[earlybird]

could i have some advice please, got a 16 month old toggy girl we have just bought a billy for her both getting on nicely together, with original idea of her getting into kid come september time, now shes thrown a spanner in the works because she has started bagging up and when i milk her she has started to produce small amount of milky liquid do i carry on getting her into full milk and will this affect her fertility or do i leave her to see if she will dry up and leave her with the billy bear in mind when i say bagging up it is only very slightly at the moment, pleased for any advice thanks newby.

[Anke]

If you want to kid her next spring I would not milk her at all, reduce her food a bit (depending on what she gets at the moment and how well she is grown) and just check the udder regularly for any signs of hardness, heat or redness (which would indicate mastitis). It is unlikely that will develop, as small udders are quite normal for goatlings.
 
From your message it sounds that you don't have any other goats - just the goatling and the male?
 
Normally you wouldn't keep goats in mating pairs, only a few people keep billies (larger herds), as the actual mating is over in a flash and he is no longer needed.... I don't know where you got the advice to get a billy for one female, but I think that is a mistake. He will need to be fed all through winter and be incredibly stinky. he really should live with a (castrated) male as companion, away from the girls (plural as well). You might want to re-think your goatkeeping strategy.
 
You only introduce the male when the female is actually in season, usually in October/November time. Having him with the female now may well trigger her into coming into season quite early, and kids born in December are usually quite hard work.

[earlybird]

thankyou for that , i do have some more females but they are two young to breed with , ive been advised to get them roughly a year and a half to two years old before mating, hope thats right,weve bought billy in so that he his young enough to get used to us he is four and a half months old and was advised by his old owner that it would be alright to put him with the older girl  and to take him away later in the year, so we will probably have to reconsider this thanks .

[Anke]

If you can have individual pens, where the animals can see and smell each other, it is probably ok to have the boy in a pen of his own and the girls nearby.
 
If he is keen to try and mount the girls (especially the smaller ones if he gets the chance - I presume they are this year's kids) even though he will not get them into kid, he wil be a nuisance for them.
 
If you can have a house for him separately, get him a castrated male companion, preferabyle another kid.

[earlybird]

great thanks for that, we will try and do that as soon as possible hes not with the younger ones but will do that for the sake of the older girl, they are getting on alright at the moment but i willhouse them next door to each other so he is not lonley so that they can see each other and get hubby to consider castrated companion for him, thanks

[Penninehillbilly]

Did you buy them together? any chance of her already being pregnant?
billies can be fertile from 3 months old, I was told females can't get in kid till 6 months, but been told on this forum about one already being in kid at 6month.
Is there any reason why you have to wait for the others to wait till 2'1/2 yars before mating? As you already seem to know, normal is about 18mnth so they are kidding at 2yr old.
I've kept a billy (Togg) just till autumn and already regetting it, too much bother keeping them seperate.
Is the Billy registered or just for your girls?