When is goat breeding season? Do you have dairy goats? Are you anxious to have lots of yummy fresh goat milk?!
Well, before you can have goat milk, you have to make sure that your goat is pregnant and delivers her babies!
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So how do you know when to breed your goats? Is there a certain time of year that they have to breed? This post will give you all of the info that you need so that you can know when to breed your future milk producers!
Goat Breeding Season
When do goats go into heat?
To answer the above question, yes, there is a certain time of the year to breed your dairy goats.
Now, before we talk about when that is, let’s first talk about the different types of dairy goats.
Because not all dairy goats breed at the same time of year.
This post is not about Nigerian Dwarf goats.
I do not have Nigerian Dwarfs, so I cannot say for sure when their breeding times are.
I do know that they can be bred twice a year though.
What we are going to discuss are the large breed dairy goats, Nubians, LaManchas, Oberhasli, Alpine etc.
I personally own LaMancha and Oberhasli goats.
How often do goats have babies?
Large breed dairy goats can only be bred once a year.
Fortunately, there is a pretty large window of time, which makes it easier to insure that your goats are bred!
This also depends on where you live.
When can goats breed?
I live in south Florida, and I find that because of the intense heat our breeding season tends to start a little later than usual, but can also run a little longer.
Normally, in most places, the breeding season starts in July and ends in December.
In south Florida, my goats tend to come into heat in August, or the beginning of September.
But, even though they start a little later, our breeding season tends to run into January and sometimes February depending on the weather.
So, even though you can’t breed them year round, you do have a good six months to make sure that they are pregnant!
This means that you will have lots of cute baby goats soon!
And, before you know it, you will have lots of fresh goat milk! Which you can use to make lots of yummy things; such as Goat Milk Buttermilk, Goat Milk Kefir, Mango Kefir Smoothies, Cafe Con Leche Using Goat Milk, and Goat Milk Ice Cream!
Do you already breed dairy goats?
What kind of dairy goats do you have?
Please leave me a comment sharing your experiences!
Also if you would like to learn more about breeding, pregnancy, kid care, and everything else you need to know to care for your goats, check out the Raising Goats For beginners Course! This course has step by step lessons, videos and PDFs for everything from goat illnesses, feeding, milking, you name it! It will help you to raise your goats with confidence, as well as provide a group for personal help and support!
Free Goat Health eCourse!
Getting ready to breed our Nubians in November. This will be our first time and ice cream is what I am most looking forward to. 🙂 Doing as much research as I can!
That’s great Amy! Ice cream is one of my favorites too! I’ll actually be sharing goat milk ice cream recipes soon:)
Here’s some info. If you have some picky eaters when feeding them there herbs, try Karo syrup in the mixture, it worked for me.
We raise Nubian goats will use their milk to drink and we also make soap with that getting ready to breed my girls this month in November I must say I love my goats ☺️
That’s so exciting Linda! This is definitely an exciting time of year as we are only a handful of months away from baby goats! We’re in the middle of breeding season as well. A few of my does are already bred and I’m planning on breeding the rest this month and next. We love our goat milk and goat milk soap as well:)
Hi we are nem to goats we have 2 doe and a bill can you please give me some advice when we got them they were 4 weeks old back on the 12 of may 2018. The bill is getting very violent to the girls and the girls are nice and plump.any advice or help would be fantastic also they are not very big goats…
Hi Lacee:) The main thing that I would tell you is to separate your buck from your does. This is a good idea for multiple reasons. One he won’t be bothering them and chasing them around, and two you will have more control over when your does are bred.
If a doe is bred too young she will probably have a hard time with birth and will not grow as well herself, as she is giving the nutrients she needs to the baby. A doe should not be bred before 10 months or 80 pounds for a large breed doe at least. But they can physically breed as early as a couple of months old! So be sure to separate them to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Otherwise you risk losing your does in birth.
hi, this is our first year with dairy goats an we have LaMancha and Nigerians. How can you tell when your doe goes into heat? We also live in Central Kansas so the weather can get pretty cold!
Hi Cadence:) That is a great question! You can learn more about the symptoms of a doe in heat in this article:
Hi, I’m from NC and I have 4 Nubian goats. We paired them for breeding late October. Excited to have some babies and some milk soon. Great info here thanks for sharing.
So about what time of year are Nubians in heat? I think she’s half Nubian. I am most looking forward to having kids!!!! it has been a while since we have had one.