The breeding of registered stock, or stock of known ancestry, requires
much care and quite different handling. Both the does and the bucks must
be marked with an ear tag, brand, tattoo number, or some other permanent
individual mark, and the kids should be marked at birth. Fifty known
does may be put in a pasture or pen and a known buck put with them. He
should be allowed to run with them at least forty days. After this the
does may be collected into a flock and several bucks turned with them,
but only the kids which are dropped from a known buck are fit for
record.
A more accurate method, and one which can be used with a large flock, is
to place the bucks in a corral adjoining the one used by the does at
night. The does should be brought into their corral early in the
evening, and all of those in heat will work along the fence next to the
bucks. The doe in heat can be caught and the number taken and recorded
in a book. She is then placed in a small pen with a buck and his number
is recorded with hers, together with the date. If the doe does not
conceive, she can be put with the same buck again at a later date, and
one has approximate knowledge of when she should drop her kid. In this
manner a buck will serve about two or three does in the evening, and one
or two in the morning. The kid is marked at birth and the number
recorded after that of the mother. The breeding of recorded stock is of
value only for special reasons, and is not advisable with large flocks,
as it is expensive.
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