3mina
Well-known member
Between getting bronchitis twice so far this year and a slow start to spring, I've finally gotten my breeding season underway.
I've got 7 litters on the ground, two more in nestboxes, with another doe due Monday and 2 more does due mid June.
The 3 oldest litters have been sorted, 3 of 10 will be grown out a bit more but the other 7 are ready to be processed. The next oldest litter(10 from a first timer) has been weaned for a bit so I took the doe out this week and bred her to my new *gasp* castor buck.
I just removed the nestboxes from the next 4 litters. Looking at 2 of these litters, I'm thinking I was right in culling their dam and granddam last summer; while the litter sizes are good to excellent (9 & 10), they aren't growing as well as the others so these ones won't be staying much longer I don't think. One of my first time does is teetering onto the cull list as well, she only had 5 and they're light for their size. I've bred her to a different buck so we shall see if that makes a difference.
My tri doe is on her second litter and she's redeemed herself so far. She had 7 and is raising 6 massive little chunkers, 2 of which are very likely staying since they're expressing the ej genes I want in my tri program.
I decided to import a buck this fall also, my stock is decent but I'm still not happy with my growth rates so I contacted a breeder who is getting the growth I'm looking for, I'm picking him up at Convention and I can't wait.
I've got 7 litters on the ground, two more in nestboxes, with another doe due Monday and 2 more does due mid June.
The 3 oldest litters have been sorted, 3 of 10 will be grown out a bit more but the other 7 are ready to be processed. The next oldest litter(10 from a first timer) has been weaned for a bit so I took the doe out this week and bred her to my new *gasp* castor buck.
I just removed the nestboxes from the next 4 litters. Looking at 2 of these litters, I'm thinking I was right in culling their dam and granddam last summer; while the litter sizes are good to excellent (9 & 10), they aren't growing as well as the others so these ones won't be staying much longer I don't think. One of my first time does is teetering onto the cull list as well, she only had 5 and they're light for their size. I've bred her to a different buck so we shall see if that makes a difference.
My tri doe is on her second litter and she's redeemed herself so far. She had 7 and is raising 6 massive little chunkers, 2 of which are very likely staying since they're expressing the ej genes I want in my tri program.
I decided to import a buck this fall also, my stock is decent but I'm still not happy with my growth rates so I contacted a breeder who is getting the growth I'm looking for, I'm picking him up at Convention and I can't wait.
