So it is very apparent that everyone wants to breed does each year to acquire that wonderful fresh goats milk each spring. This is the way that most people want to breed because this is what everyone does. I am going to experiment this next few years with a different kind of breeding program idea, breeding every other year and milking through. My plan is to milk a couple through the winter without breeding them and to dry them us as we are weaning there babies at 5 months old. So they would milk until about July of the next year. This will give them about 7 to 8 months off every other year from milking, with 2 to 3 months of that being free of milking AND pregnancy. This is all going to be very dependent of how the doe is milking when breeding season arrives and if I think she will stay in milk through winter. If she is drying up by October then I will breed ber. I have noticed this season to be the determining factor, if they can milk through breeding season fine they will probably milk through all winter fine as well. This kind of breeding schedule is supposed to increase their length of life and quality of health. I will keep this post updated over the next few years to let you know if it works here or not and how the does perform for better or for worse.

Update: I have done this a few years now and love it. Not all my does will do it, but some will. They do not make as much during the winter but we have at least a little fresh milk daily and I am very pleased to have it.