dragonladyleanne
Well-known member
I have a quandary. Based on others' opinions of a doe I got with unknown provenance, other than she was about 5-6 months old when I bought her, I bought Aramis, a purebred French Angora buck. I had been breeding strictly for meat, and had NO interest in the pet market, and nominal interest in the fibre market until acquiring the doe, but she has grown on me. Well, the buck had health issues from the get-go, and sadly passed at age 5 months. Since he passed before he could be bred with my French Angora or FA/cross doe, I am now pondering the next move. A replacement buck has been offered to me by Aramis' breeder, but none will be available for another 4-5 months (she lost HER herd sire to our crappy weather, and her replacement is only 4 months old himself), while my doe is now a year old and never successfully bred. She weighs a little over 5 pounds, but my smallest meat buck is my 8 pound Champagne (the NZW buck weighs over 10 pounds), so I am a little reluctant to just make her a meat mama with useable fur, unless someone can reassure me that breeding her to a bigger buck won't hurt her. I could just keep her as a pet/fibre provider, but I already have 2 "pets" who don't get much attention as it is (a former breeder whose mastitis affected most of her teats, and her boy who lost his leg to the same rats who caused her mastitis by eating 8 babies the day after her milk came in).
So, option 1. breed her to my Champagne buck and hope for the best 2. breed her to the 3 legged boy who carries the wool gene and also some checkered giant (though he himself is smaller than she is, due to his injury stunting his growth, his dad was about 7 pounds) 3. find a CHEAP replacement FA buck who is already of breeding age, within an hour's drive of Pace, FL 4. See if anyone will do a "stud service for pick of litter" option or 5. Sell her to someone who has a French Angora program in place - but I would NOT sell her off super cheap in this last scenario, as I have grown fond of her. Thoughts?
So, option 1. breed her to my Champagne buck and hope for the best 2. breed her to the 3 legged boy who carries the wool gene and also some checkered giant (though he himself is smaller than she is, due to his injury stunting his growth, his dad was about 7 pounds) 3. find a CHEAP replacement FA buck who is already of breeding age, within an hour's drive of Pace, FL 4. See if anyone will do a "stud service for pick of litter" option or 5. Sell her to someone who has a French Angora program in place - but I would NOT sell her off super cheap in this last scenario, as I have grown fond of her. Thoughts?