked at, along with teat placement of the buck as this is believed to have bearing on the teat placement of the off-spring..
Replacement Selection
The selection process regarding which does to keep replacement kids from will begin during November and may continue right through until a few weeks before mating is due to start. Allowing plenty of time to mark and observe your does over time gives the most balanced view of the herd's best does not only in terms of production, but also physical traits and temperament. Where available, herd test results will be the primary identifier of top performing does. From here, any does with undesirable traits such as poor udder conformation, a history of hoof issues or any signs of illness or ill thrift, should be removed from the group. Any sorting of does into different herds should be done at least 1 month prior to mating so that the group can re-establish its pecking order. Bucks can then be allocated to each group, with the top bucks going in with does that replacements will be kept from.
Once you have pregnancy scanned, the top 5% of in-kid does can be marked to indicate that breeding bucks should be kept from them. Depending on the type of indicator used (e.g. a green tag cable tied to their collar, or a new collar in a distinct colour), sometimes it is difficult to see these marks and/or the babies move from their mums before they can be identified. Creating a sub-mob containing just these select does can eliminate these issues.
Once kidding begins, regular monitoring of birthing does and marking replacement kids soon after birth increases the accuracy of herd records. It is common for the first born baby to be neglected or for it to be mothered by another doe whilst its own mother is busy having her second, and usually third, baby. The most accurate way to identify dams with their offspring, is to use genetic testing, such as LIC's GeneMark service. If you have taken samples from your breeding bucks, you can also accurately identify the sire of the kid, which is advantageous under natural mating conditions. Because the cost of this service is prohibitive for some farms, grouping your 'keeper' does in one herd before kidding starts means that even if you can't match the mums and babies with complete accuracy, you know that any doe kids born in that mob are from dams you selected for keeping replacement kids from.
Within the first few weeks post-birth, new replacement kids should be evaluated for physical confirmation and vigour. Any kids failing to thrive, or developing abnormal physical conditions, should be removed from your replacement selection group. You can find more information about kid rearing practices in the Kid Rearing section of this website.
Animals with better udder conformation are easier and quicker to milk, create less cup slip (so less air damage to the milk), have less risk of picking up bacteria that will cause mastitis, less risk of them physically damaging their teats/udders from banging into their legs as they walk or dragging on the ground, and are more visually appealing in the herd.
Does with good udder formation are more likely to successfully feed their offspring well in the first few days when colostrum intake in vital. This helps ensure our replacement kids get a good start to life which then flows through to them being stronger and healthier as they mature. Also, by improving udder and teat traits, we can then start to cull animals based on other undesirable traits such as poor hooves or high SCC.
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The use of EID tags in conjunction with a wand enabled us to create matinggroups and then easily identify and mark does for sorting into different mobs.Later on the same process was used to draft any empty does into a separate mob.
Excel spreadsheets were used to rank does based on current and previous years milk production so that consistently high performing does could be identified for keeping replacement kids from, as well as being able to identify the top 5% producing does to keep mating bucks from.
