I know nothing about goats and we have aquired two beautiful ones. A male and a female. I do not know what kind of goat they are. (Male is brown and white with horns that seem to grow directly behind its ear and are starting to curve back and curl up and out. Female is black and white with ears that look way too small for her head) She has already had a kidd and it died about 2 months afterwards. It looked as though it was trampled. I think she may be pregnant again and I need to know how long she will be pregnant and.....should keep the male away from her at all?

-- Sheila O'Brien (irishsheila@hotmail.com), July 21, 2002

Answers

Greetings Sheila,

Unless you can get info from previous owners, breeders, or you find tattoo's on your goats it's unlikely that you'll ever be exact on what breed your goats are. You didn't say if the goats were a smaller breed like the pygymy goat, or what folks would call regular goats- which usually means dairy breed types. The mention of ears that look too small for her head sounds like your doe has some LaMancha in her background though.

You'll have fun doing some websurfing on goat info and DO make sure to read up on this forum - you'll learn much. You can purchase bookstoo. There is an informative booklet from your county extension office on goats (a 4-H book)that children start out with, when beginning a goat project. It's full of general goat information...a very good starter read. The booklet is cheap- under $6.00 dollars (I am assuming you are in the USA, I guess).

Sorry you lost a kid. I suppose it's possible that your buck may have rammed the little one enough to cause death- if all three were together in one space. I'd separate the buck if he shows agression! Oh,yes...goat gestation is 5 months long. When I first bought our four kids, the breeder had me separate the two older (7 wk) kids from the two- two week old kids as the older kids were already shoving the young ones around pretty roughly. She mentioned that they could get pneumonia from that.

Keep reading and learning- goats are great!

-- Wendy Hannum SE Ohio (wendy@skywardinternet.com), July 22, 2002.

Sounds like the doe is a La Mancha- a dairy goat that is a good producer. There are some good goat books out there, try Raising milk goats the modern way. The gestation for goats is 5 months. Chances are your doe will not come into heat until fall when she will be bred again. Goats that are good milkers have big barrels that make them look pregnant even when they are not.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), July 22, 2002.

Thank you all for your answers. I'm very new at this and I have fallen absolutely in love with my two goats and want to learn as much about them as possible. I'm sure I'll have loads more questions for you!!! Thanks again for responding!!!!!--->Sheila

-- Sheila O'Brien. (irishsheila@hotmail.com), July 22, 2002.

Hi I'm in 4-h for goats and i am also a goat raiser/breeder. If u can get a picture of ur goats i can tell u what breed they are. Yes you should keep ur buck away from ur doe aspecially if he is aggressive. Also the gestation period for a goat is five months. I can tell u almost the spacific date of birth for ur kid if u can tell me the day and month she became pregnant.

-- Katie Elliott (calico_kitty_kat2000@yahoo.com), August 29, 2002.