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One of the more important, if not the most important, aspects of the business of goat raising is breeding considering that the supply of goat milk, meat, and other goat produce, particularly profit, depends largely on its success.

There are a lot of things to consider and a lot of information to learn before an aspiring goat raiser can embark on the process of ensuring goat reproduction. One of the said information for appreciation involves the following strategies in breeding goats:

"¢ Line breeding - involves mating goats that are either distantly or closely related. The end result of this strategy is sameness of offspring particularly if taken in the long term with appropriate selection. The sameness or similarity of offspring could be on the negative or positive depending on the starting strain and selection routine.

This is a common breeding strategy used to establish breeds considering its high predictability and uniformity. Predictability is an important factor in establishment of breeds as goat breeders want a specific type of goat, producing a specific offspring. Predictability and homogeneity, therefore, is the plus side of line breeding; surprises are eliminated. The downside, however, is loss of energy and ability to reproduce which could be compensated by selection.

"¢ Crossbreeding - involves mating goats of two different breeds. Unlike line breeding where things are highly predictable, there are different things that could happen in crossbreeding depending on the stage. The consistency in line breeding is replaced by variability of offspring in this strategy.

Variability could be advantageous as offspring could be of excellent type and performance, but this strategy, however, does not guarantee that the excellent qualities of the offspring could be passed on to the next generation. There is even a great chance that the goat with very good qualities would be the last one of its kind.

The advantages of crossbreeding strategy include high energy and efficient ability to reproduce, which are the downsides of line breeding. While consequently, the benefits of line breeding are the ones lacking in crossbreeding, that is consistency and predictability.

"¢ Linecrossing - involves the crossing of different breed line within a breed. Its end result is somehow similar to that of crossbreeding strategy; however, since it is contained within a single breed, the level of variability of offspring is much lesser than crossing two breeds. Furthermore, this type of breeding strategy allows the achievement of the benefits of crossbreeding but without necessarily losing the breed character or type entirely. However, the consistency of production is still decreased; hence, the positive nor negative results could not be readily determined.

The abovementioned goat breeding strategies with their own unique characteristics and effect will definitely have different consequences for the herd and part of being an excellent goat raiser is having the ability to determine the most suitable breeding strategy for his herd. The perfect strategy being, one that takes into account the goat raiser's goals and philosophies, not to mention the situation. As a good goat raiser knows that there is no single breeding strategy that works well in all kinds of situations.


Valik Rudd is an aspiring Capriculturist. He is particularly interested in learning a lot about breeding goats that is why he devotes a lot of time reading documents and books on this subject. Check out his Goat ebook at: https://www.RaisingGoatsGuide.com