Can you put a dry female goat with a male until she has her baby?

Question

We have a buck and were wondering if we got a girl old enough to breed that is dry if we could put them together until she's almost ready to give birth.

Answer 1

I house my bucks separately from my does for several reasons:

- By keeping them separate, you can pinpoint the due date and be prepared for when the kids will arrive

- A buck will continue to harass the doe and possibly injure her.  I monitor my animals while they're breeding to make sure the buck doesn't get carried away, and the boys are so much bigger than the girls.  Back or leg injuries can be fatal.

-  In turn, many bred does are grumpy and combative with bucks, and can injure themselves or their unborn kids if kept with a buck.

If you are breeding, you want your bred doe to be in an optimal situation - that means limiting competition for food, limiting stress and preventing headbutting or fighting.  Sometimes, I've even had to separate bred does, because my alpha starts bullying some of the others - and one good headbutt to the side can result in dead kids.  It's not worth the chance.

It would be simple to construct a divider or a kidding stall for a new doe out of calf panels - just clip them together and anchor the pen to the wall.  Also, I don't know what type of goat you plan on breeding - for dairy goats, don't breed a young doe until she's at least 65-70 pounds at the time of breeding, or she may not be able to carry to term or kid safely.

Answer 2

Generally, yes.  As long as they get along otherwise (compatible in size, food plentiful, etc.), then the buck will leave her alone once she stops going into heat.