Genetic Embryo Coupling

Taking the time to choose the correct buck and doe for mating is really worth the effort.

A really excellent buck will most generally produce good kids unless the does you are breeding have severe cull faults. Getting the most out of your stud buck requires thought and patience. Using the best does you can find is quite often the key to successful mating. Using the most expensive doe you can find may not always pay off.

To figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are is the first step to breeding success. Sometimes it is next to impossible to correct more than one thing in a breeding season. For example, you may need to concentrate more on short strong pasterns this year and then the following breeding season work on another point. Having a strong female flock from which to work requires time and strength in culling. To help you decide where your weaknesses are you may need to solicit the help of a fellow breeder or a certified judge and/or inspector to help you recognize what needs to go and what needs to stay. It is so hard for the breeder to do this without severe emotional stress. Even to this day it is so hard to let go of a bottle baby that you have cuddled in the wee hours of the morning.

Our method of culling is quite like cleaning out the attic. . . we have three piles,one for stuff we're going to keep and sell, one for stuff that we donate to charity, such as our bottle babies who find new homes with our customers and finally the last pile is for garbage... The garbage pile for us is our meat program and FULLBLOOD GOATS GO THERE TOO!!

T4 Ranch does are specially selected. "Sahara"

Once you have established a pattern of what is working for you, stay with it. It takes years to develop a strong breeding consistency. Switching bucks each year won't allow you to see where your breeding strengths and weaknesses are. It just gives you a kid crop to sell in the fall.

We have found that it is best not to form an opinion either way until the kid has reached the age of five months. We then cull for the first time. All goats, bucks or does are culled if they have a cull fault at all. This is done by the South African breed standards. We cull again at ten months. This is the time you are able to see if that animal possesses the ability to put on the meat and muscle it was bred to do and if it has developed a strong immune system, for without this you are dealing with the devil. A goat with a compromised immune system will eventually be culled anyhow, just under different circumstances.

T4 Ranch does are selected for femininity, fertility and pasture hardiness, as well as strict compliance with the South African Boer Goat Association breed standards.

At ten months you should be able to tell if the animal will stay competitive in the show ring throughout its career or simply fade away. Also, your goat may be inspected and passed by an approved inspector/judge. In this way, it is sort of a vote of confidence that someone else thinks your goat is good enough to use for breeding too.

"Quick to ripen, quick to rot" say the South African breeders. Slow maturing bucks and does should not be passed over for the glamour of baby fat, for they most likely hold the key to the golden breeding kingdom.


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Genetic Embryo Coupling

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