Breeding & Kidding Schedule
-See our sales page for available kids!-
-See our sales page for available kids!-
Doe: Buck: Due date: Price:
Mossy Valley GN Gold Mine YCN V Atilla Jan 3rd Does - 400 / Bucks - not available
E-Farms GP Amber Rose Ebony Ridge RJ Mars Jan 5th Does - 300 / Bucks - not available
Foggy Creek's Strawberry YCN V Atilla January Does - 300 / Bucks - not available
Foggy Creek's B Berlin YCN V Atilla January Does - 300 / Bucks - not available
Mossy Valley GN Gold Mine YCN V Atilla Jan 3rd Does - 400 / Bucks - not available
E-Farms GP Amber Rose Ebony Ridge RJ Mars Jan 5th Does - 300 / Bucks - not available
Foggy Creek's Strawberry YCN V Atilla January Does - 300 / Bucks - not available
Foggy Creek's B Berlin YCN V Atilla January Does - 300 / Bucks - not available
A few words:
Unfortunately, there is no magic stick to wave around so you get the perfect goat. It's hard work. Success depends on establishing a goal, developing a well-planned breeding program, then following through with it. To make consistent improvements in the animals, the breeder needs to be familiar with anatomy (phenotype) - the terminology, how the parts are supposed to work, and understand how he/she wants to modify things.
One fundamental rule of selective breeding is that two goats with the same fault should never be mated. For instance, if both parents have narrow chests, chances are very high that their kids will have even narrower chests than the parents. On top, the trait of narrow chests will be fixed in your kids and even harder to improve. If a doe has a narrow chest, her mate should be a wide-chested buck. This example applies to all parts of the goat.
Always breed does to bucks that are correct in the traits you want to improve in the offspring. If you have a doe with a very steep rump, don't breed her to a buck with a very level rump; breed her to a buck with a correct rump.
Due to the small number of foundation animals, there is a certain level of homozygosity (identical genes at the same location) in purebreds, including Nigerian Dwarf goats. In the early days of all breeds, few animals were available and mating related animals was unavoidable. Sometimes it was purposely done, and sometimes it still is.
Unfortunately, there is no magic stick to wave around so you get the perfect goat. It's hard work. Success depends on establishing a goal, developing a well-planned breeding program, then following through with it. To make consistent improvements in the animals, the breeder needs to be familiar with anatomy (phenotype) - the terminology, how the parts are supposed to work, and understand how he/she wants to modify things.
One fundamental rule of selective breeding is that two goats with the same fault should never be mated. For instance, if both parents have narrow chests, chances are very high that their kids will have even narrower chests than the parents. On top, the trait of narrow chests will be fixed in your kids and even harder to improve. If a doe has a narrow chest, her mate should be a wide-chested buck. This example applies to all parts of the goat.
Always breed does to bucks that are correct in the traits you want to improve in the offspring. If you have a doe with a very steep rump, don't breed her to a buck with a very level rump; breed her to a buck with a correct rump.
Due to the small number of foundation animals, there is a certain level of homozygosity (identical genes at the same location) in purebreds, including Nigerian Dwarf goats. In the early days of all breeds, few animals were available and mating related animals was unavoidable. Sometimes it was purposely done, and sometimes it still is.
*Outcrossing:
Mating two animals that are unrelated for at least 4 to 6 generations back is called an outcross breeding. This method works best when the heritability factor for a trait is high. Unfortunately, few heritability rates have been established in goats, although it has been shown that inheritance rates for specific traits of other livestock are similar to each other. When dominant genes are the desirable ones, outcrossing works perfectly well. Linebreeding is more helpful when recessive traits are involved. It is thought that up to 0.5% of genes become homozygous in mating unrelated animals of the same breed.
Advantages: There are higher degrees of performance and fitness traits in outcrosses. Outcrossing two highly linebred lines introduces hybrid vigor and combines the desirable traits of both lines as it provides new combinations of genes that can be used in linebreeding. One of the best advantages of outcrossing is that it hides detrimental traits by keeping them recessive. Inbred and highly linebred herds may need to outcross if and when they develop defects or when further progress cannot be made. Outcrossing improves fitness traits such as reproductive ability, milk production, kid survivability and longevity.
Limitations: There is usually a high degree of variation because gene frequencies for dominant and recessive traits are heterozygous (not matching). Another way of looking at it is that there is a low degree of uniformity in genotype. The rate of progress depends on the ability to choose superior parents. Phenotype does not accurately indicate genotype when the heritability rate is low.
Mating two animals that are unrelated for at least 4 to 6 generations back is called an outcross breeding. This method works best when the heritability factor for a trait is high. Unfortunately, few heritability rates have been established in goats, although it has been shown that inheritance rates for specific traits of other livestock are similar to each other. When dominant genes are the desirable ones, outcrossing works perfectly well. Linebreeding is more helpful when recessive traits are involved. It is thought that up to 0.5% of genes become homozygous in mating unrelated animals of the same breed.
Advantages: There are higher degrees of performance and fitness traits in outcrosses. Outcrossing two highly linebred lines introduces hybrid vigor and combines the desirable traits of both lines as it provides new combinations of genes that can be used in linebreeding. One of the best advantages of outcrossing is that it hides detrimental traits by keeping them recessive. Inbred and highly linebred herds may need to outcross if and when they develop defects or when further progress cannot be made. Outcrossing improves fitness traits such as reproductive ability, milk production, kid survivability and longevity.
Limitations: There is usually a high degree of variation because gene frequencies for dominant and recessive traits are heterozygous (not matching). Another way of looking at it is that there is a low degree of uniformity in genotype. The rate of progress depends on the ability to choose superior parents. Phenotype does not accurately indicate genotype when the heritability rate is low.
