Breeding Season at The Simple Farm

We've been waiting for this special day - Lavender's date with Caleb. She's been waiting too and today he got his chance to prove his studly-ness action with her.

Goats are seasonal breeders - meaning that some breeds (Nubians in this case) come into heat every 21 ish days between August and February.

How do you know your goat is in heat?  When you have a few good looking bucks next to the doe yard, it's not too difficult to tell. They tend to stand along side the boys yard and pace back and forth and forth and back.

Does in heat will also have a mucusy discharge. When you touch their tail head - if in heat - they'll tend to lift their tail - if not in heat - they tuck it under.  Some does and in this case it's true with Lavender - they get noisy. She's a sweet quiet doe - except when she's in heat - she will talk - loudly - to get your attention saying something like "it's time."  I've noticed that my does will also drop in milk production during their heat cycle.

So, today was Lavender's day and Caleb strutted his buck stuff quite nicely. We've calendared the date and mark 21 days down the road to see if her heat returns - if not, we will assume she's been bred. We'll mark another 21ish days down and watch her then for signs.  If her heat cycle doesn't reappear - we'll mark 150 days (average) from that first breeding (today) when babies will once again make their beautiful appearance at The Simple Farm