From This Side of the Ring: Which Kids to Keep?
Now that we’ve all survived kidding season and are watching our new bundles of joy jumping around the farm, creating havoc everywhere they go, it may be the perfect time to figure out which kids you’re keeping for the year — a difficult task when you have nice sires and dams and a crop of cute kids on the ground. Here are a few things I do that may also help you.
Rank Your Pairings
Heading into kidding season, I look at which breedings excite me most and rank them from “best” to “maybe.” I also look at my herd and decide which animals are on my list to stay on or leave the farm.
Once I have that mental image, all I have to do from there is wait for the kids to be born. When all my does have freshened and I have a buckling and doeling count, I have a better idea of how many I’m truly keeping.
Unmet Expectations
If a doe freshens and I don’t like how her udder came in or her conformation turned out as she matured, I sell her after letting her bounce back for 30 days, and sell her kids as well. It doesn’t mean she and her kids are bad goats; they just don’t fit my program.
What happens if a kid is born from a highly anticipated breeding, and it doesn’t fulfill your expectations of what that breeding would produce? Do you keep the kid because it should be a home run on paper? In my opinion, no. If a goat kid is born and it doesn’t tick every box for you, or at least most of the boxes for you, maybe it should go to a different farm.
Exciting Breedings and Doelings
If I get a doe kid from a really exciting breeding, I’ll keep her for my program 9 out of 10 times. A highly anticipated breeding that results in a fantastic-looking doeling is a win and an easy decision, in my book!
What about an anticipated breeding that results in twins? What do we do then? I have a perfect example from this kidding season. My finished champion doe, Opal, was bred to our new junior herd sire, Sentinel. The kids from Sentinel this year have been impressive, and most have been doelings. Opal had twin doelings. Years when I didn’t have as many doelings to choose from, I probably would’ve kept both, but that wasn’t an option because I have so many keepers this year from other breedings.
Once Opal’s twins hit 10 days old and were fully unfolded, I took a hard look at them.
Doeling One is long-bodied, has a beautiful long neck and long legs, and she screams length. She has a small white spot on her side, but it conforms to the breed standard, so it won’t be a problem. She’s a first-generation American Oberhasli.
Doeling Two is really wide, not as long in the body, but has more substance of bone, thicker legs, and is the embodiment of strength. Her color is very light, though, almost a cream. Because of this, I decided she needs to be registered in the Experimental/Grade Herdbook because she doesn’t conform to breed standards.
Both are lovely, with their own particular pros and cons, which resulted in a very difficult decision. My past mentor always advised, “If given the choice to pick between length and dairy strength or width and coarseness, always choose length.”
After much deliberation, I decided the longer doeling is just a touch better than her sister. Sure, she isn’t as wide, but her length is something I want more of in my herd. Decision made!
Being Honest
You shouldn’t keep every single doe kid born in your herd because not all of them will be what your program needs. Just because a breeding was highly anticipated doesn’t make it highly successful. As I’ve been told many a time by my mentors, “Keep the best and sell the rest.”
Evaluate your kid crop, look at the scorecard in the ADGA guidebook, and be brutal in your decision-making. Your program will thank you for it. If your goals are to breed better goats and to be competitive in shows, whether it’s your county fair or a national show, be thoughtful when deciding which goat stays and which goat goes. It’s not always easy to pick which kids remain on your farm, but I hope this helps you through the process. Good luck this show season, everyone!
Jon Kain lives and breathes goats, literally. By day, he’s a superintendent of a goat and cow dairy. By “night,” he and his family raise a small herd of Oberhasli goats while chasing his 3-year-old daughter or talking about goats on his podcast, Ringside: An American Dairy Goat Podcast.
Originally published in the July 1, 2025, digital issue of Goat Journal
