With breeding season rapidly approaching, there are a few things breeders have to keep in mind. The ongoing issue of In-Breeding, Line-Breeding & Out-Crossing our livestock can boggle the mind. I’ve had many new breeders tell me they would never breed a buck to a doe that is related. Please, let me put some light on this subject. I will go over each kind of breeding practice to shed some light.
First and foremost: Don’t put the human aspect into breeding livestock. They are not humans, they are not our babies, they are the animals that we care for and give us food or others things, such as wool, in return. Do we love them, yes.
There are 3 different ways to breed when it comes to their genetics. First is In-Breeding which for most people, is a no-no and I do agree with this. This is when a sire breeds his daughter, son breeds his dam, uncle breeds a niece, nephew breeds an aunt, or a full brother to a full sister. As an example: if the sire of a doe has a twin brother, or the dam of a buck has a twin sister. For me, they are just too closely related and I won’t take the chance of getting kids that won’t sell. They aren’t worth a flip at the auction either. That is from my own experience for “oops’’ that have happened over the years. And they do happen when your favorite buck decides that a 7ft fence is not high enough to keep him from breeding that sexy little doe that he knows is in her cycle. He doesn’t know she’s his daughter and could care less.
The 2nd way, and in my opinion the best way, to breed your girls is Line-Breeding. This is done several ways and I can’t list all of them. The closest is a half brother to a half sister.They carry 50% of the same bloodlines. The other 50% are 25% from the buck and 25% from the doe, say they have the same sire, they have different dams. Using 50% of a common bloodline, for the most part, will give you the best qualities in their kids. It can also go the other way. Line-Breeding is also when they are cousins and may be a generation or more back. A grandson breeding his grandmother is close but I’ve had some very good dairy goats come from this breeding as I was adding her genetics for a wonderfully attached udder into the offspring. For me, this is the way I like to breed my herd.
There is also Out-Crossing and this can add genetics that are good and awful. This is adding in the human thinking of breeding, when the animals are not related at all. Over the years I have Line-Bred but this year I am adding 2 young bucks that are not related to my herd. In time it will be an interesting kidding season but these boys will be too young for this years breeding season so their job for a year is to grow.
All this is an investment and no matter how you breed your livestock, it’s all a gamble anyway.
Suzy Minck
milkmaid@embarqmail.com
www.milkmaidranch.com
